Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/28
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>
> > For me, I love my Summilux 35 (pre-ASPH) just as much as my
> > wife loves our Stylus ...
>
> The tone of your post communicates this well.
>
> > Perhaps the Leica is not suited to your style of photography.
>
> I don't understand how you arrive at that conclusion.
>
The reason I love the Summilux is not so much for its terrific stopped
down image making capabilities, rather its 1.4 f stop which allows me to
take photographs without a flash in situations which otherwise would need a
flash. I get terribly annoyed when a flash is constantly going off in my
eyes and imagine that others do as well. I also enjoy using a rangefinder.
When I used to use an SLR, I always greatly preferred split-screen over
plain groundglass focus screens. I think the M is a great combination of
small size, high quality lenses, the ability to change lenses, quiet
operation and simplicity. My biggest gripe about the M6 is that when the
arrows indicate the exposure is either too little or too much, it doesn't
indicate by how much it is off.
We purchased a Stylus on a trip (I forgot my M6 during a mad dash out
the door :-( It is very compact, has a builtin flash, a fine lens and
autofocus. My wife doesn't like the rangefinder, she wants to put the camera
up to her eye and shoot a picture. She also doesn't like slides, she wants
double prints on color film. This camera suits her style of photography.
The camera I use the least is the digital camera I bought for $1000.
What a waste of money! (for me, I never use it) On the other hand if your
goal is to produce low cost low res jpegs for web sites, a digital camera is
a great option.
The fact is that there are lots of great cameras and many choices of how
to do things. If manual exposure is hard: get an autoexposure camera, if you
have trouble focussing: get an autofocus camera, if your camera is too
heavy: get a lightweight camera, if you want more control over your
exposures: use a meter, if you want more control over your processing: do it
yourself. If your goal is to view images on a screen: use a digital camera.
There are zillions of options in photography.
I haven't concluded anything. I am suggesting that given what you have
expressed about your frustrations getting the M6 to meter correctly, your
desire not to fiddle with the camera too much before taking a picture, and
your desire to view images on the screen, that the M may not be the best
camera for you.
Jonathan Borden