Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 12:11 AM 1/17/2009, Geoff Hopkinson wrote: >Stick around Jan. You will have good things to share and things to learn I >am sure. >I joined Marc's Rollei list when I had one for a while, but I never saw >more >than maybe three or four messages in six months! I don't know what was >wrong >there! >You will get to read more than three or four messages in six months here. >Some will entertain you, some will educate you and some will annoy you but >there is no place like the LUG. >You can try contributing something yourself. I'm sure that it will be read >or looked at. It helps if you join in and people get to know you as well. This is a bit harsh, Geoff. First, Leicas are not for every photographer. Nor are Rolleis for everyone. To each and his one, and the world is the better for the diversity. Frankly, I'm most comfortable with a Rolleiflex TLR but, then, I've never written a book on them, yet, though I have written books dealing with my other loves, the Leica family and Zeiss Ikon cameras. And my long-delayed history of the Leica camera -- which started out as a joint project with Erwin and another early member of the LUG -- is now resurecting itself, so I may end up getting that done before I get around to writing about Rolleiflex and Voigtl?nder and Kilfitt. In any event, if I am to shoot pictures, I tend to take either my 2.8GX or my 2.8F 12/24 if I have to keep things simple. Again, to each his own. Second, the Rollei List has never had "three or four messages in six months". The postings on Friday each week on FS/WTB items are a lot larger than that, and I post my Admin Rules reminder every week, 26 times in a half-year. But, yes, the message traffic is a lot smaller there than it is on the LUG. We used to have a lot more discussion but we seem to have hammered things out pretty well. So, now, discussions are rarely spicey, just requests for information and someone copying a message they originally sent in, say, 1995. We did recently enjoy a Rollei version of that LUG constant, film versus digital, but our disputes generally end very peacefully, without bullet wounds to body or ego, and with the folks agreeing to disagree and falling silent. Not a big deal, really. Sure, the Rollei List is far more gear-oriented than is the LUG, and picture-viewing is not a large part of its content but, then, note that this the Leica Users' Group and that the Rolei List is just that, the Rollei List: members are free to post and discuss pictures but most do not seem to choose to do so. Our talk is more about the lore and the history and the usage of the equipment than discussing results made from the stuff. We do have some interesting OT discussions but the last blow-up was after 9/11 when I clamped down on discussions of politics and a few members resigned in disgust. You might want to rejoin and visit for a while. We are peaceful and not seeking domination of anything other than the photographic world, after all! Pick up a camera. Shoot a picture. You're hooked when you see the print. Pick up a Rolleiflex, and you are in love for life. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!