Re: [Leica] If Leica is too expensive what would be the best alternative?

[Mark <mark@steinberg.net>]

Eric Welch wrote:
> 
> At 12:10 AM 7/19/98 -0700, you wrote:
> 
> >There's a Leica for ANY budget.
> 
> I'm with Jim. I'd much rather have a Leica R4sP and 50 Summicron than any
> Nikon or Canon and 50 1.8. It may cost a bit more, but it's well worth the
> difference price.

i can understand how you feel about it, but for some people the difference
in price is unattainable.

and for others, myself for instance, who are happy to encourage their
children to find joy in photography, the notion of investing more than
$300 (say) in some hardware to assist their development is a tricky
thing. 

i was in KSP yesterday and observed a father choosing some binoculars
for his family. his 5 year old (seemingly) daughter was with him. he
was leading himself towards purchasing the leica binoculars ($1000++).
he clearly wanted to purchase the binoculars for his family, he kept
trying them out on his daughter. i noticed that his level of "fuss"
went up about 3 notches when she had the leica binoculars in her hands
as opposed to the ashi pentax binoculars ($300). in fact, his fuss level
was raised to the point where his daughter was having a hard time
with him.

in a sense he was making a decision that has nothing to do with optics
or handling or reliability or etc etc. in that sense he was making
a decision between being a fussbudget everytime his daughter had
the binoculars in her hands and, on the other side, being a relaxed
and encouraging parent that can give his child some space.

i was listening in on the progress of the sale with half an ear. i
thought the sales person was kind of remiss not to point out the
potential calmness difference between the two options. i think the
dad was *really* buying the binoculars for "the family" as a
subterfuge for getting himself a toy. his daughter wanted a tool.

she seemed to be much more sensible.

anyone who has watched kids know that, even with the very best of
intentions, they inadvertently utterly abuse tools. it's almost
impossible for them not to. if you paid for the thing they are
utterly abusing the relationship between your fuss and the tool's
cost is logarithmic. at the cheaper end of the scale you can retain 
sufficient composure to calmly address the abuse and not threaten
their associations with the use of it.

mark