Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/08/01

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Why we use Leica (was potential image quality)
From: Thomas Kachadurian <kach@freeway.net>
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 23:11:35 -0400

Harrison:

I still think that one reason more newspaper guys don't shoot Leica is the
money. At least in Michigan, the pay at the bottom rung, and even up to
somewhere in the middle is pretty poor. If your paper has big glass that
you can use, you get a camera to match it, then as you move around, you
build a system around what you already had. 
	I shot Nikon for years and only could really afford to even change systems
to Canon when I went freelance and started to build my business. Selling my
Nikon ang going to Canon cost $2000-$3000, plunking down $5000 to $8000 for
a decent Leica system would have been out of the question.

You don't see a lot of delivery businesses driving Mercedes. 

Tom

 At 09:49 PM 7/31/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Thomas Kachadurian wrote:
>
>> But the Leica images looked like
>> they were made in a normally lit room, good shadow detail, backgrounds
>> that could be easily placed. The Canon images were obscured by contrast,
>> dim sides of faces became detailless blobs.
>
>This is what I have always noticed about the Leica galss. Where Nikon and 
>Canon have dark (read no detail here) shadow areas and blown out highlights 
>the Leica glass holds the detail.
>
>What made me first switch to Leica back in 1990 was a test I did using Nikon 
>and Leica.  I used the Nikon 300 2.8 and the Leica 280 2.8 and took chromes 
>of my wife with our dog on a sunny spring day in Atlanta.  The dog is
black and 
>my wife was wearing a very bright outfit.  In the Nikon photos the dog was 
>black. In the Leica photos the dog was black also, BUT there was detail in
his 
>fur. The dog was in the shadow side of the photo so I was not expecting much 
>detail and when I saw this I was blown away.  I also repeated the same test 
>using the 1.4 converters on both lenses and the Leica STILL held detail in
the 
>shadow areas. Same photographer same film same processing and exposures. 
>Only difference was the glass.  
>
>As far as why don't more pros shoot Leica....well I would wager that when
you 
>get into the magazine field you will find more of us using the Leicas than
the 
>newspaper and wire guys because 1) we shoot Chrome and the difference is 
>important there. 2) in most cases the increased quality will show up in
better 
>printing.   
>
>
>
>
>Harrison McClary
>http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto
>
==================================
Thomas Kachadurian
WEB PAGE: http://members.aol.com/kachaduria