Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Mon, 30 Oct 2000 21:57:36 +0100 Erwin Puts <imxputs@knoware.nl> wrote: > I a am surprised. A few years ago I gave some figures on this list and noted > that Kodachrome 25 had a byte count of 135 MB which is an amount digital > capure would not reach in eons. At that time I got ridiculed and some even > would me have ostriced from this list as being The Idiot of Tradition. Even > recently my ideas and facts about the level of image quality that can > produced by film and Leica lenses have been questioned to the extreme. Now I > present details from "conventional wisdom" (not my ideas, but industry > figures) and again I am approached as the person who should do his numbers > again. > Erwin, you either have to stop posting, or stop getting offended....take a break, have a beer, etc..... You are posting to a group of religeous fanatics...and these are worse than southern baptists, in that they don't even follow the same dogma.....we appreciate your "objective" reporting, when it verifies what empirically we all know (for example, your rangefinder/focal length/max aperture info verifies what I've told friends and customers for years....up to 50mm, the Leica has the edge....the 90 2.8, RF and SLR about equal in focussing accuracy, beyond that, FORGET LEICA....(yes, forget about that beautiful 135 apo, unless you're using it for landscape photography, but not at 1M/wide open!!!) But like other fanatics, when your "objective" views differ from the various dogmas (sp?), expect and receive criticism, professional and personal...I know I do.... I use Leicas. I use analog records. I use ONLY vacuum tube amplifiers, of my own design and construction. I use vintage Collins radio gear to operate CW (morse code), with vintage MECHANICAL semi-auto keys. I'd drive a Morgan if I had the choice. I have a vintage lugged steel Italian bicycle. I write often with a Parker fountain pen. I like only M2s and M4s. I use 60s-80s lenses, and I prefer chrome over brass barrels rather than alloy. I use Nikon Fs and F2s, cuz they're CLOSEST to the Leica in terms of construction and "attitude"...now for the important part: I use 3200 tmax AND Agfa 25.....I shoot handheld with a 90 f2 wide open AND on a tripod with a 50 at f8 (optimum, or close to it)...I enjoy "bar" photography, and also emulating a "view camera" with 35mm....both of which I've done very successfully with Leica.... But I don't CARE if digital/electronic/alloy/modern is better.....I ENJOY working with gear and methods that I consider to be from a better "time", as least from my ethno-centric-caucasian-male-in-USA view...admittedly biased! Consider yourself lucky to be in the company of folks that give a SHIT about ANYTHING... at least they'll argue with you....I work in a school of photography...they don't even recognize a Leica....nor do they acknowledge f-stops and shutter speeds most of the time...They're "into" neither reportage nor the finest in photographic quality....they are into "-isms" and politics and "gender issues" yadayadayada ad naseum.......but they shoot with an EOS rebel on "P", and blame the "lab guy" if their film doesn't "come out"> THAT'S the "threat" to photography, film AND digital...... And yes, we do appreciate your info....but many times we DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT...hehehe... I don't doubt that you're technically "correct" most of the time....I certainly don't have the knowledge to argue....but give me a choice between a mint current 90 2.8 and a late sixties fat 90 tele-elmarit in chrome over brass (ALSO MINT-hard to find) and see what I'll take (assuming it's for my own use)... I have access to an elaborate million-$$$ digital imaging lab....and I have the latest version of EVERYTHING on this P-500 machine I'm using right now....the only time I've OPENED photoshop in 2000 was to make a new label for one of my vintage telegraph keys....HONEST!!!...I can get a digital camera (any, I guess) TOMORROW at the tax payers' expense....and guess what?...I still don't want one....(wish I could buy Leica stuff that way, tho....I have to PAY for it....hehehe) I just don't want it. You mention convention wisdom....forget it....if ANY of us had ANY 'conventional wisdom', we'd forget about ALL this shit, get a real job, and get on with our lives/families/etc....(don't hold your breath) Best to all Walt in Denton, Tx.