Re: Leica at the crossroads: a photographer's perspective
- From: Mark Rabiner <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: The LEG <leica@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 23:41:55 -0700
On 5/17/05 10:42 PM, "Mark Bohrer" <lurchl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> typed:
> I found a Leica M3 in my parent's basement one summer day in 1967. Dad said
> my grandfather bought it in Heidelberg in 1954 along with a 50mm Summarit,
> 35mm Summaron and 135mm Hektor. Dad also said I could use it.
>
> When I took it to local Stern's Camera and Sound Center to buy film for it,
> owner Harry Stern offered me a job as a stock boy. I was 12, and Harry
> Stern's son Michael had yet to write his restaurant directory "Road Food".
>
> So I learned photography with that M3. Somewhere in there I switched to
> Canon FD and Nikon AutoFocus SLRs since the Leica couldn't give me
> affordable ways to capture the backcountry travel pictures I wanted.
>
> Photographing cross-country mountain bike races spelled the demise of my
> manual-focus Canon FD equipment, though I loved the F1n camera and FD 200mm
> f/2.8 lens. Nikon's 80-200mm f/2.8 ED-IF zoom and N90 took its place,
> though, and worked well until the digital revolution. At 2001's Sea Otter
> Classic, virtually every photographer had either a D1-series Nikon or EOS
> 1D. Heartily sick of waiting for 'chrome developing then scanning the best
> 100 or so race images, I bought a D1H in early 2002.
>
> Then came my wildlife epiphany: nesting birds and furry critters are cool,
> especially when they (mis)behave. But Nikon made very few VR lenses at the
> time, and Canon had the best line of big IS telephotos. So I bought an EOS
> 1D and 400mm f/4 DO IS with EF 1.4X II teleconverter.
>
> Today I use an EOS 1D mark II, EOS 20D and various EF lenses - usually the
> 500mm f/4L IS on the 1D mark II and 400mm f/4 DO IS on the 20D for birds
> and other wildlife, also the 24-70mm f/2.8L for people and products, and
> 70-200mm f/2.8L IS for bike races.
>
> I'd also kept up with Leica's M-series since I liked the sparkling
> 'fingerprint' of Leica images. But the recent loss of my M7, 90mm
> APO-Summicron and Tri-Elmar on a trip to New Mexico has me re-evaluating my
> equipment. Insurance has reimbursed me enough to replace the M7 and
> Tri-Elmar, and insurance cash for the 90mm APO-Summicron is coming. But
> what do I really use most, and is digital SLR quality enough?
>
> Leica purists will say using anything else is photographic heresy. Leica
> has been very slow to the digital market. Yet digital gives the quickest
> workflow and high enough quality for a more reasonable price. With the EOS
> 1D mark II, the camera's image quality starts to demand Canon's L-series
> lens quality: http://tinyurl.com/3zoq6 shows what's possible with 1D mark
> II and 500mm f/4L IS. The feather texture knocked me out when I first saw
> this image on my computer screen.
>
> Many pros have liked images from the full 35mm frame-sensored EOS 1Ds mark
> II and L-series lenses so much they've replaced their medium-format film
> gear with them.
>
> Yet Leica's just now releasing the DMR for the R8 and R9, and a complete
> R9/DMR digital camera will set you back $7500 for a 10MPixel camera with
> admittedly great manual-focus optics and APS-sized sensor with 1.37X crop
> factor. If you have a bag full of Leica R-lenses this may make some sense.
> But for the same price you can have a Canon 1Ds mark II with more pixels
> and a full 35mm frame-sized sensor. And Canon's autofocus EF lens line
> costs a bit less.
>
> Epson's RD-1 takes Leica M-lenses, but is a bit pricey at $3000 for a
> 6MPixel camera with a 1.5X crop factor. And there's no firm date for a
> digital M-camera from Leica.
>
> So I'm left with a quandary: what lost M-series gear (if any) do I replace?
> And with what?
>
> Expecting a digital M with APS-sized sensor next year, I could purchase a
> 75mm APO-Summicron to replace the 90mm and give roughly the same angle of
> coverage. A 75mm lens would have more depth of field than a 90mm, but I
> could live with that. The 90mm APO-Summicron gives great images, but
> becomes a 135mm lens with a 1.5X cropping digital sensor. I have the
> Tri-Elmar's focal lengths covered with EF zoom lenses, so I probably won't
> replace it. And I may buy another M7 since I love its features and quiet
> operation, even if it won't justify itself with images I can sell.
>
> Leica's missed the digital boat, to the alienation of their customer base.
> They're a specialty camera line without much hope of expanding their market
> share. I have a sentimental attachment to M-series equipment, but I can't
> justify the expense of gear that won't pay its way. And that's too bad.
>
>
> Mark Bohrer
> Mountain and Desert Photography
> www.mountain-and-desert.com
> Subscribe to my free newsletter for wildlife photo tips and print discounts!
> And see my show at REI Coop in Saratoga - images at
> www.mountain-and-desert.com/west.htm
>
Great shots on your site Mark! Birds and mammals and planes!
All taken with longer than 200mm glass it seems to me. Seems to average at
around 300mm!
Not one shot looks like anything resembling a job for a Rangefinder system.
Do we find the sparkling 'fingerprint' of Leica images anywhere on your
site?
I'll check out of Leica M if I were you. Why hang on?
You may love the tools but they are there to do a job.
But there are times when the tools are just fine.
But just a little quibble with semantics...
When you discover a new subject matter for your photos your present camera
or entire camera system does not "die".
The prints it helped create for you don't not instantly fade at that point.
The gear itself does not loose it's ability to crate viable images.
What happened to put it bluntly is you got bored with them and you had the
spare cash to be able to trade them in.
for the up to the minute stuff.
There's a feeling that it's impossible to make photographs with less then
what is felt to be up the minute gear but the fact is your cameras are doing
just fine. As are one would think the entire body of work you did with
them... Remaining quite viable.
Did the shots photographers started doing with VR lenses and Canons and
digital put what came before them in the dust? Did they have to throw them
out?
I think in comparision some of those prints still looked ok.
I think the history of bird and mammal and dirt bike photography imagery did
not change all that drastically VISUALLY. There were come issues of
convenience. Some ease technically.
The emphasis to me is on the prints. Not the gear.
Did you have to throw away all your non ant vibration and digital images
because the stuff you are not doing because of technological innovation is
putting them to shame? I think not.
I think though its natural for newer stuff to start replacing older stuff as
you get better as a photographer and just have more to choose from.
Boy the gear I've acquired in the past decade! Sure has not put much of a
dent in my portfolio. My camera bags look a lot different but my portfolio
stays pretty much the same!
That is 12 best shots taken since 1965. Or my 20 best. Or 50 best.
I think if you stuck with Leica M, Mark B. you'd not have a wildlife
website.
But all this other stuff just seems like love of gear. Not love of
photography.
I don't know what your prints look like but your images on your website
looks real nice on my screen.
I guess this is where I overstate my point but I think they'd have to look
even nicer if you were spending more time out in a blind and less time
inside at the terminal scouring the internet for the very latest high tech
gear to give you an excuse to sell off an entire system for.
>From where I sit Wildlife photography is like flying small planes.
It's all about putting the time in.
Flight time. Blind time. Same thing.
It's certainly weird that I should perhaps seem to take it almost personally
when I see on the internet people dismissing Nikon or Canon FD or
whatever... Speed Graphic - as "Dead" or whatever or in effect. I think the
geniuses who design and engineer these marvels if I was in the position to
bring them in coffee in a tray I'd be lucky. I'm sure I'd be low on the
waiting list.
I just hope that my commitment to my craft comes close to equaling theirs.
And I don't think it does. But I'm working on it.
I'm just wondering if ever I've made an image which is as beautiful as a
Leica MP itself! :)
Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/
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