Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site decwrl.DEC.COM Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-friday!hagerman From: hagerman@friday.DEC Newsgroups: net.rec.photo Subject: be careful about denigrating the Leica Message-ID: <1740@decwrl.DEC.COM> Date: Mon, 17-Mar-86 19:05:23 EST Article-I.D.: decwrl.1740 Posted: Mon Mar 17 19:05:23 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 19-Mar-86 01:12:26 EST Sender: daemon@decwrl.DEC.COM Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Lines: 56 x In "Upgrading an old Nikkormat" Jordan at UCB writes: ... then again, I was "raised" on a Nikkormat ... I find those split screens to be a hassle, and very SLOOOOOWWW ... There's nothing like knowing what the the image is really gonna look like. Also, if you do a lot of shooting where the main image area is not in the center of the finder (I do -- most pros do too), it makes for a lot of difficulty in focussing and shooting quickly and accurately. I find I can get just as much use out of the edges of the screen as I can the middle. So if you like to use the edge of the screen to focus, why get rid of the split image screen? ... squeezing the shutter trip and winding. Using this technique, I am able to hand hold a 135mm f/2.8 on my F-2 at up to 1/2 second. B. S. ... and buy whatever is appropriate for fulfilling them. Sure, a Leica is a terrific camera, but if it doesn't let you frame quickly enough to get the picture of your daughter blowing out the candles, what good is it? This is ridiculous. The point of a rangefinder camera is that it is easier to focus because your eye can see mismatched lines better than it can resolve out-of-focus images. If you are taking flash pictures at a birthday party the aperture is going to be up around f/11 anyway, so focussing isn't all that critical: you can use a rangefinder or SLR equally well. The SLR vs. rangefinder controversy peaked about 10 years ago when professional photographers pretty much unanimously decided that the SLR was, for them, the way to go. They decided this because for long lenses (> 100 mm) there is no question that the SLR is better. There was never any question that the rangefinder is faster to focus, or better to focus in the dark. In fact, many SLR users can't even focus properly in the light: try reading the article in Modern/Popular Photography about 6 months ago where they were trying to find out about hand-held blurriness and discovered that their results were invalid because the (presumably experienced photographers) hadn't focussed well enough. Choose the camera that suits your own opinions, but don't muddy the waters by making inaccurate comments about rangefinders: we old-time Leica fans are quite sensitive. Doug Hagerman