Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/15

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Younger photographers and Leica rangefinders
From: Harrison McClary <mcclary@iname.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 17:37:04 -0600

Monday, February 15, 1999, Jim wrote:
> I'll bet that's not true nowadays with EOS, AF, and all the rest.
> Everything is getting to be so automatic, the days of young photographers
> with the ability to look at any scene and just "know" it's 1/60th
> at 5.6 with Tri-X etc. are probably long gone.

And I'll bet you are way wrong.

Auto  exposure  cameras  have been around for decades. One of my first
cameras  was  a  Canon  A1 with several auto modes. So I guess I don't
know how to read light since I learned on an automatic camera?

Just  because  a camera is automatic does not mean a a person does not
have  to  learn  how  to  expose  film. The same rules apply regarding
proper  exposure  now as they did 10, 15, 20 years ago. An auto camera
will  only get one so far...after that it is what you know and how you
control the camera that creates the image.

As  someone  on  this list said several years ago...it aint the camera
that makes the picture, it is the person pushing the button.

If  the Auto do everything cameras did it all for you I guess I wasted
my day today setting up 5 lights doing a commercial photo shoot for an
annual  report...hell  if what you say is correct I could have used my
EOS  1n  on program mode and TTL'd the on camera flash and gotten fine
exposures.   I  am  sure my agent and my client would have LOVED those
shots!

A good photographer knows his tools...film is one of those tools and a
good  photographer,  no matter his age, knows what the exposure should
be, within a decent range at least.


Best regards,
 Harrison                          mailto:mcclary@iname.com
http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto
preview my book: http://www.volmania.com