Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/06/05

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Subject: [Leica] Re: 90mm's
From: bd at bdcolenphoto.com (B. D. Colen)
Date: Mon Jun 5 19:24:45 2006

A 90 is a portrait lens, a short telephoto.  Period. I'll take Capa's dicta
over Small's - Capa's photography speaks for itself.




On 6/5/06 10:13 PM, "Marc James Small" <msmall@aya.yale.edu> wrote:

> At 08:57 PM 6/5/06 -0500, you wrote:
>> Capa never said "If your pictures aren't good enough, you need a 90."
>> 
>> Jeffery Smith
>> New Orleans, LA
>> http://www.400tx.com
> 
> Jeffery
> 
> We have never met in person but, trust me, I love you like a brother and I
> look forward to the time when we meet in person.
> 
> A 90mm lens is a wide-standard.  A 40cm lens is a normal lens.  Stay away
> from the folks and let them live their lives.
> 
> The next time some jerk photojournalist shoulders his way into my face to
> take his pictures, he really will get an elbow in his jaws.  You wide-angle
> folks do not understand how threatening you seem to those of us who are
> your targets.
> 
> Capa's comment was cool for the time but was also full of BS -- President
> Truman, for instance, directed that no one at a Presidential Press
> Conference use a lens less that 50mm.
> 
> Me?  Now that I am retired, I do not expect to EVER appear again at a
> public function.  But I have done so on frequent occasion over the past
> quarter of a century, and I have always told the Photo-Toads that I wanted
> a 12 foot (3m) circle of safety and that I'd clobber them if they came
> closer than that.  They knew that I meant what I said, and I generally had
> some hefty friends along to emphasize the point.
> 
> You wide-angle guys are simply sick.  Get back to a decent distance, let
> the subject be okay, and shoot the picture with a 40cm Telyt.
> 
> What YOU guys wish to do is to jam the camera into the jaws of the victim
> and get a horrified response.  Jam a camera in my face, and you will get a
> horrified response, which will include the destruction of your camera.
> 
> Wide Angle Dudes.  Stay away.  Learn long lenses.  Understand that Duncan
> and Capa were speaking for what scientists call "special circumstances".
> 
> I detest wide-angle lenses as they defy the very reason for photograhy  --
> documentig reality.  Still, that 4.5/21 CZ Biogon did a hell of a hit at
> the Bridge at Mull in Ireland back in 2001.
> 
> Marc
> 
> msmall@aya.yale.edu
> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!
> 
> 
> 
> 
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In reply to: Message from msmall at aya.yale.edu (Marc James Small) ([Leica] Re: 90mm's)