Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:23 AM 10/25/98 -0800, Francesco wrote: >Jim, > >why do you use the R system for the book photos, >why not the M? Does this work involve a lot of tele >and macro work? Is the M not all-purpose enough for you? >Just curious..... > >Francesco Francesco, There are many many things that the R cameras can do far easier than M cameras. I use lenses from 15mm Super Elmar to 350mm Telyt. One of my most used lenses is the 28mm PC. I also rely heavily on the 70-180 APO zoom. The book photographs, in many cases, require perspective control (e.g. cityscapes), ultra wide views (e.g. small rooms in favorite B&B's or near-far views in small courtyards), long lens views (e.g. sea creatures and surfers along the coast, or wherever), carefully controlled DOF, which is the domain of ground glass based cameras... you get the idea. Probably 25% of my book photographs could be taken easily with an M camera, but many, even though possible, would be a giant pain in the posterior! I always use Velvia (EI 40) and polarizers much of the time (= EI 10). This means ALWAYS on a tripod. So add it all up... ultra wide, long telephoto, PC control, zoom, and it cries out R camera. Also... many lenses on the M camera cut off the corner of the viewfinder. For a book page, I need to see every square millimeter that is going to be captured on the film. What about a Visoflex you say... well I look at the R camera as an M camera with a "built-in" or "integrated" Visoflex. And some great lenses, (ultra wide, extra long, PC, and macro,) to boot. Jim