Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/09/18

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Subject: [Leica] Where the Rolleiflex shines...
From: drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:25:50 -0400

Jan,

Nice images! 

I only shoot BW film in 120. For color I use digital. I like using
Rolleiflexes because I like waist level viewing. I seem to compose
better images on ground glass. Rollei's are quiet, solidly built, and
they're attention grabbers (which can be good or bad, depending on the
situation).  

Processing film is so much work I sometimes wonder why I bother. But
each time I force myself to use it I discover some rewards. Down the
road I may be thankful that I'm still mixing in some film shooting these
days. If I stay away too long I lose touch with developing. Even one
roll a month is enough to keep me up to speed on the details.   

I feel comfortable that film is archival. No special tools to look back
through your own personal history. Just a light source and the ability
to visualize inversely. Negs have their own special beauty. If you don't
handle them now and then, it's easy to forget. I particularly like big
negs. The bigger the better. 

I've always liked square format. I probably got hooked when I saw the
first picture I ever took with my parent's Brownie Hawkeye. Speaking of
which, I have handful of prints from that camera that are extremely
meaningful, even to this day. Is it possible to take too many pictures,
and thus dilute the value that fewer might have?  

Dave R 

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+drodgers=casefarms.com at leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+drodgers=casefarms.com at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Jan Decher
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 7:58 PM
To: lug at leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] Where the Rolleiflex shines...

Dave,
I feel just the same about Rolleiflex images.  See some stuff on my
Flickr
pages:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mittelformat/sets/72157600205838879/
Still have to upload this summer's stuff from England and Germany.
Are you on the Rollei Users Group?

For me B&W is clearly all about 6x6 Rollei.  With color negs & slides
Leica
brilliance wins.

I use digital mostly for my (zoological) work and from a
price-performance
reasoning it will most likely be the new Canon 7D.  Canon got a lot of
things right with that one (finally a decent viewfinder & built in
external
flash slave control all at 18 MP!).
Don't really need video in an SLR but it's nice for the occasional
animal
action sequence.
Jan

====From: "David Rodgers" <drodgers at casefarms.com>
...
Every time I use a Rolleiflex I mutter how "only 12 frames per roll" can
be limiting." (No 220 for me!). Then I look at the results and wonder if
it's just the opposite. There's a mysterious beauty in square BW negs
that are just big enough you can appreciate the contact prints without
the aid of a loupe. Not to mention enlargements, which shouldn't stand
up to digital prints, but somehow do and then some.
Maybe it's the level of effort it takes to get the end result that makes
me appreciate them so. Either that or Leica doesn't have a monopoly on
mystique :-).
...
Dave R

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Replies: Reply from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor) ([Leica] Where the Rolleiflex shines...)
In reply to: Message from wanderjan at gmail.com (Jan Decher) ([Leica] Where the Rolleiflex shines...)