RE: [Leica] Bokeh controversy

[rusty hubbard <rustyhub@yahoo.com>]

That makes alot of sense....the cost of the Leica and
lenses cannot be justified by me...so I'm going to
sell my M6 and just buy some Nikon primes. My FM2 is
not much bigger..or that much noisier.  I've been
happy shooting with zooms for a while.. if i shoot
with my ~sharp as a tack~ Summilux for much longer,
I'm going to have to find some way to pay for some
more very expensive lenses!! So.. I better get rid of
them now..  
Rusty Hubbard 
- --- Dan Honemann <ddh@home.com> wrote:
> Ted,
> 
> I can listen to a piece of music and enjoy it
> immensely, and listen to
> another piece and find no pleasure in it.  I can't
> say what the difference
> is--I can only say I enjoy the one more than the
> other.  Now, a musician who
> has studied and analyzed music can very likely tell
> me this difference: just
> because I cannot identify it doesn't mean it isn't
> there.
> 
> The same may be true of photographic images.  Why
> does this one stand apart
> from the others?  We don't know why--it just does. 
> But perhaps on closer
> investigation there are components that explain it. 
> And perhaps the
> treatment of the out of focus areas is one such
> component, no less important
> than the contrast and edge sharpness of the
> foreground subject.
> 
> As I wrote in a previous post, I have come to
> discover--at least thus
> far--that one of the most significant components
> which distinguishes the
> image I might call art from the one that is merely
> another snapshot, or the
> image that stays with with me from the one I soon
> forget--is the quality of
> _light_: how it falls on the subject and the
> background, the shadows it
> creates, the direction its coming from, and so on. 
> A second important
> factor--again, for me--is composition.
> 
> Film resolution, contrast, bokeh, tonality--all of
> these undoubtedly play a
> role as well.  And I have to agree with Doug that
> there are times when they
> can make the difference.  But that is only when the
> light and composition
> are right.
> 
> When shooting, we can attend to light and to
> composition.  These are factors
> very much within our control.  But we can't do
> anything about bokeh, just as
> we can't exceed any of the limitations of the
> equipment we are using.  And
> so we hope to find optics that won't get in the way
> of these components that
> are largely outside the scope of our control.
> 
> Did HCB worry over this?  Of course not--he didn't
> have to!  He shot with a
> Leica!  :)
> 
> I would submit that if optical characteristics--the
> sorts of things that
> Erwin is so versed in analyzing and explaining to
> us--play no real role in
> image quality, then we have wasted a great deal of
> money buying Leica
> lenses.  Even if we argue the ergonomics of the
> tool, how quiet and
> unobtrusive it is, and how reliable, that still
> doesn't justify spending
> thousands more for Leica lenses over Konica or
> Cosina offerings.
> 
> And maybe we'd be right to conclude that! 
> Personally, I wouldn't know--I
> haven't studied images made from a Leica 35 next to
> those made from the same
> focal length Konica--all other things being
> equal--to see if there is indeed
> a difference.  Instead, I trust Erwin, Johnny, Jim,
> Austin, Doug, you and
> all of the other very intelligent and experienced
> gentlemen who tell me
> there is a difference and who have discovered
> through trial and error that
> there is no better tools for capturing images than
> those made by Leica.
> 
> Does that mean Leica lenses, with all their
> wonderful bokeh and the rest of
> it, are an absolute requirement for producing
> memorable images?  Of course
> not.  The one factor that can't easily be measured
> but outweighs all others,
> even light and composition, is _inspiration_, and
> Kyle proves to us again
> and again that inspiration overcomes any compromises
> imposed by less than
> perfect tools (and they are _all_ less than
> perfect).  Even toycamera.com
> proves that.
> 
> So why do we buy Leica glass?  Some say bokeh, some
> say resolution, some say
> lack of distortion, but ultimately it is simply
> because we can afford it.
> And we choose to buy it because shooting with the
> very best equipment is
> enjoyable, a pleasure which inspires its use.
> 
> Dan
> 
> 
> 


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