[Leica] Cameras and TV

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

Anyone happen to watch "House" on Fox last night. The patient was a
photographer.

For those not familiar with "House" it's a drama. In each episode a
patient with a complex -- and often terminal -- medical condition is
admitted. It's up to Dr. House and his team to diagnose and save the
patient.  

While I'm sure the medical story line is always factual and
realistic......the photography sidebar in this episode was a bit of a
reach. Early in the episode the patient began photographing the doctors.
(Who on their death bed wouldn't keep clicking away??? My dying words
will no doubt be, "where's my Leica?")

Not surprisingly, prints appeared almost immediately. It's a one hour
show and with commercials and a medical story line they couldn't get
into the technical photography stuff. They probably didn't care that I'd
be interested to know they had an Epson 3800 handy in Medical Records
department. 

The first doctor discovered his portrait when it was hanging from a
string next to the patient. It was almost as though the patient had just
pulled it from a tray of fixer. (Again, who wouldn't want to develop
prints from a hospital bed??? My next to last dying words will no doubt
be, "I'm going back to Selectol".)

I assume the prints where chemical. After all, it's not necessary to
hang digital prints. But therein was my greatest dilemma. I couldn't
make a clear digital or film connection. 

The prints were BW. Perhaps they were printed on Crane Museo. I can't be
sure. The producers couldn't get Crane to pay for a plug. Why are
"artistic" prints never in color? 

The prints were very nice. Image area was 5x7 printed on 8x10 paper (or
maybe 8 1/2 by 11) The images had a very film-like border. It almost
looked like film printed through a filed out neg carrier. Or a contact
print from PN55. 

The photos looked like studio portraits. I hope my next hospital room is
equipped with a canvas backdrop. 

The camera used in bed was either a digital body....or a film body. I'm
not  familiar with Canon bodies, unfortunately. I did see the
photographer chimping, so maybe it was film. If so they must have had a
Jobo in the pharmacy and a Nikon 5000 in the OR. More likely, it was a
digital camera and someone had CS2 loaded on a their hospital PC. 

The brand of camera used was clearly Canon! They didn't black out the
letters on the camera like they used to do. Money must have changed
hands somewhere. I've noticed that on law enforcement dramas you'll
normally see Nikons. 

I've observed that if a TV program depicts a serious photographer
they'll show a Leica, or more often a Hasselblad. In the intro to
"House" the photographer used a Hasselblad during a studio shoot. That
established "professionalism". Obviously a Canon wasn't enough to do the
trick.

During the studio shoot the Hasselblad was activating strobes. Yet there
wasn't a synch cord or remote attached to a PC socket. They must think
we're idiots not to notice such things! It looked like a 500 or 501 but
I could have been mistaken. 

All in all this unrealistic treatment of photography made me lose
interest in the show. The real conflict in the drama for me was whether
or not all the photography was digital or film. The pictures looked
filmy, but the turn around was immediate. I knew I'd never have a
definitive answer so I fell asleep half way through the show. The
patient lived, I assume. 

DaveR