Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Afterswift@aol.com wrote: > > After selling all my Leica stuff some time ago I feel ready to dive into the > digital arena. After extensive research of all the mid-range digicams I feel > this 5050 would suit me. I've worked out in my mind how I think I could best > adapt it to my style of photographing. > --http://wrotniak.net/photo/c5050/c5050-leica.html > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Frankly the guy who sold all his Leica equipment really isn't a Leica > person. He never should have bought it in the first place. You use a Leica because > of its lenses, that's the first thing a Leicaman understands. No other 35mm > camera has that level of quality. Second, you use a Leica because you want > dependability year after year. Third, you use a Leica because you want the even > exposure of a focal plane shutter that runs horizontally. Fourth, you use a Leica > because there's always someone around who can repair it good as new. Fifth, > you use a Leica M because -- even the M7 -- does not permit electronics and > battery dependence to totally immobilize the camera. There are still plenty of M6s > around that are all mechanical with only advisory TTL metering. > > L'Envoi: A Leica is one thing. Everything else is another. The folks who > appreciate Leicas use them. Those who don't, sell them or gloat that they own > them. It's like heaven and hell. People who wind up in either place prefer to live > one place or the other, as Bernard Shaw says. Everybody, according to Shaw, > lands in Heaven. Those who are bored with Heaven voluntarily choose the other > place. Hell is the place of eternal illusions. Heaven is the place of those > who appreciate reality -- who are the masters of reality. > > Photography can get you into deeper thinking. Which is great! > > br The point of someone leaving heaven to go to hell because that person is just bored with it does OK with the way I see it, br. You've got hell filled with people that would rather fry then be bored for one second. I can easily see that. I don't know if we are talking about that guy who was selling all that Leica stuff a week or two ago all in "mint condition" because of whatever reason. The mint condition bugged me. Somehow i got the feeling that he pampered that stuff knowing that this day would come and come soon. I've seen it done many times by people i know locally. I'm sure there were lenses there which didn't get very much light put through them. As I've called it before I still see it that way. Playing with money. Put that money in camera form for a while. Then another camera system. Then a collection of nice pens. Then back to money again as the stock market gets more interesting. "Leica futures are doing very well I'll take an MP and some porkbellies" This would be no problem to me it's their business but we hear it sometimes in subtle ways that the system let them down darn it. Didn't do what id needed to do. At his age his eyes were getting tired. Some sick excuse but usually at the expense of the gear. What the Leica M system lacked was an ability to spontaneously turn into another cool camera system on the spot. A new toy. It lacked the ability to just be something else. To these people I say "Show us your prints" because invariably there aren't any. Unless snapshots count. The prints we'll see will indicate a commitment to photography of 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. And could have been done with a point and shoot. And probably were. Its interesting because now an insult to Leica is an insult to some people i actually know over there in key positions. I like to defend them they deserve some defence and don't deserve the cheap shots they constantly get. Its not the collectors that get me. It's the traders. Mark Rabiner Portland, Oregon USA http://www.rabinergroup.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html