Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/27

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Subject: [Leica] the desire for a long tele on a p&s
From: kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy)
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:53:58 -0500

Slobodan Dimitrov sed:

> Me too! Why anyone needs a long telephoto in a P&S is beyond me.

I've seen, and i'm sure we all have, a cluster of people at 

  * the zoo
  * a wedding
  * a bar fight
  * a barmitzva

Standing a comfortable 10 feet back from the action holding a p&s up about 
to fill 1/16th of the frame with two tiny little figures performing some 
action or other. I think it has more to do with a cultural sense of personal 
space rather than laziness. We've probably all been to some music show at a 
bar or a coffee shoppe where everybody's standing 10 feet back from the 
stage because, well, to get closer would mean _you weren't cool_ -- I don't 
now what it is, but there seems to be a universal understanding of this 
radius. the ability of your p&s to leap this barricade for you is no doubt 
important and I wouldn't be suprised if camera manufacturers have employed 
sociologists to map this out. I know I battle it myself when taking freaking 
news photos for publication -- thinking "oh, I cant get in front of these 
people here to get a shot, I need to stand back this far" -- which is 
something you need to tell yourself is silly and charge ahead. But that's 
the difference between a photojournalist and a tourist. The long throw on a 
P&S is probably a big selling factor. 

Personally, I'd love a 28-50 f 2.8 with nice high iso performance.....

kc


Replies: Reply from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] the desire for a long tele on a p&s)
Reply from s.dimitrov at charter.net (slobodan Dimitrov) ([Leica] the desire for a long tele on a p&s)