New Yorker article on Leica

There is an article by Anthony Lane in the New Yorker currently (September 17)

available online called: Candid Camera: The Cult of Leica

 

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/24/070924fa_fact_lane

I think that I've got a Googlemaps photo of the plant...I think it's the large building on the left at the end of Oskar-Barnack Strasse in this photo of Solms.<p>

 

<img src="http://www.skipwilliams.com/links/leica.jpg"><p>

 

Skip

...(Five and a half thousand will buy you a 50-mm. f/1, the<u> widest lens</u> on the

market; for anybody wanting to shoot pictures by candlelight, there?s your answer.)...~<i>

I didn't know d@</i>~

I'll be darned. I buy the New Yorker about once a year, and yesterday I bought the 17 September issue, but no Leica article. I think it will be found in the 24 September issue. Thanks for pointing it out.

yes it is the 24th, not the 17th...

Skip The Google Map you have is correct. I visited this summer and have some nice photos

facing the open fields to the top of the frame.

Interesting that in the age of digital, the Leica mythology remains attractive. It's all in there, from the "kiss" of the shutter, to the action outside the frame lines, etc. This article could have been written anytime between 1954 and now. Except for the quality of Lane's writing, which is exceptional.

I think Lane's use of the word "widest", though not a good choice, is meant to refer to the ability to let in a lotta light. As in "open the door wide and let in the sun".

This review reminds me a bit of old Leica magazines I had from the '50's and early '60's. No question we enjoy Leicas for that nostalgic flavour. So what if it's a combustible medium.

Yehh, if d@ dude was a <i><b> real photie </b></i> he would know the diff' between

wide 'n' wide open<b>:O)</b>... though he is a <b><i>writer!</i></b>

Five and a half thousand will buy you a 50-mm. f/1, the widest lens on the market

 

What about the Canon 50mm f/0.95? (and I'm sure there are others..)

But the Canon is not on the market, except as a hard to find antique curiosity.

The widest in the market is a Cosina 12mm and it does not cost $5,500.

 

The fastest is the 50/0.95 Canon. Though not current, it is easier to find than the Noct and costs much less as well.

 

Is feistiness stuck to the Leica image/gear??

Vivek, if you do a letter to the editor about it I'll bet you'll be labeled a "Leicaweenie".

Nice shot of Solms's sewage treatment plant, top center, next to the photogenic open fields

Vivek: Just for the record, a quick sweep of 3Bay turns up 13 f/1 Noctiluxes and 4 Canon 0.95 lenses (6 if you count 2 nonRF-coupled TV lenses)

"Five and a half thousand will buy you a 50-mm. f/1, the widest lens on the market; for anybody wanting to shoot pictures by candlelight, there's your answer."

 

Could've originally said "widest aperture" and a word got dropped...

Well, the paper issue arrived in the mail yesterday. How appropriate, it is "The Style Issue". Extra thick, perfect bound, full of ads for $1000+ clothing items. What a telling context...

"Could've originally said "widest aperture" and a word got dropped..."

 

Lane should have known better as he's the more insightful of the two resident film critics

for TNY. That aside, as much as writers praise men and women of great photographic or

design vision and accomplishment, it is the writer and editor who hold absolute sway and

usually final say in the world of publishing. (A big factor in getting the literati and art

world to accept photography as an art was the publication of Now Let Us Praise Famous

Men, the collaboration b'twn James Agee and Walker Evans.) It took a serious writer taking

the medium seriously to kick-start photography's upward trajectory among 'tastemakers.'

It is as it should be, though. Words are still the most precise descriptors we have for the

world, numbers aside. Photography that is not 100% documentary will almost always carry

an element of polemics and persuasion.

The first time a significant national magazine prints an article about your passion, and all

you can do is either complain that it's in the style section or twiddle about lens specs!

 

C'mon guys. I read the article. It's nicely objective, discusses the history and culture, the

great photographers who have used Leica cameras so well, the high incidence of truly

great photos shot with Leicas, the superiority of the M3, the ergonomics of the M3, the

cool stuff about the M8, the generally successful recovery after the violet blacks of the M8,

and the growing financial stability associated with the new management. The writer takes

a Leica in his hands and admires it for many of the same reasons that you and I do.

 

Sure, you can argue tiny details. Overall, he does a terrific job in explaining why Leica

matters, and why anyone ought to care.

 

HB

 

If you'd like, you can read the article HERE:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/24/070924fa_fact_lane

Well stated Howard.

Now let's see if there's a full-page ad for the M8 in the next issue. ;-)

"...and all you can do is either complain that it's in the style section or twiddle about lens

specs!"

 

Howard -- I think that it's all part of being "feisty."

Thanks for the link Howard - a very enjoyable read - my dream digi M is a B&W only chip - ignore the colour and give me the extra megabits in glorious shades of gray.