Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/02/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Interesting, 10 seconds to trim film for loading a SM Leica is not a big deal, but 1 to 3 seconds for a M7, ?M8 or DMR to turn on is an eternity. ?Interesting... Gene -------------- Original message from Marc James Small <marcsmall@comcast.net>: -------------- > There have been some unflattering comparisons of > the LTM cameras to the M bodies. Allow me a gentle dissent. > > First, it is an axiom of life that a warrior > learns to use the weapons available and at > hand. So, learn to use an LTM camera and the > difficulties just drop away. Two different > eyepieces, one for the RF and the other for the > VF? Sure? So what: the 1.5X magnification on > the later LTM cameras makes that RF more accurate > than those on even the M3. Clipping film to load > the camera? Yup. So what? I carry a Swiss Army > Knife for such chores, and it takes all of, gee, > 10 seconds? Separate slow-speed dial? Yeah. So > what? A warrior learns to use the weapons at hand. > > Yes, the Contax II was a more user-friendly > camera. It had a removable back. It had a > combined RF/VF, arguably the best in any > mass-produced RF camera, bright and huge. The > Leitz film cassette is from nowhere when compared > to the magnificent Zeiss Ikon cassette, later > thefted by Nikon and produced by them into the > 1980's, while the Ukrainian rip-off is pretty > good, as well. And in the Contax system, you can > put a cassette both as the film supply and as the > take-up, a really handy function if you are too > weak after seven days of photography > (har-har: seven days of photography makes one > weak -- Sorry for that one, Walt!) to rewind > the film. By 1940, most of the hard-country > photojournalists had switched from Leica to > Contax but the many virtues of the system are forgotten today. > > There is a second side to this. When I got my > IIIc, after decades of lust, I picked up a lot of > literature and learned how to flush the system > out with doo-dads and gee-gaws and forced myself > to learn to shoot as they did in the era of the > Korean War. A IIIc with an APDOO self-timer and > a Geiss Kontakt IIIc flash synchronizer is a > delight. Avoid the Leitz Imarect, as it can only > be called "lame" by charity, but there are other > auxiliar VF's including those from Astro, Carl > Zeiss, and TEWE which fill the bill > admirably. The delight of taking the IIIc on a > shoot is that the working is that of 1950. Want > a telephoto? Great! Pick up a Visoflex I, a > sports shutter release, and a 4.5/20cm Telyt, > and, my gosh, you might be back shooting the 1936 > Winter Olympics. In realistic terms, unless you > score a 4.5/21 CZ Biogon in LTM -- one of mine, > alas, was converted to M BM, but it is my regular > wide-angle for my M cameras -- the widest you can > reasonably go is a 2.8/3.5cm CZJ Biogon T or a > Jupiter-12, either of which works admirably. > > So, when I have somewhere to go which I wish to > document but where the results are of no fiscal > or societal value, I'm always split between the > IIIc and a Conax II. But then, there is always > that Werra 3, with its 1/750" Prestor. So little > time! So many choices! Best to take the > Hasselblad SWC or the Rolleiflex 2.8GX .... hmm. > > But do not sell LTM gear short. Wonderful > cameras, wonderful system, wonderful access to > some grand lenses. Want telephoto? I can do > 28/2600 on my Questar or 13/1000 on my Swift 831 > or 4/300 on my Pan-Tele-Kilar, not to mention 5/40cm with my Telyt. > > The IIIc and Contax RF cameras were fully evolved > systems. Do not sell them short. And it is a > worthy thing to learn how the great pictures of the past were made. > > Again, a warrior uses the weapons at hand. > > Marc > > > > > msmall@aya.yale.edu > Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information