[Leica] Sharpness is Highly Overrated

[Charles <chaslor@mindspring.com>]

With all the recent talk of Holgas, old vs new lenses, and enlightening 
reports by Erwin and his mysterious brother, I'd like to share a recent 
experience. A few weeks back, I actually sliced my eye because the film 
on the table was so sharp. A 75 Summilux will do that you know, so watch 
out. With my theory that Sharpness is Highly Overrated brought to the 
front of my mind, I set out to try to dull the blade of my M6. I dug out 
the body cap that came with the camera (first time I'd seen it since 
getting the camera) and devised a way to turn it into a lens. The pinhole 
camera is an age old technique and I know I'm not breaking any new ground 
here. I drilled out a small (1/4? inch across?) into the center and 
affixed the small brass plate w/ pinhole that I've had for a couple of 
years inside the cap. Voila! Leica pinhole! The pinhole itself is VERY 
small and well drilled. A quick test with chrome film rated at 800 
revealed an effective f stop of around f90. The in camera meter works 
remarkably well, though my hand held Minolta IV was a bit more accurate. 
Handheld shots in bright sunlight were possible at around 1/15th. As 
expected, my pictures were not so sharp. I would like to hear Erwin's 
report on this lens! My intention for this is unclear. Probably B&W 
graphic shots I guess. It's a pretty cool addition to the camera bag, 
cheap and light. Lots of resources out there on the web and I'm still 
trying to figure out the ideal hole size in relation to the focal length. 
I may attatch an opaque film canister to the cap in order to make a short 
tele. I wonder how I could make a zoom? Anybody else out there doing the 
pinhole thing?

I also have a 4x5 field camera that I bastardized in a totally different 
way, but I'll save that report for later if anybody's interested.

By the way, no offense to the sharpness police out there, I love my razor 
sharp Leica glass.

charles