Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks. See you Thursday Skip At 06:29 PM 10/3/00 -0400, you wrote: ><<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