Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/07/16

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Subject: [Leica] The Leica M8.2 Experience
From: r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor)
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:54:28 -0400
References: <DC4B73A4105FCE4FAE0CEF799BF84B36052E96B2@case-email.casefoods.com> <D87E9E4C-80A6-4149-AC3B-5B7F56E9B12D@comcast.net> <3cad89990907152028g3fa0d46eo7a44b727897634d9@mail.gmail.com>

I've been taking pictures for so long now, and having started well  
before the days of automation, it just seems natural to set everything  
up manually.

Regards,

Dick



On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:28 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:

> At least for the D300, there are four sets of settings that you could
> store, and load at a press of a button. Well worth doing. I have
> Wildlife, Street, JPG and General stored. After that, all you need to
> change is ISO and metering mode and you are done.
> Cheers
> Jayanand
>
> On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 11:05 PM, Richard Taylor<r.s.taylor at comcast.net 
> > wrote:
>> David - That's pretty much what I do with my D300.  I set ISO and  
>> aperture
>> for the conditions at hand and flail away!  I've even taped over  
>> one control
>> to keep from hitting it accidentally.
>>
>> ... not so sure about that statement about time.  You'd have a hard  
>> time
>> convincing me I could somehow revisit the lunch I just had.  Time's  
>> arrow
>> flies...
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dick
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jul 15, 2009, at 12:51 PM, David Rodgers wrote:
>>
>>> Richard wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Just the right functionality to do the job at hand simply,  
>>>>> elegantly,
>>>
>>> and at minimal cost, sums the concept up for me.  The M3 had it in
>>> spades.  The D700 almost has it and would if it were less complex
>>> functionally, the GRD2 has it too.<<
>>>
>>> Funny you should mention the D700 functionality. I've become so
>>> accustomed to using only the few functions that I need - when  
>>> using my 3
>>> R lenses -- that everything is amazingly quick and simple. I  
>>> mainly just
>>> change the ISO. I also have the function button programmed so I can
>>> quickly change the custom lens focal length (28, 50 or 90).
>>>
>>> Everything including WB and exposure are so right on most of the  
>>> time
>>> that I don't even think about it. Besides, I shoot RAW and can  
>>> adjust WB
>>> later. Sometimes, though it's rare, I'll adjust exposure  
>>> compensation,
>>> or bracket. It's getting so I know when the exposure might be fooled
>>> (even before I chimp).
>>>
>>> The camera uses average weighted or spot metering with non CPU  
>>> lenses.
>>> It doesn't call on a group of mathematicians to calculate  
>>> exposure. More
>>> like one guy using a slide rule. Yet he seems to know what he's  
>>> doing.
>>>
>>> There's something to be said for simplicity. All the stuff that I  
>>> don't
>>> use I don't miss. I call it the reverse 80286 effect. Back in the  
>>> early
>>> 80's I was content with my IBM 8086 PC. Then I got an 80286  
>>> machine and
>>> I didn't know how I survived before. Eventually I was never  
>>> satisfied
>>> with existing technology, because I always knew that something  
>>> better
>>> was on the horizon.
>>>
>>> Then I read Brian Geene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos" and I  
>>> realized that
>>> time doesn't really flow or have direction. Our minds are just  
>>> fooled
>>> into believing that. Physicists say that all that will happen and  
>>> all
>>> that has happened currently exists. We just remember the past, can't
>>> remember the future, and we think we're in the present, thus time  
>>> seems
>>> to have a flow.
>>>
>>> I don't really understand it, but Physicists are the same guy's who
>>> discovered those laws regarding why lenses can't be perfect, and  
>>> since I
>>> know they're right about that (based on my experience of owning just
>>> about every lens made at one time or another) I give them the  
>>> benefit of
>>> the doubt on the time thing.
>>>
>>> So I searched for and found a black hole in the bottom of my old
>>> Billingham bag (boy was it dark and empty) and I went back in  
>>> time. Now
>>> I don't remember autofocus lenses. I can't recall matrix metering. I
>>> don't know what I'm missing. I do, OTOH, enjoy the silky smooth  
>>> feel of
>>> the manual focus of Leica lenses, which BTW all modern non-Leica  
>>> lenses
>>> lack; and which seems to support the theory that we in fact might be
>>> going from a state of higher to lower entropy instead of visa versa.
>>>
>>> All those buttons on the D700 are for futurists, which I'm not. I  
>>> just
>>> love my Leica lenses. FWIW, the 50/2 Summicron, which really acts  
>>> like a
>>> 50 on the D700, is currently my favorite. It's like butter, and on  
>>> the
>>> D700 it's like a Noctilux. A buttery Noctilux that cost so much less
>>> than the real thing you'd need a slide rule to figure out the  
>>> savings!
>>>
>>> Dave R
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



In reply to: Message from drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers) ([Leica] The Leica M8.2 Experience)
Message from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor) ([Leica] The Leica M8.2 Experience)
Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] The Leica M8.2 Experience)