Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mike Johnston wrote, in part: > [...] Mike, One of the reasons why it is interesting to know which tripod legs offer the best damping/support/loss of vibration/whatever is because some people use them to gain utmost quality. Yes, the 35mm system is ideally suited to be used handheld. The Leica rangefinder doubly so. However, the quality of Leica glass lends itself to the exercise of simply claming a camera down on the biggest, most rock-solid mother of a tripod you can imagine, shooting a scene on Technipan, APX25, Delta 100, or something else like that, and then blowing the resulting negative up to 30x40". Why? Because we can. Because the Leica quality makes such an exercise possible. Because we can use our cameras not only for photojournalistic, handheld grab shots, but because we can also dabble in large-format style contemplative photography. OK, the Leica may not have been explicitly *designed* for that purpose, but so what? The fact that it is possible means that it is interesting to try it out and see if one likes it. So, in the light of this, since we are on the absolute ragged edge of performance, we want to know the limitations of all variables. It is not a case of "the tripod holds the camera more steady than the hand", because we would never contemplate doing this hand held. It's a case of seeing just how much quality can you squeeze out of Leicas if you really put your mind to it. The question of which tripod leg material (along with head design and other factors) then becomes relevant. M. - -- Martin Howard | "Very funny Scotty. Now beam down Visiting Scholar CSEL, OSU | my clothes." email: mvhoward@mac.com | www: http://mvhoward.i.am/ +---------------------------------------