Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/03

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Subject: Re: [Leica] The "Gee-Whiz" Lens
From: Bernard <5521.g23@g23.relcom.ru>
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 19:27:09 +0400

Jean-Claude Berger wrote:

> Hi George,
>
> I was yesterday in a French cathedral (Quimper, Bretagne). It's far
> less dark than most I have seen because a restauration is going on. In
> the most "sunny" places, I took some pictures at f/2, 1/15 to 1/4 s
> with a 400 ISO film. I would not be able to take any picture with an
> f/4 lens. Of course, the use of a tripod is not recommended (and often
> prohibited) and so is the use of a flash. If I were you, I would
> consider a Summilux for that type of shots.

I've been shooting cathedral interiors all across the UK. There, they
don't mind tripods at all and that way I get to use a *decent* film as
opposed to 400 film, which I only use in case of *serious* emergencies.
I use APX25 and the results are as one might expect of the film.
Exposure can run into minutes, depending on the aperture. That's a good
thing because it dissolves all those darn tourist into nothingness. Now,
if you'd drag in a Hasselblad or worse, a view camera, you'd be in
trouble because many (not all) cathedrals don't permit "professional"
photography. But an M6 or R7 (without motor) isn't "professional", by
the looks of it, so that works fine...... In one cathedral I spent an
entire three days. I was approached only once, by a friendly lady who
wanted to know what it was I was working on.

B