Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/11/17

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Subject: Re: Why A Leica M
From: Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@apple.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 96 08:19:44 -0800

>Bob Rosen    

>I believe the operative difference between truly porfessional cameras -- such
>as the M -- and others is the degree of technical quality they produce.

The only thing a camera body really needs to provide is an absolutely 
light tight, rigid box so that the lens and film plane are in perfect 
alignment. The shutter must simply be accurate. If you use the same 
lens on your CL that you do on your M and you set your exposure 
appropriately,
there should be no difference at all in the picture quality produced. 
There
might be a difference in how easily you can focus the lens, how rugged the
mechanism is, etc, but the picture quality should not differ at all given
accurate focus.

>I hope these observations are of some use to you. When it comes right down to
>true image quality, the focal plane shutter is supreme in 35mm work. No P&S
>sports such a shutter.

I'm extremely curious about this statement. Why would a shutter mechanism
type make it "supreme"? On a fixed lens camera, as long as the shutter
has enough range of operation for the film speed you are using, it 
should be immaterial.

>Very few P&S, even the Minilux, have shutter speeds in excess of 1/300.

The Nikon 35Ti includes 1/500 second shutter speeds. The Rollei 35 is
not a point and shoot...

The leaf shutter in a Rollei 35S or Classic has mechanical speeds from 
1/2-1/500 sec, X flash sync at all speeds, and the Zeiss Sonnar lens on
my Classic produces image quality the equal of any other camera I've 
owned.
I rarely use faster than ISO 400 film speed ... f/16 at 1/500 works just 
fine for bright sunlight (and I have f/22 as well). If you want to use
wider apertures with fast film, just use an ND filter. And the lenshood
works well, makes the camera look incredibly cute. It's much smaller
and handier than my M was. It's two 'drawbacks' are the lack of lens
interchangeability and rangefinder focusing. I don't need the former in
this camera, and with practice the latter is also unnecessary for a 40mm
lens.

There are many wonderful reasons to own a Leica M. To me the most 
important
is that the camera and its accessories suit the ends which you want to 
put them to. I found that my M was not the right camera for what I wanted
to do and an alternative was better for me. I didn't sell the M because
I thought it was inferior, I sold it because I felt it was an awfully 
expensive system to have sit in the closet unused while I did photography
with the instruments I found more suitable.

Godfrey