[Leica] Owl thanks everyone for their help. He has ordered a Leica M from Red Squirrel.

[owl at postmaster.co.uk (John Owlett)]

"Pooh!"

No answer.

"Come on, Pooh, wake up!"

"Whassamarrer?  Go 'way!"

"Come on, Pooh," repeated Rabbit.  "It's March.  It's Springtime.  It's time 
to stop hibernating."

"Are you sure?  What's happening anyway?"

"Owl has completed his Quest, and ordered a camera.  He's bubbling with 
enthusiasm and wants to tell everyone about it."

Pooh decided that there was no way that Rabbit would let him sleep so, 
stopping only to pick up a jar of honey from the kitchen, he followed his 
friend out into the clearing in the Wood.  Owl was there on his 
pontificating branch, looking Very Excited Indeed, and the other animals sat 
around, trying to look interested.

"Let's get this clear, Owl," said Rabbit.  "It's right that you should thank 
the LUG for its help.  LUG members will likely be pleased you have found the 
camera you want; and those who do, or may, visit London will file away your 
good experience with Red Squirrel for reference.  But they don't want all 
the details.  One paragraph on what you didn't choose, one paragraph on what 
you did, and one paragraph on any remaining questions.  That's all."

"But I was planning to set the Quest in context, beginning with the 
development of glass-making in the Neolithic Fertile Crescent ..."

"Three paragraphs.  That's all."

"Oh well," said Owl resignedly.  "Is everyone ready?"

"I suppose so," said Pooh, looking forlornly at his now-empty honey jar, 
"though I don't understand why you were so concerned about camera weight.  
We bears never have any trouble lifting heavy things ... like full honey 
jars."

"It's a matter of the Necessary Dorsal Muscles," said Owl, "and it was the 
aspect of my original plan that LUG members didn't question.  Some thought 
that my buildqualititis was extreme, and they were emphatic that APS-C 
sensors, or even Micro Four-Thirds sensors, were adequate for almost all 
amateur needs ... so they suggested several less expensive cameras, which I 
tried.  I didn't like one of them: the Fuji X-Pro1 has a cuboid body ..."

"A what?," groaned Pooh.

"... and the bottom left front corner pressed into my wing when cradling the 
lens.  Two -- the Sony RX1 and the Ricoh GXR -- couldn't take an EVF and a 
flash unit at the same time; I understand that few Leica users actually use 
flash, but I'm not ready to give it up yet.  The RX1 satisfies my 
build-quality desires and is ultra-lightweight, but not a system camera; the 
Nikon D800 (which I really wanted to like) seems just as well built, and is 
supremely flexible, but -- if weight is a factor -- it seems at least 200 
grammes too heavy.  In fact, while I was at Gray Squirrel's Nikon shop in 
Westminster, it was the D7000 whose handling I liked most."

"Why do you call him Gray Squirrel?" asked Roo.

"Because his first name is Gray, and because all his customers Squirrel away 
their receipts, so that their spouses won't find them.  Anyhow, there were 
three cameras whose handling I liked a lot: (1) Leica M9, (2) Nikon D7000, 
and (3) Olympus OM-D.  Since Leica has

(a) the handling I like most,
(b) a build quality at least the equal of a Nikon D4,
(c) a smaller size and lighter weight than my present cameras, and
(d) a reputation for consistently excellent lenses

... my decision wasn't difficult.  Especially as I'd found Red Squirrel 
(Ivor Cooper of Red Dot Cameras) to be a satisfying camera dealer.  He asked 
a few questions to find out what I was interested in, then handed me an M9 
and asked me to take a picture of the shop across the road.  It was a 
delight to use: the split-image rangefinder worked just like the Nikon 
P-screen I use in my F3, and I thought the lens tab was super.  It was good 
to be able to see outside the frame of the picture, but there seems to be no 
way of previewing depth of field ... I guess that's swings and roundabouts.  
While I was enjoying myself, Ivor was making sure that my posture and grip 
were suitable for a Leica, and that I'd focused accurately.  Then, since I 
was concerned about weight, he got out a kitchen scale to compare my F3 + 
50mm f/1.4 with an M9 + 50mm Summilux.  Nikon 1070g, Leica 920g.  Ivor 
already had 60 preorders for the Leica M, and so a waiting time of several 
months, but I was welcome to pay a deposit and join the queue.  Eventually, 
after further experimenting, and much surfing, I did just that."

"But, Owl dear," said Kanga, "if you liked the M9 so much, why have you 
ordered an M?"

"Because, besides walkabout and portraits -- for which the M9 would be fine 
-- I like to take close-up pictures, mainly of flowers and fungi.  And, as 
well as having a sensor that is three years newer, the M is the First 
Full-Frame MILC."

"What's Milk got to do with anything?" grumbled Pooh.

"Mum," said Roo.  "Why is Pooh behaving like a bear with sore head to-day?"

"Because he IS a bear with a sore head," said Kanga.  "It's the first day 
after hibernation.  Don't worry; he'll be fully awake soon."

"MILC stands for Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera," said Owl.  "It's a 
name the camera makers came up with, since the Internet standard name, 
Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens, has an unfortunate acronym.  It 
might, or might not, be the future of single-lens photography.  And I hope 
that it will enable a Leica M to do take close-ups"

"That was a paragraph?" expostulated Eeyore.  "That was a paragraph of the 
sort that makes Finnegans Wake so memorable!"

"Talking to Ivor," continued Owl, who clearly had a sentence to two still to 
go, "it seems that there are differences in custom between most Leica users 
and most SLR users.  Only about 5% of his customers buy flash units, whereas 
I follow the custom of using a little blip of flash to fill in the shadows.  
And most Leica users rarely use tripods: without mirror slap they can can 
hand-hold slower shutter speeds.  And they like wide-aperture lenses -- the 
most common 50mm he sells is the Summilux -- not for swank, but because they 
like to blur their backgrounds."

"Blur their backgrounds?" said Piglet quizzically.  "Is that like your 
trying to cover up those hacking allegations from your youth?"

"That was Network Security Research," said Owl, "but it does lead into my 
remaining questions.  One benefit of digital photography -- which I hadn't 
realized -- is that you can change ISO setting from one picture to the next. 
 In the case of the M, I've seen articles saying that you can use ISO 3200 
for a shot without losing too much quality.  Does this mean that one of the 
benefits of a wide-aperture lens -- use in low light -- doesn't matter so 
much anymore?  The other benefit -- shallow depth of field -- continues of 
course.  Now, I've been using a 50mm f/1.4 lens as my walkabout lens for 
nearly 15 years, mainly for low-light reasons, so there's a case for getting 
a Summilux.  But might I get away with a cheaper and (whoopee!) lighter 
Summarit lens?  Or will the style of Leica photography suck me in, and I'll 
lust after blurred backgrounds?"