Re: [Leica] Goldilocks and the three cameras

["Julian Koplen" <jkoplen@mindspring.com>]

A story that would make most of us envious, in the better sense of the word.
As to the slight age miscalculation, wait until you have 10 grandchildren,
and someone asks you how old they are--I lapse right into fumbling and a bit
of the nimble side-step.

How do you power the SL meter,  and if it isn't the original type of power
source, how well does it work?

Thanks.......Julian

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Doug Herr <Telyt@compuserve.com>
To: (unknown) <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 1999 7:24 PM
Subject: [Leica] Goldilocks and the three cameras


> On Thursday of this last week I returned from a few days in California's
> volcano country near Mt. Shasta.  My older daughter hates camping so she
> spent the week with a friend, but for my 12-year-old daughter, Kelsey, who
> has lustrous golden curls on her head, this was a nearly perfect vacation:
> woods, mountains and lakes, rocks to clamber over, s'mores by the
campfire,
> no baths, long hikes with daddy, thunderstorms behind the mountain,
> billions of stars at night, and no sister harrassing her.
>
> The drive to one of the campsites was longer than we had expected and
> Kelsey was stir-crazy and cranky.  As she sat by the campfire ring,
several
> ground squirrels came to investigate.  I put a 180 (f/3.4 APO) on the R4sP
> and handed it to her.  After a few minutes she had made several exposures
> and was in a much better mood.
>
> The next day was at Burney Falls, a magnificent waterfall of Burney Creek
> over and through porous basalt rock.  Much of the creek is underground
when
> it reaches the falls and it pours out through the face of the falls in
> hundreds of fall-lets in addition to the main body of the stream hurtling
> over the ledge.  Kelsey wanted pictures of the falls so we made a hike to
> the base, she with the family's N**** FG and I with an SL.  She used about
> a roll of film, all the while telling me "the artist (pronounced arteest)
> must not be hurried", then she wanted a wide-angle view.  The only
> wide-angle lens I have is a 35mm Summicron-R.  Not one to stifle the
> artist's vision I handed her the SL + 35 with great fear and trepidation.
>
> Ordinarily I use the SL on my big lenses, the 400 and 560 Telyts, for
which
> I have separate straps, so a strap on the SL would only get in the way.
> Did I mention that Kelsey loves to clamber over rocks, particularly those
> surrounded by fast-moving mountain water?
>
> Kelsey knows the SL is my all-time favorite and she treated it with the
> utmost respect.  She hadn't used a spot meter before so I explained the
> limited measuring area to her, and that the meter gives a reading to
> produce an average tonal value, so she said "so, I should get the meter
> reading from something like the grass, not the falls (white) or the rocks
> (nearly black)".
>
> The trip and her photos were a complete success.  Her favorite camera?
The
> FG because it's always available to her.  If the R4sP were as available it
> would be her vavorite because of the grid viewscreen.  She likes the SL's
> bright viewfinder but being much heavier and carrying the extra weight of
> being responsible for my favorite camera it was her 3rd favorite.
>
> Doug Herr
> Sacramento
> http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt