Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/19

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Leica & one lens
From: "Sander van Hulsenbeek" <vanhulsenbeek@wxs.nl>
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 11:28:39 +0200

Hi!

A contribution from Holland (not so far from Solms!) And my reaction is: two
lenses, not one. Here is why.

My photographic experience goes back to my grandfather using a Leica II or
III and giving me a Brownie. Never mind, I kept for years his chrome
M-lightmeter that came my way somehow.

I bought my first Leica, a CL, in 1974 after military service (yes!) in
Suriname, where I really got won over to photography. With the Summicron 40
and and old Elmar 90/4. That combination served well for a couple of years,
until I started a worldtrip in January 1979, in Peru. That trip brought me
in 14 months to Bombay. In my hometown I had seen a dissolve slide show, and
that I wanted to make! And in Cayenne met this French photographer, who
advised against mixing horizontal and vertical slides in a slide show: so
unprofessional!

Then, in Buenos Aires, bought a M4-2, a 28 Elmarit and a 135 Tele.Elmar. And
that is when - as I see it later - my photo's (Kodachrome) got a real
quality boost. But aren't as good as today and I'll explain how.

In 1981 I sold the whole lot and got into Nikon F3. The main reason was that
with my glasses I had trouble using the M4-2 and CL finder. That is without
putting them off and on all the time.

In 1988 we went to Tibet, Everest basecamp north, and for that super trip I
wondered: am I satisfied with Nikon? The answer was, not really, sharp ok
but not crisp and missing something.

That was the time the R5 (no trouble with glasses anymore) surfaced, and
Galen Rowell had written his 'Mountain Light'.

Time for the R5 with a 24 R-Elmarit and a 90 R-Summicron. The result:
stunning: colors flying off the screen, pictures published and the moral
boost to make my first dissolve show with music and text. For subsequent
trips, the aforetold gear got company of the 19 Elmarit R (new), the Elmarit
R-60, the Elmarit R-135, and Tamrons 180/2.5 and 300/2.8. Plus a whopping
Gitzo and all the filters one would wish. Resulting in prizewinning shows
(Royal Photographic Society prize for photography in a biannual slideshow
contest) and the like.

But here it comes: when I now look back ,there have been instances where, on
tough walking trips and so, I have been compelled to cut down on gear. Or
had to put most in my backpack, and keep my R5 +24 and 60 in a thigh-pouch.
And those are, in retrospect, the trips that rendered the best photo's .
Walking trips to Patagonia's Torres del Paine, Algeria's Erg Occidental,
Siberia's  Sayan Mountains, Scotland's West Highland Way and perhaps most
exiting of them all: Venezuela's Roraima. Reason: limitation and consequent
need focus on the essentials. (I always had a tripod of sorts with me)

And another reason  they are so good: dedication to the specific needs of
slideshows. The horizontal format (which has never bothered any filmmaker),
the need to come to detail, in steps, and go back to wide views. The boon of
a storybook ( real or in my head), so one does not have to put everything on
film. And can enjoy moments of solitude without the camera.

Now, my heart is giving trouble, and those walking trips - in high mountains
anyway - are probably over. But there remains lots to photograph and make
slideshows off. But with all that gear? About 10 kilo's in all. More with
the big tripod. Really, no fun any more!

And which were those lenses again that I made the best photo's with? And how
were the M4-2 and CL?And my eyes have become less nearsighted and I don't
need glasses anymore.

So - to digestt a lengthy process -  l recently traded in - in the best
camera-shop of Amsterdam of course - all that gear and bought a M6HM with
the 50 Summicron (collapsible lens shade) and the 24 Elmarit ASPH is on its
way. I can't wait to use it. Like the pictures the Summicron  makes already.
A 90 mm Elmarit may come later, and I think that can also serve, with a
Visoflex, for the occasional macro-picture. Because there is one thing I
don't like with M: that one cannot come closer than 70 cm. But that is a
limitation that can be lived with.

And those Agfa Scala films are already in the freezer!

Comments are appreciated!

Alex, Amsterdam, Holland

- -----------------------------------------------


Alex (Sander) van Hulsenbeek
at work: sander.vanhulsenbeek@solvay.com
at home: vanhulsenbeek@wxs.nl
and also: http://home.wxs.nl/~sanderva/home.html