Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/01/13

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Subject: Re: [Leica] A few thoughts about flash
From: John Hicks <jhicks31@bellsouth.net>
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 21:20:28 -0500
References: <f.210f35cb.29735e9d@aol.com>

At 05:24 PM 1/13/02 -0500, you wrote:

>But then comes the issue of shooting for other people

  That was my experience too.
  While I've usually preferred available-darkness for my own work, along
with the inherent risk of dismal failures, the editors didn't see it that
way. Other than hard news shots in which a flash couldn't be used or "art"
features, for some obviously foolish reason they always wanted faces
well-lit and recognizable, plus they had the ridiculous notion that people
photographed in direct sunshine shouldn't have black, impenetrable shadows
on their faces.
  Thus there was a need to retreat to the old days of...dare we say
it..._fill flash_ of course along with the need for flash photography in
dim light. And without flashbulbs, fill flash in sunshine doesn't happen
with an M Leica.
  The use of color in news photography made things even worse; fill flash
was definitely needed and people indoors weren't supposed to be green.
  That pretty much killed off M Leicas for most daily news work.
  None of that matters today; M Leicas generally won't be considered
because they're not digital, not to mention the slow synch speed.
  Be that as it may....who's Leica's main customers? It sure isn't news
photographers. I suspect many Leica owners have gotten a bit turned off on
Leica because the incredible, wonderful camera ended up being quite a bit
less than wonderful for family snaps etc.
  So I think it's great if Leica can add FP flash with TTL auto and more
power than Olympus managed with the F280...without screwing up the rest of
the camera.


John Hicks
jhicks31@bellsouth.net

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