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 that the topic should come up today. My IIIf came home today after a couple of years at camp having a light leak investigated. They really do feel wonderful in the hands, so small and solid. I trotted it back out today at lunch for a little street work. Hacked some leader off a roll of Fujicolor 400 and it loaded just fine (so far as I can tell). Afraid I REALLY do miss exposure automation. (Use an M7 most of the time) I have little feel for light changes without using a meter. That makes street work among high rises a real exposure pain. Will see how bad in a couple of days. My other complaint is the viewfinder. Everything is tricky with glasses. Today, I was using an old W-Nikkor 35/3.5--a really tiny thing. Viewfinder is Nikon Varifocal. Again, use with glasses is frustrating. It makes me want to try contacts. I've been told that the little CV 28/35 Minifinder offers better relief. Ric Carter http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/ricc/ On Feb 17, 2009, at 3:56 PM, Marc James Small wrote: > 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