Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/03/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]When I wake up in the morning I think I'd be happy to own an M8 but then I have this problem regarding the proliferation of the digital image. My problem is simply that the signal to noise ratio regarding digital images is so high I'm generally turned off from even looking at images unless I know their coming from a reliable source. I figured that an M8 in the hands of the M community would improve this situation but I think many have bought into the "get more for less" mentality which seems nothing more then another scam. As far as I have seen digital has disproportionately benefited the consumers of the snapshot rather then artists and professionals. Most bread and butter photographers when I have seriously asked feel like they were forced into the digital world without much benefit to them. Even at the higher end photographers are getting screwed. I have friends who have given up standing behind the camera because the image processing fetches a higher professional service fee, so they work the computers all day and get paid more then the photographers. When clients need more images or different ones from a particular shoot they go to him, he keeps the images and not the photographer. The photographer has become a technician and the computer operator has become the artist. My neighbor went so far as to start a business renting image processing equipment to the computer operators for commercial shoots. All I can say is that the $$$ is very good in the processing but not in actually using a camera. I see a different future for digital cameras where the term "camera" becomes meaningless, technical, and not artistic. The "camera" as we we have come to know it is no longer intimately tied to image making, rather the evidence suggests computer processing is where the images are created so however you get the image into a computer is fair play. The camera takes a back seat to the computer in this digital world and I don't believe this market trajectory will suddenly change, (so why should the camera survive?). The term digital camera doesn't even make sense to me anymore. The only hope is the continued drive people have for serious creative self-expression and self-exploration through images for which the computer still remains marginal. I see people doing less of this the more digital they become. At 10:14 AM 3/11/2008, you wrote: >The M8 has a more limited audience than Leicas of the past. That must be >a challenge for Leica. > >The M8 makes a lot of sense for someone who will photograph a lot before >the warranty expires or before a better alternative comes along. But >it's not like a film M that you could justify buying even if you were a >weekend photographer. You knew the film M would require little >maintenance and probably hold its value over time. A lot of people >bought film Ms and hardly used them. And film M's still have value >today. > >Even my 50-year-old plus film M is still a working camera. With a Noct >attached and my favorite BW film inside, it is still without peer. I >can't duplicate the image quality with software (although maybe someone >out there can). > >Gone, too, it seems is the limited edition market for Leica. I wonder if >we'll ever see a limited edition digital M. That would be good news >because it would mean digital was reaching maturity. I used to scoff at >things like Ostrich skin and Titanium shell on the M6, but deep down I >secretly wanted to own one. > >DaveR > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information Chris Saganich, MS, Sr. Physicist Weill Medical College of Cornell University New York Presbyterian Hospital chs2018@med.cornell.edu http://intranet.med.cornell.edu/research/health_phys/ Ph. 212.746.6964 Fax. 212.746.4800 Office A-0049