RE: [Leica] Film "died" for me this week

[Clif Wright <skidoophoto@yahoo.com>]

Hey B.D., you won't hear me dissing digital. I'm on
the verge of the leap with the Nikon D70 myself (Not
at the expense of my M) but, dang, that post was just
so entertaining to read. I really don't care if Mark
shoots with a M, D100 or an oatmeal box. 
Take care,
Clif Wright

- --- "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Yah, right Cliff - BTW, is this the same Mark
> Rabiner who went utterly
> loopy when he bought a Nikon D100? :-)
> 
> And about film dying -
> I was shooting up to 25-30 rolls of Tri-X at a time,
> over a 24 hour
> period for clients. I was shooting it at 800 asa,
> mostly in low light,
> shooting with three Ms, three ASPH lenses and a
> couple other lenses, a
> pair of Nikon F100s and two Nikon lenses. And at
> this point, my Ms are
> gathering dust, and digital is giving me BETTER low
> light results than
> film gave me - there is simply more dynamic range
> with the digital than
> there is with pushed tri-x; there is better,
> smoother, wider gray scale
> tonality. 
> 
> Now, would I like to be shooting with that digital M
> they sell in Middle
> Earth and we may all someday get to use - sure; I
> still love those Ms. 
> 
> But reality is reality - for low light, black and
> white work, digital is
> superior.
> 
> B. D.
> http://home.earthlink.net/~bdcolen/BOOTCAMP
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On
> Behalf Of Clif
> Wright
> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 4:18 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Film "died" for me this week
> 
> 
> > > I'll keep a few for my artsy work   
> 
> > > Richard Clompus
> > > Roanoke, VA
> 
> Oh man, Rabiner, I'm a fan.  Keep ranting the rant!
> Somebody give this guy a column. 
> Regards,
> Clif Wright
> 
> > 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 wasn1t 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
> > 
> > 
> 
=== message truncated ===


=====
http://www.pbase.com/clifwright

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