Re: [Leica] leica null series

["Dan S" <dstate1@hotmail.com>]

What facinates me about the camera is that it really is the "purest of the 
pure" in 35mm photography.  It FORCES you to THINK about all the actions 
that add up to a photo.  It is not a snapshot camera and by any techinal 
measure it is slower than virtually anything on the market...Or is it?

I find my photography to be more focused on image composition and less on 
the techinical details when I shoot with my IIIf than with newer, higher 
featured cameras.  When I finally break from the "crutch" of light meters 
and big beautiful finders I seem to be less distracted by the camera and 
more interested in the image.  All these emotions are personal of course, 
but I for one am excited at the prospect of a camera capable of the highest 
quality images on one hand, and still demanding that the user THINK to 
realize those images.

Best wishes
Dan States
Madison WI

>
><<Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2000 11:29:20 -0500 (GMT+5)
>
>From: jsaravia@zeus.uniandes.edu.co
>
>Subject: [Leica] Leica Null (Leica 0) questions
>
>Message-ID: <200010031629.e93GTKD12734@ayax.uniandes.edu.co>
>
>References:
>
>
>I have two questions about the Leica NULL model:
>
>
>1: Does it use the same shutter as the M6, or uses the same shutter as the
>
>original (I mean slit shutter) so lens must be covered while the frame is
>
>changed.
>
>
>2: Is it possible to use filters ?
>
>
>Thanks in advance
>
>
>Jorge Saravia.
>
> >>
>
>Jorge,
>
>I got to play with this camera a bit at Photokina and let me give my $.02
>about it if anyone cares to read.
>
>-----
>1. It has a shutter like the original so that you must cover the lens with
>the cap when you advance the film. A laborious procedure at first, but 
>after
>a little fogged film I think one would adjust. <g> (After all, when I shoot
>my Horseman 6x12 I always tell myself to "triple check" as there are three
>things you need to do between each shot.)
>
>2. Filters would have to be clamp on type for the fixed Anastigmat. Leica
>does still make these however and used most of these will cost about $10 at 
>a
>swap meet.
>------
>
>The null series camera, at first glance, seems to be this very beautiful 
>but
>somewhat awkward piece.
>
>It is black paint and has that bright white engraving and dark vucanite (or
>something vulcanite-like I guess) covering the body. The shutter has that
>Leica "ker-chunk" that we all love -and the release is curiously different
>from any other Leica because it is slightly rounded.
>
>The heft and even packaging say "classic Leica" more than anything they 
>have
>made in years...yes, including the black paint M6's. When I saw that little
>red box sitting on the counter at Photokina I knew I had gone for a reason!
>
>The camera is very charming with that little rubber cap dangling so 
>"Barnack
>like" from the camera and the flip up newton finder with the aiming spot.
>
>I watched the designer (or rather re-designer) of the Leica Null series
>playing with the cap nervously as fiddled with the camera in front of some
>Leica-ogglers alternatively fiddling with his bushy beard. A new nervous
>habit for us all to enjoy!<g> It remind me of my father cleaning his pipe 
>in
>fact.
>
>After it starts to charm the wallet right out of your pants, you start
>thinking: "could I really shoot with this thing?" That weird finder? It is
>not helped by the cap/wind dilemma is it? After all, how many rolls of film
>did I waste before I started doing everything right with that Horseman 612
>after all?!?!? ;->
>
>My first instinct was an emphatic "NO," this is a "shelf camera" and 
>nothing
>more. It fills the hole in every collectors closet (except for the lucky 35
>who have one!) and that is why they made it. I looked in my closet and saw
>the hole.
>
>Even some of the Leica higher-ups seemed to talk of it so passively as if 
>it
>were a new filter or something instead of a radical departure from the past
>10 years or so of camera making. What is going on here?
>
>Then a German fellow, I don't know exactly what he did at Leica Solms,
>-seeing me shaking my head first up and down and then back in forth- came 
>to
>me from deep in the booth and said "ya wanta zee the photos taken with it?" 
>I
>gave him my best NY skeptic "sure" and ventured back to see what he
>had...expecting most likely photos that rivaled those I took with my first
>IIIc with foggy Summar collapsible lens.
>
>The examples they had were nothing short of amazing. Sharp, nice boke in 
>the
>out of focus areas with no clumping, great tonality...nothing less than you
>would expect from a Leica lens. Maybe there was something here?
>
>Unlike the usual photos they usually show to demo new a lens or camera, 
>these
>also were composed well and were actually GOOD images, not just technically
>good. Hmmm. (please note: these were SMALL photos, so I can't really say 
>much
>about the lens sharpness under more demanding circumstances where it would
>actually show.) That new marketing department at Leica is certainly doing
>something right as I felt the money burning a hole in my wallet again when 
>I
>oggled these samples.
>
>I asked if I could keep them and this fellow just winked at me and took 
>them
>back. "Really, what is going on here????" I started to think again. Is the
>fact that it might be a good camera a secret or something? Why can't I have
>them. Oh well, I didn't persist as he gave me a handfull of brosures 
>instead
>so I considered myself lucky.
>
>I started to play with the null camera again and I realized something that
>this camera had that made it different from any other in my camera arsenal.
>(and yes, I do mean arsenal unfortunately.) It is a 35mm camera with a 
>pop-up
>ground glass that you MUST use.
>
>It invites a certain large format kind of pre-visualization with a 35mm 
>size.
>BTW, the image is NOT upside down and backwards...perhaps some of you are
>stroking your beards as you think of this now. A ground glass, right side 
>up,
>tell me more... The plus sign that is etched into the finder to line it up
>with the sight also serves a second function. It splits the viewed image 
>into
>four parts while you view the scene. Kind of like a "grid screen" but more
>usefull if you actually care about composition. (At least for me.)
>
>Now, I'm not saying that Cartier-Bresson should drop his India-Ink and 
>start
>making street photos with this camera, as fast it is not...
>
>However, for those of us who have ventured into M, R and SM Leica's to do
>different kinds of photography and have a different "feeling" while 
>shooting-
>we will have something new to play with that is radically different from 
>any
>other camera Leica has made. After all, I think most of us would agree that
>we just aren't "Maxxum 9xizvw1" users after all...we are a strange and smug
>lot to begin with. If you are a strange connoisseur of cameras you will be
>strangely compelled to shoot with this camera I think. I feel that way at
>least.
>
>I don't think this camera will be anyone's "first camera" that they use 
>every
>day. Certainly at $2500 it isn't something that every photographer will 
>need
>for this subtle flavor of 35mm photography, but I do believe for some (and
>even many perhaps) this will be a remarkable image maker that could very 
>well
>surpass the expectations of those who are underestimating what an 
>INTERESTING
>camera it is...
>
>OK, a "word man" I am not, so 'till next time, happy snaps,
>Rich/pvi

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