[Leica] M8 Sharpening filter use - was: full sized samples

[pedxin at aol.com (pedxin at aol.com)]

Bravo Jayanand! Of course your words are rational and sensible and agreeable 
to 99.9% of the world, photographers and picture editors and clients alike, 
but unfortunately on a list or site with a camera brand-name in the header, 
you're bound to encounter a few who fall in the other 0.1%, who believe they 
know better, see better, and shoot better than everybody else.?? As long as 
you sit on the sidelines and laugh at their arrogant proclamations, it can 
be humorously entertaining.? Lowering yourself into the mud pit and 
grappling with them, not so much.? 

Cheers,
Pete
(Pedro Xavier Iglesia-Novares) 

"Doug,

You are still missing the point. I do not have to try one at all. I am
sure it is a fantastic camera, and we all know the quality of lenses
available. I trust all of you when you say what you do. But when
someone says that it is better because it saves him adding a layer of
sharpening, I have to laugh! BTW, I have yet to see moire in the Nikon
D300 I shoot, and as you know, I shoot a lot of stripes (-: !!

My argument is not about the capture device, but about the final
output. I have plenty, and I mean dozens of actual holdable prints
taken with a M8, and as you know I have a few of yours taken with a
DMR. I cannot see a difference up to A3 size ( which is all I have)
between a Leica, or a Nikon, or a Canon. Whether this entails a little
more PP, or a little less PP is totally besides the point. Maybe at
larger sizes it might be apparent, but I cannot say as I have not seen
Leica digital prints of those sizes (I have seen dozens of prints
taken with Nikon & Canon, and I cant make out differences between
equivalent bodies there either).

I remember being almost lynched on this group when the M8 came out
saying that it was very expensive for what it offered. Immediately the
same arguments you made above were trotted out - that I had no
business commenting without trying one, and after that I have been
wary of getting into these equipment related digressions, knowing how
sensitive the issue is. I think one has to be less emotional about
equipment, and more demanding about the final, finished output. When I
hold a print in my hand I couldn't care less about whether the
photograph was shot digitally or on film, whether it was cropped
digital, 35mm or a 8x10, or whether the camera had an AA filter or
not.

The list would be a poorer place if  criticisms were shouted down, and
disagreements were not allowed to be aired.

Cheers
Jayanand"