Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I also did not see a great improvement when I switched to Leica...... at first. I then realized that close examination on a lightbox and/or 16x20 or larger enlargements of slides were required to easily see the benefits. Just snapping Royal Gold and taking them down to the one-hour shop for some 4x6 glossy prints WILL NOT convince you that your Leica gear was worth the money. I discovered that. It takes patience and determination to exploit all your Leica offers you. When I made photographs on a Gitzo tripod with Velvia in the middle of Bali, with the R8 mirror locked up, and the self-timer on, then had 16x20 and 20x24 prints made from those slides, only then did I truly see the potential that Leica offers. Everyone who has seen those prints has asked me which medium format camera I took to Bali. I smile and say, this is not the work of a medium format, this is Leica. At 01:48 PM 4/19/98 -0400, Peterson_Art@hq.navsea.navy.mil wrote: > > The current discussion of photographic equipment necessities and the > idea of minimization seems a curious one for a group whose organizing > principle is equipment, albeit of a particular brand. Over the years > I have owned and used a Minolta rangefinder camera, a Nikkormat, an > Olympus OM-1, a couple of different Canon SLRs, and a Nikon, before > switching to the Leica rangefinder system. And while I do like Leica > cameras and lenses and am unequivocally glad I switched, I nonetheless > cannot honestly say my photographs are better now, aesthetically, than > they were with any of that earlier equipment. And so it is based not > only on the obvious results of a comparison of photographs produced by > some people using a plethora of equipment with those produced by, say, > Henri Cartier-Bresson, who used primarily a 50mm lens, but also on my > own personal experience that I share Thomas Kachadurian's opinion that > "great photographs...have much more to do with the photographer than > the camera or the lens." > Francesco Sanfilippo, Five Senses Productions webmaster@5senses.com http://www.5senses.com/