[Leica] Film choices

["Erwin Puts" <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

It is undeniably true, that one needs some time to get acquainted with a
film (or paper r camera). The amount of time you have to invest to master
the intricacies of a product (film, paper, developer) are often
exaggerated.Working photographers are very conservative and once they have
adjusted to a film (paper etc), they are extemely reluctant to try something
else. Kodak has several slide films in the product line, which are
technically obsolete, but still selling very well, because studio
photographers are intimately tuned to these films.
I am an advocate of using as many films or papers as possible. Every film
has its fingerprint that gives additional flavor and expression to a
photograph. I compare it to a painters palette, who also experiments with
his material and uses several techniques to express what is necessary.
I find it part of the photographer's lore to insist  that one needs to spend
a long time and much effort to learn a film. Emulsions just are not so
typical. When one employs a standardised set of tests, it is possible to get
to know a material in a few days. To fine tune this product to the scenes
one is accustomed to photograph, even the difficult ones, takes a few weeks,
a few months at most. If one has a standardised set of techniques for making
pictures, it is easy to fit a film into this.
If a new film., like the new 400D, comes along, one can adjust to its
characteristics very easily.
Photography is not that difficult!

Erwin