[Leica]: Doomed: Leica MP 0.58x

[kennybod at mac.com (Kenneth Frazier)]

> As B.D. keeps telling us, it is just a machine that performs a
function.
> Enjoy the machine for what it does.

My earlier comments about the demise of the MP reflected my appreciation
for "machines that perform a function," and do it well, and not so much
my particular concern about the fate of Leica, in general.

I am not a professional photographer.  My livelihood does not depend on
getting the shot and getting it printed or published in a timely manner
and in acceptable quality.

I simply like tools that do what they are supposed to do, and continue
to do it, day in, day out.

For instance, I do woodworking/cabinet making, and some years ago, I
decided I wanted to do it all "manually," using tools from another
generation.  I inherited several sets of tools from deceased
parishioners, who were cabinet makers and tool-and-die workers, Swedish
and German immigrants working in the hardware industry in New Britain,
CT.  The chisels, in particular, are of another generation...high carbon
steel that tarnishes, looks cruddy, but takes and holds the most
incredible edge!  Many of them are over a hundred years old, and they
still do what they were designed to do, and do it better than any of the
new "stainless" stuff.  (There are still a few companies manufacturing
the good stuff, and lots of folks who make their own.)

My IIIf's, M3, and M4, with "old" lenses, were well-designed, and
incredibly well-made, and they still do, as a tool, what they were
intended to do, and they will likely continue to do it, long after I am
gone.

They represent a way of thinking about a tool, a "machine," that I find
genuinely "human," and that, IMHO, fosters creativity, because they
force the user to think about the process, and the tool in the process.

Sounds a bit "pie in the sky-ish," I admit, but when we begin to lose
the well-made tools and machines, and the skills that go with them, I
think we lose something of ourselves as creative beings.

Using the "old" rewind knob, a la M3 and MP, requires more "engagement"
with the tool than does the later type, so I don't mind it.  I like the
movement and rhythmn of the process, the two-handed film dance...it
reminds me that I am doing something, the machine and I, together...

But, as my grandson keeps asking:  "Where do we see the picture?"  ;-)

My two cents, on a cold Saturday morning, when I could probably be doing
the laundry...

Peace,

Ken Frazier
Weston, CT  USA