Re: [Leica] Palo Alto LUG slide night

[Mark <mark@steinberg.net>]

now that we've done with the thank yous....

...i wanted to say some things about what struck me very positively
about the evening to do with the business of actually making
pictures:

1. using a tripod. jeff alford's amazing photograph of the inside
of a church (cathedral ?) in salzburg, where he achieved an 
image of remarkable clarity, pretty much convinced me on the spot 
to update my ancient bogen and replace it with a new tripod 
that i can use to take photos rather than use to infuriate myself. 
i'm leaning towards a carbon-fibre gitzmo (sp?), i think it's
called a "mountaineer", and a ball head.

jim, jeff mentioned that you'd had bad luck with the glue
in one of the legs ? any other horror stories ? or not ?

2. kodak e200. jim's marvelous pictures from his books and
classes served to urge me to try this film (i bought two rolls
today). i was very impressed with it's range, color, and pushability.
his pushed e200 (1 push ?) made my fuji 100/1000 pushed to 1000 (2 pushes ?) look like it was "film
at the edge" (which it was :-)).

3. jim's interesting experiments with the shift lens and depth
of field. that was very cool jim, thank you. i doubt i will be
getting one soon but it was certainly an interesting exploration.

4. the quick release slide thingamajigs & sleds for using tripods.
i guess i should have read some magazines over the last 20 years,
i still use that screw-mounting jobbie.....i can see now how using
a tripod is *not* a big pain in the arse...

5. jim's (and someone else's) conviction that the depth of field
preview function is *not* a total and utter waste of time on
any camera. i will revisit this lever/button and see what i can
make of it (but thank god the M6 doesn't have one)(though nice
to see it included on the M8)(:-)).

6. tom's passion for his customers and leica in general. his
description of an 18 month cooling period for the glass in a noctilux
goes a *long* way towards explaining why this lens breaks the
bank. the notion that a portion of my spending helps him to 
do what he does is very satisfactory to me. leica is really
lucky to have someone like him working for them, i suspect
he is unique.

7. the leica p300 slide projector. i have a p150 and the p300
made mine seem like a skoda. yet another leica item on the
"want list". sheesh..... 

oh yes...7a. the fact that no one else can focus their slides
properly either ! i thought it was just me !!

8. it seems alot of people like a magazine called "Outdoor 
Photographer". i'm going to try it.

there was more i am sure.

something you might note, and something that the evening was really
great for, is the way people who take photographs shared their
experiences with other people who share their interest. all the
points i mention above are things that i drew from my appraisal
of other people's experience. that appraisal was largely based
on what i could see, with my eyes, they have achieved.

that's the thing that distinguished the evening from this mailing
list. we could handle each others cameras, look at each others 
pictures, and discuss it all in realtime.

i very much encourage any of you who are concentrated in an area
to try it for yourself. i'm sure that you'll have an equally positive
experience.

i have only owned a leica for 6 weeks or so, and have not accumulated
many great slides that i am proud of yet. i was kind of intimidated
by showing the few pictures that might be any good so far. yet
i needn't have worried. that was especially nice.

thanks again to everyone who was there. it was an honour to meet you.

mark