Re: [Leica] M7 and "Laziness"

[Darrell Jennings <darrell_jennings@yahoo.com>]

Well said Alan, and welcome to the group.  Lots of
folks have complained about the M7 (and probably did
every M ever made)...but Leica is doing some things
right because they are still attracting new users from
Nikon, Canon, Minolta and others. I am new to Leica as
of two years ago and could have gotten a F5 or top of
the line Canon kit for less than I spent on my Leica,
but that was never even a consideration. I don't have
an M7 yet, but I'm glad that they made it, and will
certainly buy one at some point. If you want an SLR
there are lots of pretty good cameras. IMHO if you
want a professional level 35mm rangefinder there is
really only one choice...

- --- Alan Weinschel <alan_weinschel@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am new to this group, having gotten my first Leica
> just a few weeks
> ago, an M7.  I have used Nikon gear for years and
> tried out Contax G2
> for a year and a half. The issue here, I submit is
> what do you want to
> control -- not laziness. I gave up the AF of the
> Contax for the
> increased control of the Leica -- knowing precisely
> where you are
> focused and being able to look at a DOF scale. Any
> built in metering
> system, whether AE or not, can cause laziness if
> what you end up doing
> is using the camera as a point and shoot. Thinking
> that if you just
> twist the dial until you're matched that your
> exposure is "correct"
> won't give you a good image if you don't think about
> the scene's
> brightness or lack thereof or precisely where you
> want to take your
> measurement -- so its possible to be lazy with any
> system. Indeed, when
> I was learning photography (which was before good
> built in meters, the
> ultimate laziness was not using a meter but relying
> on a sort of sense
> of what the scene needed for exposure -- of course
> that led to many
> improperly exposed frames. At the other end of the
> spectrum, the Nikon
> F5 metering system may be the best I've seen in
> terms of not having to
> think too much and being allowed to concentratre
> more on composition.
> It has an uncanny ability to look at the scene and
> expose properly even
> when it is way off of 18% gray.  But even that
> system requires thought
> about where to meter, where to focus, etc.  The
> point is I don't
> consider myself lazy because I have an M7 or because
> I sometimes use an
> autofocus, auto everything. Just that my limited
> brain cells are doing
> different things with different cameras. 
> 
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