[Leica] dedication

[firkin@netconnect.com.au (Alastair Firkin)]

G'day all,

With true-grit and determination, [and a long weekend at home raining],
I've caught up with the LUG. You guys are churning out the e-Mail at a rate
that keeps one from writing ;-).

Some overall comments;

The Noctilux is good in hand to hand combat, and I presume that is why they
made such a heavy lens for low light work, and the seedier times of day.
Think of the cost as "protection" money.

Alf has another convert in Japan. These stark dark and disturbing urban
images from a Leica newbie are worth a visit. This is street photography of
the street not the people, but the use of line/space and composition
impressed me as did the textures rendered especially by the Hektor lenses.

http://member.nifty.ne.jp/ALCHEMIST/index.html

To paraphrase Ted;
When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes, but
when you photograph in B/W its best to take the clothes away.

Older series M users, [I hoped he meant older series, not the older users
of M series] include Mr HCB, who would estimate light from experience. My
comments on this are that it is quite achievable in day light with
forgiving colour film. I ran a trial at Soverign Hill several months ago
[it was still warm] using my IIIf and the new Z2X, as point and shoot
cameras. With the Z2x I composed and fired, letting the camera "do it all"
and with the IIIf, I estimated the exposure, and distance, set the camera
and fired off as soon as it was composed. The beauty of the bright line
finder [in this case the finder] is that there are no distractions to
compostion. If one has set the correct exposure and distance to the
subject, and paid some due to DOF, the IIIf is faster, and when the results
returned, the IIIf won hands down. On a roll of 36, almost no dud exposures
or mis guesstimates on distance versus several wasted frames from the Z2x
due to exposure cock up or focus failure. One day, I'd love to do the same
experiment with a modern Autofocus Nikon or Canon. I one advantage the
electronic thing has is a very nicely balanced fill in flash, but it chews
through the batteries at a great rate if you use it ;-) I should add, that
I had practiced hard to estimate distance and light in the preceeding
weeks, but the results were unquestionable --- some really good keepers
from the older camera, and few from the newer. Now I've learn't to
appreciate the limitations of the Z2X, I've improved its output
considerably, but there is more to learn and appreciate with the newer
camera if you want good snaps than there is to learn on the older one.

Alf wanted to know why one might choose the electronic R8 over the R6. One
explanation given to me was the intermittent shutter speeds, which allows
one to make full use of the wide open facility of new Leica lenes. [of
course if you do not like the newer lenes, then ---- ]. The R6 will
occasionally insist that you stop down a little, as you cannot vary your
shutter speed range by half stops. A bit pedantic, but then that is what
many of us Leica users are all about a--- retentive to the extreme ;-)

My definition of a pro photographer would be one who is "accepted" as such
by his peers or the photographic community. In Australia, you can be a
"native", if the indigenous community accepts you as such. This seems to me
to be quite civil.

Keep those cards and letters coming.

Cheers

Alastair Firkin,

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~firkin/AGFhmpg.html