Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/15

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Subject: Re: [Leica] 75'lux focusing
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 22:34:16 -0500

At 03:27 PM 4/15/99 -0400, you wrote:
> RF compositions, then, might feature rather more dynamic interplay 
> between pictorial elements than images composed upon ground glass (as in 
> SLR and most large format viewfinders), and it's precisely this graphic 
> character that we characterize as a "Leica look."  RF photographers 
> looking at photos composed by other RF photographers tend to look for and 
> find the visual cues that we use as focusing aids in our own compositions.
>
>If this is plausible, then it make sense when Leica users claim that they 
>see something in Leica images that they don't see in Nikon or, say, Canon 
>images, and when SLR users dismiss this as nonsense

No, this reasoning is nonsense. Nobody can tell if a person is using 
rangefinder cameras or SLRs, if those pictures were taken by a skilled 
photographer who knows what they want. The Leica look has NOTHING to do 
with composition. That's misses the point of what we are talking about 
completely when we talk about the Leica look.

To claim that SLR users do not make as sophisticated, or skilled 
compositions is just too far out. How could anyone believe that? Optically 
there is NO difference between say a 50mm lens on an M or R camera when it 
comes to composition. Where focus is placed and what depth of field is 
determined by focusing distance and aperture. Not which focusing mechanism 
was used. This argument settles nothing.

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

My computer's sick. I think my modem is a carrier.