Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/06/10

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Subject: [Leica] M's vs. 4x5 (?!?)
From: mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)
Date: Thu Jun 10 19:32:21 2004

On 6/10/04 10:52 AM, "Robert Palmieri" <rpalmier@depaul.edu> wrote:

> Folks - 
> 
> Well, I'm going shooting in an arboretum this weekend with one of my 4x5
> totin' buddies.  In classic David and Goliath fashion I've decided to
> bring nothing but Leica-related gear.  I'll be attempting to test a
> hunch of mine that under certain conditions (all objects of interest at
> relatively the same distance from the camera, no need to stop down too
> far, etc) our 35mm tools of choice just might be able to hold their own.


>snippet<
A hand held 4x5 like a SPEED GRAPHIC or LINHOF TECHNIKA or a compact
viewfinder/rangefinder probably-less technical camera (WISTA, TOYO, WISNER,
HORSEMAN) which needs a tripod or a full blown monorail bellows drop cloth
loupe not real outdoorsey what-have-you?
Its kind of possible to do "snaps" with earlier technical types of 4x5's
which could be compared with snaps with a Leica. Even with both on tripods I
for one feel snaps can be made with tripods and I have the images to prove
it.
But if he's focusing on a groundglass and waiting for stuff to happen in
front of his camera while you are moving around like a whiling dervish a
direct comparison can hardly be made. And he might win anyway.
Sometimes the tripod shootings are much more invisible or less noticed than
the whirling dervishes.

I'd say normally you sacrifice quality the smaller format you go in favor of
spontaneity. That's the going story. You are saying the spontaneity factor
means more to the shot than extreme richness of tonality and fine grain and
micro detail. (and I don?t buy the Ctein thing about larger formats have
less detail - it's bizarre)




Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/





In reply to: Message from rpalmier at depaul.edu (Robert Palmieri) ([Leica] M's vs 4x5 (?!?))