Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/04

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Film "died" for me this week
From: "Art Sala" <artsala@iqmail.net>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 07:55:52 -0800
References: <BC461610.6404%mark@rabinergroup.com>

If I'm ever due in court, I would definitely have Rabiner represent me!

Arturo

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Rabiner" <mark@rabinergroup.com>
To: "leica-users" <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 3:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Film "died" for me this week


> On 2/1/04 9:32 AM, "rclompus@cox.net" <rclompus@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I had the opportunity to try out and view some 8 1/2 X 11 color prints
> > from the Canon Rebel with the $100 18-55mm lens.  The whole deal
> > costs $999.  I was blown away with the quality and depth of the photos
> > from such a cheap outfit.
> >
> > I have been in love with Leica M and R since the late 1980's when I
could
> > finally afford to buy the bodies and lenses I needed for my personal
> > photos.  I have multiple bodies and over two dozen lenses.  It all
> > changed today.  I'll keep a few for my artsy work but the rest will
> > probably go.  I know the cheap Canon body and lenses will be worth
> > nothing in a few years but I'll be taking more photos and enjoying
> > photography more.  I never bought equipment for investment purposes.
> >
> > I wish Leica had an alternative but that was not meant to be for me.  I
> > donated my extensive Zone VI darkroom to my daughter's high school
> > this year.  Silver halide is wonderful but it "died" for me this week.
It's
> > all
> > in the mind but what a tidewater change for me.  My next investment will
> > be in the new Epson 4000 printer to supplement my P2200.
> >
> > Richard Clompus
> > Roanoke, VA
> >
> > --
> > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
>
> This of course is a real pain in the ass thing to say on the Leica Users
> List but when this kind of post happens I wonder and my question often has
> been this in effect:
> How much died?
> Was he a great person with a great future? A great loss?
> How tragic of a thing are we really talking about here?
> Perhaps this person was slight and is finally being put to of a long drawn
> out misery.
> We should cry a whole lot less maybe.
>
> Are we having a big funeral for what lets face it had been a fairly small
> commitment in the first place? I hope not!
>
> Had they been in their darkroom cranking out 16x20's every weekend and now
> they're ratcheting out even more exquisite reams of A3's instead as they
> answer their email?
>
> Had they been shooting a brick of Kodachrome every week but now wearing a
> necklace of compact flash cards around their neck like dog tags?
>
> When you see a post like this it strongly implies the PROCESS let them
down.
> Has been proved mediocre.
> The new one is taking over as it reigns supreme.
>
> This implies strongly the strength in the new technology and the weakness
in
> the old.
> But when I ask if I get an answer it's amazingly often a sheepish "No
they'd
> not really been using their cameras that much anyway for quite some time.
> The darkroom had been sitting mainly dormant.
> They have no real body of work
> No stack of prints to show friends when they come over.
> No "book" as in prints stuck in pages.
> No tray (round of 80 slides to stick on a projector). Or Pages of slides
or
> in boards.
> No website.
> Nothing uploaded much of anywhere.
> Not much of nothin.
> They are 4x6" once every month or so minilab for the most part people.
>
> So I wonder; How much Tri X had he been shooting?.
> ...Before giving it up for charge coupled devices.
> Did they have so much Dektol in your blood that now they're going to go
cold
> turkey? !!
>
> I'm just guessing no -
> It's a new hobby to replace one that wasnąt really there.
>
> Two dozen lenses? That's a sure clue.
>
> Of the two dozen pro's I know personally locally and globally none of them
> come close to using or owning Two dozen Leica lenses for their shooting
that
> I can think of.
> Is this the death of a Leica shooter?
> Because it just sounds like a funeral for a Leica collector or Leica buyer
> and seller. A Leica dabbler.
>
> 24 lenses!
> That's 3 times 8!
> 4 times 6!
> Enough glass for 3 4 5 6 committed Leica shooters!
>
> How anyone can look me straight in the face and put out the phrase "Canon
> Rebel with the $100 18-55mm lens." as a balance of some kind against a
more
> than abundant setup of Leica gear is beyond me!!! What could be the
> correlation between one of those cheap plastic zoom lenses and any Leica
> glass ever made including wale blubber incrusted?
> ...A "Rebel" against an M or R? How do they in any way relate?
> Opposites perhaps?
> That's pretty simple actually!
>
> But as I said earlier when someone says they're going digital now I say:
> "Really how lovely!!!"
> "Lets look at your prints!!!!!!"
> I love to see how the two technologies compare.
>
> I LOVE to see how the new A3's (11.7x16.5") and letter sized prints stack
up
> against the old thick 11x14's and 8x10's.
> They stick out on all sides by about 3/4s of an inch and get all crinkled
at
> the edges that's how!
> I think plenty of people who struggled in the darkroom do fine at their
> computer. Maybe printing now for the first time.
> But also very much visa versa.
> They are just tools put into the hands of the unskilled and uncommitted to
> produce very casual results. Hopefully to be traded for something else
> sooner than later. And without making a Federal case out of it.
>
> Mark Rabiner
>
>
>
>
> Mark Rabiner
> Photography
> Portland, Oregon
> http://rabinergroup.com/Catagorypages/PersonalWork.html
>
> NO ARCHIVE
>
>
>
>
> --
> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html

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