[Leica] Re: Ted Grant On Lens Switching

[lowiemanuel at yahoo.ca (Emanuel Lowi)]

Ted Grant  wrote:

> 
> Marc James Small  said: a whole bunch of stuff from
> my dark and enlightened
> past. :-)
> Subject: [Leica] Ted Grant On Lens Switching
> 
> 
>  > Second, weren't you the guy who first suggested
> the idea of a 35mm camera
> > to Oskar Barnack?  I recognize that you were then
> in late middle age, but
> > still ... you SHOULD recall those days as
> brilliantly as you do that day
> in
> > 1789 when you photographed those Montgolfier
> brothers with that very first
> > balloon.  (Being Canadian -- and thus
> by-definition bilingual -- I am sure
> > that the Parisian mob merely regarded you as
> eccentric and not as a
> > dangerous agent from Albion Perfide, a charge you
> could easily refute by
> > pointing out that your home was in a section of
> North America not yet to
> be
> > settled for another forty years or so.)<<<,,,
> 
> 
> Marc,
> I have to tell you it was tough dealing with some of
> these old time guys,
> actually damn near as tough as some of these modern
> young time guys! ;-)
> 
> It was tough dealing with old Oskar who wasn't a bad
> old fart, a little
> eccentric,  but I gave him the line on requiring a
> smashing good lens as
> fast as possible because the film in those days was
> so damn slow you could
> hardly make an exposure of slow moving molasses on a
> -40 degree day!! So he
> thought about an f 4.0 Noctilux would be fast
> enough.
> 
> I responded, " Hey Oskar mine herr, fast, like f
> 1.0!" And he near choked on
> his Warfsteiner beer!  Then he laughed saying,
> "Domkoff Kanadian, not so
> fast!! F 4.0 will be fast enough ya?"  So that's why
> it took till the early
> '70s before the
>  f 1.0 Noctilux appeared! ;-) And I might add,
> designed by a "domkoff
> Kanadian!": ;-) Well OK  Kanadian-German! ;-)
> 
> As far as those crazy French brothers and their
> flying balloon? Hell I had
> more trouble with them as they kept wanting to  have
> a brie cheese lunch
> with fresh bread, pears and fine white wine. :-) I
> mean if there was a
> flying cop shop those guys would've been arrested
> for flying pissed more
> times than you can imagine! :-)
> 
> >>a delightful swill to enjoy after a hard day on
> the pavé shooting
> large-format glass plates of those brothers and
> their flying
> > machine.<,
> 
> Naw it wasn't that, it was trying to get those tiny
> glass plates to fit in
> the back side of the ''Leica 00" model. Like oh oh!
> damn dropped it again!
> ;-)
> 
> >>> Aren't you approaching your 250th birthday?  Or
> should that be the
> 300th?
> > You ARE more than a bit evasive on this, Ted, but
> we wish to appreciate
> the
> > event and to honor you appropriately.  And, in the
> end, enquiring minds
> > want to know!<,,,
> 
> Well I'm quite sure as a military man you know how
> General Patton considered
> himself re-incarnated several times as a General in
> other lives while
> leading men into great battles.
> 
> However, in my case I didn't lead them into battle
> as I was an early battle
> photographer! A sharp chisel and hard hammer
> chipping battle scenes quickly
> as they unfolded before me and the General. :-) So
> given one re-incarnates
> something like every 200-300 years or so, I'm not
> sure exactly how old I am.
> So to avoid any confusion may I suggest, if this
> evening you feel like
> raising a glass in honour of my birth whenever the
> hell it was, please be my
> guest! As I'm going to have one with or without you!
> ;-) Thank you kind sir!
> :-)
> 
> ted

!!! ;-)

EL
mtl

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