RE: [Leica] IIIf

[Jeffrey Hausner <Buzz@marianmanor.org>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	B. D. Colen [SMTP:bdcolen@earthlink.net]
> Sent:	Wednesday, September 23, 1998 5:12 PM
> To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject:	RE: [Leica] IIIf
> 
>   
	[Buzz]  
	B.D.--

		You are absolutely right; amen and close the barn!  Also, I
think the out-pouring of IIIf users in that recent thread demonstrates that
using the lens that squeezes out the last, marginal, measure of sharpness
isn't the most important aspect of photography to all of us.

	Buzz
> I use
> > the IIIf and an M3 and my "newest" lens is a DR Summicron of late 60s
> > vintage.  While I have no doubts that the newer lenses are much
> > superior  in terms of contrast, detail and color rendition, I like the
> > using the older equipment.
> >
> > Now, if collectors would just stop driving up prices  :)
> >
> > Steve
> >
> As some of us clamor for the latest lens with the latest tiny tweak of
> resolution, flare supression, or bit of micro contrast, I think we tend to
> forget that the "older equipment" is precisely what the "greats" used for
> the bulk of their careers, and the images produced by that "older
> equipment"
> grace the pages of every collection of "the greatest photographs of all
> time," etc. etc.
> 
> The Leica Legend wasn't created with the M6 and ASPH lenses. It was
> created
> with the Is, IIs, IIIs Fs and Gs - and the M-3, and it was created with
> the
> elmars, DR summicrons, summarons, etc.
> 
> And (and I'm pulling on my asbestos suit as I write this) it really grew
> out
> of the fact that the very existence of a small, quiet rangefinder camera
> allowed photographers to go places they had never been, and photograph
> things that had never before been photographed, rather than some mythical
> qualities of the cameras or lenses.
> 
> At least that's how I see it...(;o{ )#x