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User comments btil June 2003

Why the MP? You have to understand the M5 saga to answer that

C J, A large part of the appeal of the other M cameras is the relatively small, compact size. The M5 arrived on the market about two years after I bought my M4. It was larger, had the new strap lug arrangement, and was MUCH more expensive, partly due to the devaluation of the dollar. But the killer for me was the fact that the light meter needles were ( are ) nearly impossible to see with glasses. It was just too clumsy for me, and I suspect for others as well. But pehaps the biggest problem for the M5 was the technology that made the new generation of SLRs so attractive. Think about that one for awhile. This also hurt the sales of the Leicaflexes as well. I sincerely believe that the perceived profits from camera sales as compared to precision instrumentation made investments in the camera division a small priority with Leitz management. I also suspect that if the relationship with Minolta had progressed better, the camera division would have gone the same way as Zeiss and Kyocera.
 
Jeff

Where are my 5 stars? ====================================================

On the bottle of Hennesy.......
 
Dear Photo Phreak

Good points. I guess also with the M5 you either love it or hate it. And that is also the current situation with the M6 v M7 v MP debate. But I’m glad the RF camera, in all its forms, has come back so strongly in recent years, and that Leica had the ability to offer its loyal customers (or mugs depending on how you see it) a choice.

craig
 
I should have written to “placate some of the recalcitrants†Just knock one of my stars off.

Craig,
You can keep all five stars for using "placate" and "recalcitrants" instead of the more pedestrian "whining" and "a**holes". I appreciate a little more panache in the language. ALSO, many thanks to the other members (Photo Phreak and Justin and others) for the wonderful Leica education.

NEXT item is that my camera dealer (a former Leica employee) tells me that there will be a digital back for the M6/M7/MP in the near future. what do you think?
Colorado Jeff
 
David, It is indeed possible to anodize brass; that's the very material that B+W use for their filter rings. (Black anodized brass) It's good, strong and durable. Leica's black brass topped bodies were chrome plated in the 70's. (SL2 e.g.
Colin
 
Dear Jeff

I’m one of the recalcitrants so there’s a limit to the extent of any derogatory language which is acceptable.

>digital back for the M6/M7/MP in the near future< Yes intriguing little rumour which if true will certainly hasten the demise of some of our more mature and esteemed colleagues here on the M thread. “the recalcitrants’

If It works well enough and helps to pay the rent, why not?

My personal view is that digital photography (presently via a film scanner) is a great thing. Now I can use colour and with PS7 manipulate it like I can B&W in the darkroom. Furthermore, because of advances in inkjet printing technology, for the first time colour exhibition prints from 35mm can be easily printed on archive quality rag artist papers with light fast and stable pigments. Much less frustrating than three colour carbon printing.

35mm photography (and thus Leica) has, till now, been limited to a small corner of photographic practice. From a printmaking perspective, 35mm is essentially restricted silver gelatine including colour tripack materials and save for E. J. Wall’s Bromoil process. The medium of photography is thousands of times larger than this.

As you are now aware with your M6, Leica cameras are a superb platform with which to make images. If a digital M back is possible while maintaining the integrity of the user interface, then great. I’d rather use an M than anything else.

Now two important points for the record

The use of ultra sharp and APO Leica lenses for digital capture definitely WILL NOT and DOES NOT, I repeat WILL NOT, produce a higher quality digital image. This notion is just plain nonsense.

2nd point. 24x36mm sized chip sensor arrays inherently superior with regard to higher quality digital outputs, as apposed to APS sized chips. You are never going to cram a 24x36 chip into an M any way. This is a case where size does not (necessarily) matter. The only advantage to a 24x36mm chip is that it matches the 35mm film format, and therefore a focal length conversion factor for 35mm lenses does not come into play.

Contact me off list for info, which supports these assertions.
 
Craig;

Well articulated points. I'd like to add the following -

Digital backs - for my studio, it definitely pays the rent. It gives us an advantage over other studios that still haven't converted to digital. Our clients love the dramatically reduced "speed to market" (current retail buzz phrase).

While getting a digital capture on disc or transferred to an FTP site in a matter of minutes (after colour correction, minor retouching & conversion) compared to at least half a day for conventional photography (processing, select, scanning, colour correction, minor retouching) may seem irrelevant, it's proven to be an important point for our clients. When I founded the studio in '99, we were still shooting about 10% film. That number as of 2002 was reduced to zero. It's the rare client now that insists on film, even in packaging photography (which was one of the last holdouts against digital in my business).


Interface - to me, the reason why I still use Leica M's despite my access to digital gear is interface. For my own work (as opposed to client work, as mentioned above) I really don't care whether my capture device is a chip or chemical film. More important to me (for my personal shooting, anyway) is the ergonomics, size & speed at which the camera is ready to shoot again. I've yet to find a camera that achieves this as well as the Leica, for the kind of personal documentary work I do. An ex&le is long-term documentation of the Kendo [Japanese swordsmanship] dojo that I train at - they don't appreciate someone hauling big equipment around the dojo or a flash going off during sword matches. The Leica is the best tool for that job.

The cameras in my studio are very fine Hasselblads (several non-motorized bodies) with Phase1 digital backs. It is of course, a tethered system (attached to a Mac) so it's not useable for fast location, like the Kendo scenario above (altho' we've used it on location for more static work with a laptop). But it's perfect for studio work.

I shot with a Nikon Coolpix 5000 for half a year. A nice, little camera with a substantial (for a point & shoot) chip at 5mp. The ergonomics wasn't bad, it was small, so those were acceptable for the personal documentary work I do out of the studio.

Where the interface with it gets blown was the seriously slow lag time. It would not allow the capture of the "decisive moment" as the great HCB called it.

Another issue is I like to shoot with fast (800 ISO or above) films. When boosting the Coolpix to 800 ISO, the picture quality is horrendous (green, dark & noisy). And the relatively slow lens (compared to a Noctilux or Summilux) doesn't help either.

Interestingly, out of all the "pro-sumer" point & shoots we've tried at the studio, the Leica Digilux 1 is the favourite of my photographers. it has similar advantages & disadvantages as the Coolpix, but its lag time is quite short, making it easier to capture the right moment.


PS - sorry to get off topic here! I promise to post comments on my MP, which is arriving tomorrow at my dealer. Woo-hoo!
 
Jeff wrote:

NEXT item is that my camera dealer (a former Leica employee) tells me that there will be a digital back for the M6/M7/MP in the near future. what do you think?



===================================================



It saddens me that there is such a flaw in human nature that we spend so much time and effort speculating about such things instead of just patiently letting them happen. We have no real control and probably very little input concerning what the gnomes of Solms think will or will not sell profitably. And even less about how they choose to run their business for that matter.

So my thought is this. If you are interested in experimenting with digital, by all means go and buy an AVAILABLE digicam. Get one as simple or complex as you feel you need ( or want ). Then either add or make plans to add the necessary support hardware and software and HAVE FUN. If you find it enjoyable or useful, spend the time learning and improving your skills. When and if Leica makes a digi-back for whichever camera you want it for, you will then have the knowlege and skill to make good use of it.

Life is to short to wait and worry over what if. Go out and do it.
 
David, It is indeed possible to anodize brass; that's the very material that B+W use for their filter rings. (Black anodized brass)

==================================================== I believe the process is a black oxide rather than anodizing. But I could be mistaken.
 
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