Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 05:26 PM 7/29/98 +0200, you wrote: >Eric Welch wrote: >> I think this is too sweeping a condemnation of 35mm. > >Eric, >I'm not condemning 35mm, on the contrary. I prefer it to larger formats You are right, condemnation wasn't a good choice. But I think the differences between 35 and MF have advantages going either way. >>Could you describe the Canon experience ? I am happy we agree on the >>'not every lens' precision anyway. Sure. I was at the Missouri State Fair with a fellow photographer from my paper. We both started shooting around 5 a.m. in the cow/sheep/pig barns. Light at that time of day was quite marginal. I wandered around for about three hours, and so did he. Me shooting with my Leicas (24 Elmarit, 35 Summilux, 90 Summoicron 180 Elmait) and he with his L series 20-35 and 80-200 2.8 lenses. Now the differences would be obvious, Leica single focal length lenses vs. Canon zooms. It's ovbious there would be some difference. But wait... He took our film back. Fujichrome 400 pushed two stops. Ran it all in the same processing runs. (Wing Lynch can take 9 rolls at a time). When I came back the next day, he looked up at me and said, "Now I know why you use Leica. Your stuff looks great, and mine is unuseable." Note, he didn't say he could see the difference. His stuff was no good in comparison! My stuff looked gorgeous. The kind of light I was shooting in is what Leica speed lenses eat up. His Canon lenses let him down. Now he could have used flash and saved the pictures, but flash isn't an option in many situations. That's just one experience. But I can name several other photojournalists I know (one at the St. Louis Post Dispatch and one who became a graphics editor at the Dallas Morning News) who used Leicas one time, and were hooked, because there was such a significant difference. And their exact words..."Now I know why you use Leica." - -- Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Don't take life too seriously, you won't get out alive.