Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Can be found at http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=122160. Meeting occurred 13 May 2001. We had a good time eating lunch, passing around portfolios, telling tall stories. I shot everything handheld, giving up, no doubt, 2/3 of the capacity of my lenses. Given my stunted artistic capacity, there was no noticeable degradation in the aesthetics of my images. Shooting my Heliar 15mm into the light, I found that it did not resist flare, rather it embraced it like a hungry lover. Notice the halo of flare around RP Johnson's face. This is known as beatific optical degradation, but it is not grounds for canonization. My 15mm was upstaged by Patrick's (I didn't catch his last name) 12mm. My shots seem distorted enough, I can't imagine what a 12 would do. The group came up with some dicta for shooting with a superwide: 1. Don't bother framing the shot. Just point the camera AWAY from whatever DOESN'T interest you. Everything else is sure to be included. You will need to crop in any case. The finder is just there to look impressive. 2. Be sure to hold the camera at arm's length, possibly overhead or pointed back at yourself. This will ensure camera shake that will mask any deficiencies of the lens. Pointing it at yourself will ensure there is something in the foreground which interests you. 3. Pre set exposure and focus. Then you can use your expensive Leica like the Brownie camera you loved as a child. Just concentrate on vaguely pointing the camera in an interesting direction, and pressing the shutter at the right time. 4. Distortion is unavoidable. Get into it. Superwide shots are a way to get into the Kyle Cassidy mood, even if you are over 40. Put peoples faces as far away from the center as possible, otherwise they will look normal. A good time was had by all. We managed to pronounce no binding dogmas, and created no schisms among ourselves. Being a Seattle meeting, we suspected an unusually high number of liberals might have infiltrated our group, so we decided not to discuss politics. We did compare bags, handle Jeff Segawa's giant Fuji medium format point and shoot camera, and trade around some wild lenses. Between us, we own too much gear, but even if we sold it all, we couldn't have bought any of the super-yachts moored in front of the restaurant. This gave us a sense of perspective on our addiction. Regards to all, Mark Davison Seattle WA