What is Leica Photography?

[george2]

A good response to the original question "What is

Leica Photography?" can be found in the portfolio

shown in <a

href="http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg

.tcl?msg_id=007J31">This thread</a>. Jeff Spirer

and Mike Dixon can also give us excellent examples

supporting the definition of Leica photography!

[peter_hughes1]

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I suppose the traditional meaning of the phrase "Leica Photography"

would mean documentary images, shot with M cameras with wide angle

lenses. Since this type of photography doesn't appeal to me, and

since the M proved unsuitable for the kind of photography I do, I

ended up trading it for an R8.<p><i>But why Leica?</i><p>My dealer

said to me recently, "You buy Leica for the lenses." That's certainly

partially true: the 90mm Summicron, in both its M & R incarnations,

is in a class by itself. But the R8 is a magnificent camera in its

own right, easily the equal of an EOS-1v or an F5, but with a

wonderfully different design philosophy--part electronic marvel, part

back-to-basics minimalism, integrating the best of both worlds in one

camera, without the frustrating limitations and quirks of the M.

[philip_woodcock]

When I started to study photography seriously I discovered most of my

favourite photographers used Leica. Once I got to university I

realised my sh@**y Canon had the optical qualities of a blind bat!

I came across my SL and bought it with this theory in mind...

 

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'If a bad workman blames his tools then buy a tool I can't blame'

 

<p>

 

As soon as I started using it I found I was having to think more,

about exposure, about composition, about everything. Sometimes the SL

blesses me with freakishly good shots, the rest of the time it just

does what its told.

 

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These cameras are very basic, you have to do everything for it.

Garbage In - Garbage Out.

 

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Leica Photography is about thoughful considered photography.

Concerned Photography (to borrow a phrase from Cornell Capa)

 

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ps. Shortwave radio rocks!!! SWL'ing for 20 years

[iván]

Hi, gentlemen:

 

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Well, finally somebody did it again . . . It is a well known truth

here that a question (subject?) like this one calls for endless

threads and gives everybody a golden opportunity to add an additional

point of view. Good ! But I'd second Andy about the link he brought

here. Most of what we can say has already been said on it but I can't

help stating that "Leica Photography" has no strict straight basic

logic meaning without Leica been involved though the additional

meanings we can attribute to the same words. And still we should be

aware that different interpretations will severely decrease the

signal-to-noise ratio (what a useful concept!) of the meaning we

intend to convey.

 

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I shoot other brands and formats too but keep reading this site and

posting to it only (or mainly, by far)regarding Leica (what else ?)

and what I do with my Leicas and because of what I can learn about

how to use them better if I can.

 

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That said, Mike's is an important image. I envy it no matter what he

did it with . . .

 

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-Iván

[jeff_nakayama]

all i got to say is: picture shot with canon= canon photography,

picture shot with nikon= nikon photography, and picture shot with

leica = leica photography. if we keep it simple like that then we can

all be happy, right?

[kens]

no.

[tim_gee]

With a few notable exceptions (you choose them) most of the above is

utter drivel.

 

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My preference would be to stick to Leica Photography.

"But what is Leica photography...?" Oh spare us please.

 

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Perhaps I'm getting old and impatient but I think this thread has

lowered the standard. (and I can't believe I've added to it!)

[andy w, jakarta]

Mike,

Of course you can do an excellent 35 mm images with any camera; that

means you are doing excellent 35 mm photography ; and it is not

always Leica photography. It may done with a Nikon or Canon or

whatever.

 

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But if you are asking comments from other participants in a Leica

Photography Forum without describing any background/context/link of

your Nikon image ; than I understand it may be better belong to

Photo.net; where you originally post.

 

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BTW, I am taking photographs with both Leica & Nikon, both the same

method. And incidentally, the Leica images are better (70%:30%). I

don�t know why�.

Regards,