Re: [Leica] HCB & lenses

["Steve LeHuray" <icommag@toad.net>]

> For all you Hank lovers....excuse me, that's Henri Cartier-Bresson lovers
> out there....
>     This afternoon, I found an old copy of American Photo (Sep/Oct 1997). It
> is devoted to HCB and it started me on a very brief period of research.
>     Well, on page 9 (table of contents) he's holding a screwmount Leica with
> what looks like a collapsible 50mm Summicron, but if it's dated correctly
> (1946), it is
> a Summarit.
>     On page 46, he's holding an M3 with a 50mm collapsible Summicron.
>     On page 48 (top) he carrying a Leica CL again  with a 50mm collapsible
> Summicron.
> On the bottom of the page in a photo dated 1938 he's shaking hands with
> David "Chim" Seymour and hold a screw mount Leica with what looks to be a
> 35mm f/3.5 Elmar.
>     Going to page 49, we see our hero on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
> in 1957
> holding an M3 with a 50mm f/1.5 Summarit.
>     Now, to add more information, in the book "Eyewitness- 150 Years of
> Photojournalism" published by TIME Books in 1995, HBC is again holding an M3
> with the 50mm f/1.5 Summarit. FYI- The photo was by Dmitri Kessel.
>     Now, in John Morris's book "Get the Picture," we see him in Russia with
> what could be the famed 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar.
>     This is confirmed in Beaumont Newhall's autobiography "Focus" published
> in 1993. On page 158 he states HCB used "a 50mm 1.5 Contax lens fitting to
> his Leica." On page 159 Beaumont tells us HCB bought an 85mm f/1.5 lens in
> 1946. Since, only Leica made an 85mm f/1.5 lens in 1946, I assume it was a
> Summarex.
>     Lastly, in a photo, made in the late 50's or early 60's by Lisl Steiner
> shows HCB with a black M3 and a chrome 50mm collapsible Summicron.
>     What does all this mean? Absolutely nothing....because the most
> important lens is  the eye of the photographer, not what is on his camera.
> Happy  Snaps,
> Sal
>
>
hmmmmmm!! Me thinks I will dig my collapsible 50/2.0 out from the back of
the closet......

Steve
Annapolis