Re: shutter speeds

[Paul Schliesser <paulsc@eos.net>]

>When I am taking available light pictures I often get folks that ask,
>"Don't you need a flash?"  I'm sure many of you get this too.  I usually
>just mumble something about slow shutter speeds and/or fast film.  But if
>my wife is around she'll say "He can do it because it's a Leica!"

Several times I've had helpful people tell me, "your flash didn't go 
off," mistaking my M for a P&S and being unable to imagine taking a photo 
by available light.

In one of his books, Eisensteadt mentions that in the 1920s when the 
Leica was new, many of his subjects didn't even realize that it was a 
camera. It was tiny, didn't have a bellows on the front, and didn't need 
a tripod or flash bulb (or powder!) indoors in light that would be 
considered too dim for photographs. This was even a few years before the 
Rollei TLRs; most cameras still used plates at the time.

Could a similar thing happen today, as people get more and more used to 
auto-everything cameras? Even cardboard disposable cameras have flashes. 
Because no flash goes off, there is no focus light and no focus and 
winder buzz, maybe once again people will not realize that they are being 
photographed with a Leica.

- - Paul