Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/11

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Subject: [Leica] Something for everyone
From: Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 18:42:44 -0800

>Austin Franklin wrote:
>> 
>> It's called INSURANCE.... ;-)
>> 
>> [Austin] I've been through this...they only consider damage that can be
>> proven to impair the FUNCTION of the insured item to be covered.  Cosmetics
>> are not covered.  One of our photographers dropped a Nikon, it had a dent
>> the size of Kentucky...but didn't impair its function at all...they said it
>> wasn't covered.  The resale value of the camera was severely reduced by
>> this damage..but that's was just too bad for us.
>> 
>> Let's see... A Noctilux with no damage to the glass, or a Noctilux with a
>> scratch in the front element....would you pay the same for both?  Even
>> though, you KNOW it has no effect on the actual image...  Cheap insurance,
>> in my book, is a filter...
>> 

At 01:38 PM 2/11/00 -0800, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>It's never a good idea to actually USE a camera. You run the risk of severely
>damaging it or at least making it wear.
>One should never take ones precious camera out of the hermetically sealed 
>glass case!
>Maybe a roll or two on a nice thick carpeted living room to keep things going.
>Mark

And I'm adding to Mark's verbiage:

There is something that I don't understand. If you figure out the entire
surface area of a lens or lens and camera, the front element is a small
percentage of the whole. If you drop your camera or just your lens, what's
the chances of it "just" hitting the front element glass? I contend small
compared with banging the hell out of the camera body or lens mount. So why
don't all of you UV folks have your cameras in leather Never ready cases  (
http://www.kameraleder.com/leicam6.htm ) or better yet, a padded sound
blimp so that when you drop it, nothing gets wrecked. Seems illogical to
attempt to protect just a couple of square inches  on the front of the
lens. I guess that $2000 M6 body or that $5000 Hass 203 body doesn't count.
Poor things.

Do you UV folks wear safety glasses 100% of the time? Why not. Your
eyeballs are stuck out there in front of you, there one hell of a lot
softer and more vulnerable than a rock hard lens, and all the money in the
world cannot replace them. And without them, you cannot use the little
piece of glass that you need so desperately to protect. Against what... I'm
at a loss.

Dust, dirt, foul air? Water? Oh yeah, remember... PK informed us that water
dissolves lens coatings. So don't let your rubber ducky use your camera.
You don't mind breathing it or sticking your eyeballs into it. Your whole
camera is full of it (dust, dirt, foul air that is) as well as mechanisms
under the f/stop ring and focus ring. So this rock hard piece of glass,
recessed from the front of the lens, is going to be hurt by... what??? Oh
yes, you are going to whacked it repeatedly against the corner of a set of
concrete steps.

Help me, Rhonda, help, help me Rhonda...

Dope-ler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they
come at you rapidly.

I'm going out this weekend and buying plastic runners for all of my
carpets, plastic couch and chair covers, plastic lamp shade covers, and a
hermetically sealed case in which to store myself and my cameras.

Everyone needs to find out where Mike Johnston lives and stay away from
there. Unless you are wearing your second story bounce suit.

Safety first.

Jim

Sar-chasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the folks who
don't get it.

Help me, Rhonda, help, help me Rhonda
Help me Rhonda, yeah, get her out of my heart.

TGIF! OTOH, INFMTTYHTUYC ¹ .

:-)  &  ;-)  take your choice.

Now this is what one does when they are bored. Not perform sacrilege on a lens.

sacrilege: gross irreverence toward a hallowed person, place, or thing.

¹ Thank God It's Friday! On The Other Hand, It's Not For Me To Tell You How
To Use Your Camera

And for those of you who are enlightened, the answer is 42.

Jim again

Have a great weekend. Photograph up a storm. This may be a Hasselblad
weekend with a little M6 schnappens between the ker-chunks. Let's compare
notes on Monday.