Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/06/13

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Digital Capture - Full Circle Back To Film
From: Jim Hemenway <jim@hemenway.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 16:27:39 -0400
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Jim - http://www.hemenway.com



"Leonard J. Kapner" wrote:
> 
> For those contemplating the migration from film to digital capture, it
> may be helpful to learn of one long-time Leica owner's experience (me)
> descending into the digital capture domain. Forgive me in advance if I'm
> tredding old ground, but I've only been a LUG member for several months,
> and I haven't seen much written on this subject.
> 
> Last year, I succumbed to the hype and purchased a Coolpix 995 for
> "casual" snapshot use. I used it seldom and found it to be "strange" to
> use compared to my Leica Ms and Rs. I didn't make many images with it
> and when the Coolpix 5K arrived, gave the 995 to son #2 and went to
> Yosemite with Coolpix 5K and Leica R for five days to do some a:b
> comparisons.
> 
> My conclusion? After a serious interval in the field trying to use the
> 5K (and a few hours with my wife's D1x, a power-hungry brick of a
> camera... I'd rather haul a Hasselblad!) I am full-circle back to film
> capture, for the following four reasons:
> 
> 1. Look-through viewfinders on the non-SLR digital cameras are uniformly
> terrible - where were the photographer-testers when camera designs were
> being thought through? Did the packaging engineers win?
> 2. LCD viewfinders are a joke - I'd rather use a Rollei TLR, it's
> brighter in daylight and much less granular. And they require far less
> battery power...  ;-)
> 3. Image acquisition average latency (elapsed time to AF "ready" light
> on) is excessive, in the range of 2-3 seconds, making the digital
> capture solution almost unworkable for anything other than landscape,
> posed portraiture or still life applications
> 4. Human interface to the onboard camera operating system software is
> cumbersome and non-intuitive - no way to conveniently work non-preset
> choices by "feel" alone; it's like buying a new "improved" computer
> keyboard and discovering that you're not able to touch-type on it!!
> 
> BTW I had an opportunity to "handle" a Leica Digilux 1 production
> prototype about 4 weeks ago when the new rep in our area happened by the
> local dealer while I was picking up something. Impressions are that the
> camera is poorly finished, "bricky" feeling, LCD is bigger, brighter,
> perhaps better, human interface to the on-board OS is a bit easier than
> the Coolpix, but latency and look-through viewfinder is still woefully
> poor and cannot compare to the immediacy and quality of M and R film
> alternatives.
> 
> My takeaway? Unless one is willing to spend well north of US$5K for
> premium-level non-Leica digital SLR rig, this technology is not ready
> for prime time just yet. That's why I've come full-circle back to film
> capture with my Leicas, for virtually every photographic application
> that interests me.
> 
> Anyone out there have a different set of experiences from which we all
> might learn? Does anyone think that these technology shortcomings are
> likely to change in the near future?
> 
> /Len/
> Leonard J. Kapner
> Tel: (310) 377-5060
> E-mail: ljkapner@cox.net
> 
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In reply to: Message from "Leonard J. Kapner" <ljkapner@cox.net> ([Leica] Digital Capture - Full Circle Back To Film)