[LRFlex] Re: Reichmann, Doug Herr and digital cameras

I can see Doug doing the same thing except I would hope Doug would not be irrate enough to use his Leica: instead use the Canon to pummel him. Now obviously the Canon would not stand up to this type of abuse so I would assume Doug would take the remaining strap of the canon and scourge the hell out of him.

All joking aside there is no substitute for proper technique. My wife has the digital EOS and while her pictures are quite good, her lack of experience is very prevalant.I also have the same lenses and camera as Doug, unfortunately I don't have near the skill that he or many of the others on this forum have. So I will continue to pratice, pratice, and pratice some more.


From: Douglas Herr <telyt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: leica_reflex_forum@xxxxxxxxxx, leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [LRFlex] Re: Reichmann, Doug Herr and digital cameras
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 07:52:50 -0700 (GMT-07:00)

Feli di Giorgio <feli2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I stumbled across Michael Reichmann's review of the latest digital
> Canon EOS1D Mark II wiz bang digital camera.
>
> As I read the following paragraph I imagined him and Doug Herr
> encountering each other somewhere in the snow covered wilderness.
>
>
> >Autofocus
>
> >The processor that performs autofocus on the Mark II is rated as being
> >twice as fast as that on the >original 1D. After shooting about a
> >thousand frames on location I can only say that I never found it
> >unable to track a bird in flight once it had locked on. What I did
> >find was that it sometimes would focus on >infinity rather than on the
> >bird, but this usually can be helped by switching to a reduced number
> >of autofocus points.

> http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/canon-1d-mkii.shtml
>
>1000 frames on a single outing....



> Imagine the pristine, snow covered mountains of California.

> First you see Doug patiently working his way up to a cover, from which
> he can take aim at his feathered subject with his trusty all manual
> Leicaflex SL. The camera bares the marks of many years of service and
> is  loaded with a 36 frame roll of 25 asa Kodachrome.
>
> Doug peers through the brilliant viewfinder and carefully focuses on
> the delicate creature and awaits the decisive moment to press the
> shutter. The unsuspecting bird cleans its feathers meticulously,
> occasionally pausing to turn its head sideways and examine the pristine
> landscape surrounding it. It happily chirps at the winter sun, as it
> proclaims its presence to the world.
>
> Life- >can< be beautiful.
>
> The artist in Doug recognizes the elegant pose the bird has struck and
> he is just about to release the cameras silky smooth shutter, when
> suddenly Reichmann leaps out from behind a nearby bush, diving in to
> the snow in front of him. Like a stuntman in a Chinese action movie he
> fires his Canon in mid-flight at the startled bird. The metallic CLAT!
> CLAT! CLAT!! of his full automatic camera shatters the silence of the
> forest, making the sound of tearing canvas as it hammers away at 8 fps.
> Before Reichmann hits the ground he has taken more shots than Doug has
> in the past two years.
>
> The panic struck bird hurls itself in to the sky in a desperate attempt
> to escape.
>
> Reichmann scrambles to his feet, aiming his Canon at the escaping bird.
> Again the deafening clat! clat! clat! of his camera shatters the
> tranquility of nature, as he fires off another 200 frames. The recoil
> of the mirror shakes his body like a sailor manning an ACK-ACK gun
> while attempting to shoot down an incoming kamikaze plane.
>
> Much like the bird, Doug Herr stares at the possessed man on front of
> him in absolute disbelief and shock.
>
> Reichmann jumps to his feet and triumphantly declares "GOT HIM!" and
> begins to sift through the 700 frames he has shot. "No, no, no, no, no,
> no, no, no, no, AHHH! There's one! No, no, no, no...."
>
> At this point in the story I really couldn't decide if Doug beats
> Reichmann over the head with his 2 lbs Leicaflex and leaves him in the
> snow only to be violated by a confused black bear or if he is attacked
> by a swarm of vengeful birds like the cast in Hitchcock's "The Birds".
>
> Oh, well.

> Feli

Feli "gets it". This is both hilariously funny and much too close to the truth for comfort. At times I feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of wildlife photographs now being made by those with deep enough pockets to finance the hardware. On closer examination many of the photos produced by 'deep pockets' photographers have sorted themselves into cliches: Griz catching salmon at Brooks Falls; 'bird-on-a-stick' photos where every detail of the bird is perfectly lit and in perfect focus, with no hint of habitat save for an unfeatured wash of color in the background; the perfect portrait of a game-farm wolf or lynx.

I've made some of these photos myself, and there are some photographers who use the latest equipment to make truly unique and beautiful wildlife photos, but the marketing blitz tells us that all we need to do is buy the latest technology / longest & fastest lens / most megapixels / fastest frame rate / Better Beamer flash / Gitzo tripod & Wimberly head so we can make machine-gun photos as unique as everyone else's machine-gun photos. And many many people buy the sales pitch, hook, line and sinker.

I had a private discussion on this topic yesterday with a budding wildlife photographer. I suggested he find a niche that exploits the strengths of his manual camera rather trying to keep up with the deep-pockets guys at the local NWR. I don't see much difference between the megapixel/AF speed/frame rate race and the rat race.

FWIW


Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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Regards
Andy

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