Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/06/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Stupid questions: why do you use a computer ? Does your car provide electronic management of ignition ? More stupid questions: why do you use a camera with a shutter mechanism where the camera imposes a set of pre-calibrated speeds (took some time for the pionneers to gain access to a shutter mechanism)? Why do you use a meter ? Why do you use auto management of your flash unit (TTL or not) ? Why do you use manufactured emulsion in 35mm industrial canisters ? etc, etc... I know this caricatures heavily your point of view, but I think your judgement on who makes the picture - camera or person - is also a caricature. Today's up to date technology allows new users to get a much better ratio of 'technically correct' images than before. That is a progress. Just like 35mm rangefinders were a progress in the 20s. They also allowed 'normal human beigns' to shoot a large amount of useable images with very little technical knowledge compared to what was required before for the same level of productivity. I'll argue even further: a highly proactive high tech setup potentially (I insist on the 'potentially') allows the user to concentrate more on some of the more strategic aspects of the process: composition, relevance of the image, expressions, incidents, colours, shapes, whatever... Time spent doing this is, in my point of view, MUCH more useful than playing with aperture ring, focussing ring and speed dial. This does not prevent me from using with great pleasure and satisfying efficiency my antiquitated M6 setup. I simply wish "we" did not make such an elitist hype out of it.... Friendly regards, Alan Brussels-Belgium Jim Brick wrote: > > Leica and 15 year old technology. > > Reading a few of these posts got me to wonder....<CUT>... > So what technology is 15 years old? > Is it the technology that takes the heart and soul out of photography? The > "point & shoot" $3000 F5's EOS 1's, etc? When you have so many > buttons/levers/screens/modes/etc... to do the thinking for you, you are > simply a recorder. Set the mode (sports, landscape, flash, etc.) set the > autofocus (normal, predictive, follow focus, etc.), set the meter (spot, > average, matrix, matrix bias, fuzzy, AI, etc.), and the list goes on. Then > you stand there and push the button while pointing the camera toward the > subject. An autobracket burst takes place... got it! But what did you do? > You recorded a moment of time on film. No sweat. The camera did the work. >...<CUT>...