prendy

Are there a number of forces influencing this?

1. In relative terms Adobe looks like it is here to stay but the pattern is that even the leading companies come to the end of the line a la

Kodak and Nokia. Thus this will continue to happen.

2. At one time there may have been an ethos behind companies that welded them to their customer base and product heritage. Apple,

under Steve Jobs demonstrated that such ethics obstructed growth and profits and so following market trends became far more

important. Thus any modern company with a need to satisfy shareholders must do it best to follow the growth curve. It will maintain cash

cows, such as Aperute, while they deliver profit for little cost but then, when they become dogs, it will dump them.

3. I can almost guarantee that if you take almost any digital image you can, with all the magic tools available make something that many

will consider a good image. What I mean is that I find there is less and less pleasure in taking good photographs that are just that - good

photographs and not images to be manipulated.

4. As most of us realize the iPhone and it's colleagues are undermining the camera industry anyway and it could be that we see some of

the big names start to wobble..

So I look in my cupboard at my Leica R8, Contax TVS, Linhof Technika and a few more and wonder the obvious.

Arthur, I have read Margaret Macmillan and find her book an embarrassing piece of pro British, anti German propaganda. I would suggest

The Sleepwalkers and perhaps something on Verdun. The causes are complex beginning with Serbia followed by the knee jerk reaction

of Austria Hungary. Germany was dragged by Treaty to back them but tried persuading them to find a better solution. France and Russia

saw a possible chance to beat Germany and could not be held back. Why on earth did Britain join in if not to join France and Russia in

trying to gain control over Germany?

We've probably all been in this situation - need a couple more stops and a longer telephoto and usually, when you get that, you still find

siyuations whe that still applies. What do we do? We do whatever is needed to get the shot, boost up the ISO, pan, use whatever is

available to keep the camera steady, take several shots and then with the magic of Lightroom, or whatever we use, we carefully

manipulate the best shot to get as close to the rendition that we want. Usually we find this has atmosphere and life. Another alternative, if

it can be afforded is to get a more modern camera with high ISO capability and loadsa pixels. We can then 'telephoto' it in Lightroom and

Bob's your uncle, another way to get good shots.

Matthew, many years since, probably before I had the spirit to try the spirit, I would occasionally play darts with my friends in the pub. Not

really my game but it was more of a social event. However, I found that after a couple of pints, I was far more relaxed and could get more

shots on target. My camera, I think, was a Zorki. It might have been even better with a vodka out of that glass.

My best glass is a whisky glass. I have several of these but my favourite is an Irish crystal glass, a little larger than the others but it fits

nicely in the hand. A finger of whisky in this is probably twice as much as the same measure in some of my other glasses, so one must be

careful. I haven't yet tried a Nikon, Canon or Leica as being an amateur only I can't work out how to use them. Can they be used for

whisky or are they intended for water only?

My Nikon and Leica lenses work well on their respective cameras but when I try other glass, such as my whisky glass, the photographs

are not too good, perhaps I should empty it first.

I've had two problems photographing large (approx 5 ft high) oil paintings in a smallish room.

1. I've had to use a widish angle lens and this has created distortion.

2. Lighting. Very difficult to get even lighting as the paintings are either against the window or facing it. When facing it myself and the

camera obstruct the light. Using a set up with multiple flashes at around 45 degrees with and without diffusers creates hot spots.

Bouncing off reflectors results in uneven lighting.

I start again soon and we plan to position the paintings outside in soft shade. I have a choice of longer focus lenses and don't expect a

problem. Perhaps I should have rented a studio

Yes, Robin, you are right and I am completely wrong.

Rewind

I have a Contax VsII with Vario Sonnar 28-56mm lens.

It is an excellent and versatile camera and just as usable today as it was many years ago.

I have a Minox 35 which I find a little awkward to use. I also have a Contax T2 which I would say embodies the perfect

set up in that one can easily switch between automatic and manual options. It has an excellent zoom lens and this

reminds me that I still have a film in mine with a few shots left. Before this my favorite was the Olympus XA. This travelled

the world with me on business and pleasure trips. It was small, easy to use quickly and always available in a second. It's

IQ seemed to be quite high as I made several poster prints.

If I hadn't gone digital and wanted a carry everywhere P&S I would probably still go for the Olympus XA. If, say, I was on

holiday, in a city and wanted a carry around camera it would be the Contax T2.

Also an Aperture users for many years. Excellent management system although I could think of some improvements such as a list of last

pictures accessed. Good easy to use tools which I supplement with Nik and some others. I find that NX2 seems to present the tiff image

more as I expect it but I still prefer Aperture overall.

The most annoying aspect of Aperture is the arrogance of Apple in completely ignoring its one time large customer base. Many of these

were professionals but because Apple will not disclose its plans nobody can be certain if and when things will be fixed or new features

added. Unfortunately the iPhone and all the other gizmos came along and Aperture was a tiny revenue earner in the corner which was

soon forgotten.

One point though, it has not become more like iPhoto. There has been some integration between the two but Aperture still retains its

integrity.

Watch the ads on British TV for Accident Lawyers. They permeate almost every ad break and are possibly down to 'if you

broke a fingernail at work you may have suffered trauma, so sue your employer.' The US though usually excels at this

sort of thing.

The steps and street look as though they have been scrubbed clean. Interesting geometric lines. It would be interesting to see how it

looks now. What is it about Mr. Cartier ( was he related) Bresson that has irritated me from the moment he was lauded and held up as a

superior street photographer?

Thanks Anders, yes it is off topic but also I would say that Schumann's act was part of a much greater whole.

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Here is a picture from Bernauerstr looking over what is left of the Wall. Ackerstr is straight ahead and the street where

Schumann jumped is one street up to the left. This looks over the church yard but you can see in the other side where the

houses, which previously came down to Bernauerstr were pulled down. Only residents could walk down to the houses

within around 100 meters of the Wall.

In the eighties I visited both sides of Berlin many times but all my photographs have been lost. In some ways the.

Watchtowers where soldiers with binoculars seemed to be constantly on watch set the tone for the crossing. The crossing

though was thorough and bureaucratic and also involved buying some unspendable local currency with the highly

negotiable Deutschmarks on a ridiculous one for one basis.

East Berlin was ragged and crumbling except for some key show-off buildings for the West to see. Nevertheless it was an

ordinary living city and life went on. In some ways it had an old fashioned charm unrelated to the political situation.

There is a commemoration plaque at this point where you can read the story. It is right by one of the few remaining pieces of the wall and

a stretch of no man's land which helps to make sense of it. Originally there were house up to the end of the street and at first people also

escaped through the houses or jumped out of windows - several other 'dramatic' photos show this. Finally the windows were boarded up

and then the houses were removed. Gradually the mines, machine guns and watch towers were brought in. No man's land also went

through an adjacent cemetery but this did not get in the way of the security precautions. The bodies were removed and it all became part

of no man's land. Eventually the adjoining church was also destroyed. Just a little further up the road a tunnel was built and several

people escaped through that. Nowadays this is all being encroached upon by developers. The German authorities appear to encourage

obliteration of anything related to the DDR past which I see as reprehensible; it was an important part of history and has something to tell

us today.

If you had lived in Berlin or the DDR in those times or visited it, it is amazing to see the changes and improvements and one can

understand what an enormous cost has been involved to drag the infrastructure up to its present level.

Google Glass is not something that I would want to wear but I saw an item on TV yesterday about an App that works with

this. It is designed for women and it involves face recognition. In fact anybody could use it and it could have many other

applicat.ions. Specifically it involves face recognition and then checks that persons identity and name over social media. It

can also check the name against the various offenders lists.

We've bought a package. We live in a technological society which brings many benefits, e.g. Longer life, better life, better health systems,

better opportunities to travel, a much wider choice of food, far better communications and far more information about everything. The

information side still has enormous potential to add to our quality of life and the choices we make. For example we are starting to get

better information about when deliveries will be made. This has the potential to be far more accurate and for updates to be provided

during the day. For airlines, a high cost occurs when a plane is delayed. One of the causes of this is check ins that arrive late at the gate

(usually they say they were shopping or at the bar). The technology exists to identify exactly where they are with the option to contact

them or depart the plane without them, thus saving a lot of money. There are many, many detail improvements that can be made in this

area to both improve service and aid decision making.

The downside to all this would be if we were to get an extreme government that took additional powers to control the population a la Stasi

then we might have a problem. I see the networks of CCTV cameras, prevalent in the UK to be of little threat, just the opposite, they

help monitor vast areas and personally make me feel a lot safer when I visit the UK.

There are all sorts of developing technologies that help to identify us, one being DNA. It is possible with this to link people to crimes. It

can also disassociate people from crimes and has resulted in some positive results for our society in both ways. Where do you want to

draw the line and who is capable of drawing that line.

It's another strand of technological development and like all progress it will continue. I would think that this is just the early stages of data

collection and use but it won't just involve people it will involve all aspects of life. At a high level it will give countries enormous power to

monitor other countries and more and more it will have the potential if a weapon to say, capture the data of a rival and either control the

rival or take advantage. It could be a much cleaner and cheaper weapon than war. The developing discussion, at least in Europe, as we

approach the anniversary of WW1, encompasses that of how a few people can control the destiny and acts of tens of millions and the

consequences. Maybe a better control of data could help avoid that.

So far it has been a big social benefit in terms of giving us better potential control of crime, At a personal level it is far easier to navigate,

we have the potential to be better informed and the possibility to just get in my car, tell it a destination and then sit back I see as a great

personal benefit, especially in terms of safety. From my point of view the positives currently outweigh the negatives and I see this trend

continuing and I only want to encourage, not discourage it.

I bought a second hand chrome model in the early seventies from a shop in Bond St. It was a giant leap over the none

rangefinder Zeiss Werra that I had been using but my role as a new father justified it. When I first saw it in the window I

couldn't believe that such a fantastic camera was available second hand. On the second day that I went by it was still

there - I had assumed it would be snapped up immediately and after a few more days I took the plunge. No regrets, it's

ease of use, ability to do just what you wanted was unsurpassed. I regretted selling it many years later and acquired

another about three years ago. Glad to see that it is so well appreciated as for me it represented a real high level

acquisition. Unlike with almost very other camera the 101 exceeded all my expectations.

Is this pessimists corner?

Leica still supports my old Digilux 2. It's part of what you are paying for when you buy a Leica. Yes electronics are different but repair

centers are about repair not just replacement.

Reminds me a little of the old Routemaster bus. After 30 years no new engines left, " Hey Alan, what sort of engines do we have left on

the shelf?" " Big ones? They'll do, bring one over we'll try It in this bus."

Have faith, Leica is not a throw away obsolence company.

Robert.

P.S. The new Routemaster is also not bad.

It was the comment of a 46x zoom that caught my attention. Not knowing the Panasonic V700 I looked it up and found it to be a

camcorder. It has an optical 26x zoom and, if I understood it correctly, the increase to 46x is achieved through cropping. The result could

be just a case of how the crop is located.