geddert

i shouldn't only bash the city - i agree the museums are fantastic - but that isn't a place to get "berlin photographs" per say, since the museums could be anywhere.

i went to berlin this winter and was amazingly disappointed. If it were me and i had two hours there (though i doubt i will visit again), i would ride the subway and take pictures while on it... BTW, i agree that the Potsdamer Platz is architecturally boring.

<i>I can not imagine a more rediculous match than a Leica rangefinder and a tripod. It go against everything a Rangefinder is all about.</i>

<p>

I use a leica tabletop tripod with ball and socket with my rangefinders all the time, it can easily be unscrewed and stuffed in any of my jacket pockets. I also use this tripod to brace the camera against my chest when handholding in low light. I can't imagine any decent photographer thinking the use of a tripod is rediculous, no matter what camera they use. Heck, when i travel, i often go with two point and shoots a yashica t4 and a ricoh gr1 (the gr1 in particular is a third the size of the leica). I take those two and a small tripod (either a gitzo 1180 or the leica tabletop). It may look funny, but i get the shots. the most important piece of equipment a photgrapher has is his/her tripod... and most are too lazy...

<i>Would being white matter any more</i>

<p>

Not if you don't make it matter... at least you acknowledge your naivette, that seriously is an excellent first step.

<p>

if you are really worried about theft buy theft insurance. i have no fault insurance - i.e. something happens and they take care of it - whether or not it was lost/broken/stolen act of god, etc. my insurance comes thorugh state farm and costs about only 3-4% of the value of my equipment per year. I don't buy it because of theft - that doesn't worry me too much - but because i want to be able to use my equipement creativelly without constantly worrying about damaging it.

<p>

I'm not a new-yorker so it might be different there, but i have travelled a whole lot, and can tell you that the statement that you shouldn't look like a tourist holds true just about anywhere.

i see leica's camera devision doing almost exactly the same thing they are currently doing at about 30% higher prices due to volume reduction. I would hope for a full frame digital "M" in the same shape as the M6 and M7, but i expect something more like an M5 in terms of size with a digial capabilities.

here is a quick and dirty fix that has worked about 75% of the time for me when dealing with these types of ram issues. i would try swaping the ram sticks, i.e. put the old one in slot 2 and the new one in slot 1... it seems to work more times then can be explained by the technology (I used to manage and troubleshoot 120 desktops and have had countless similar problems)... if it does not work it didn't hurt anything. when you have a lot of computers to grab parts form you can just keep on going, at some point a motherboard and ram chip combo will find harmoney - of course if you only have one chip to try the good old swap may do it.

<a href="http://www.merrica.com/products.asp?firm=Voightlander&Category=Lenses&Sub=MLenses&pr=19">Here is a link to the site</a>

<p>

If its close to as good as the 35lux it would, at the very least, be quite the engineering marvel (even though it is huge)

Shun, i apologize for spelling your name incorrectly

you can take the risk out of buying a used lens (as Shung recommended) by buying insurance for that lens (for me it is 2.5% of the cost of the gear for a years worth of no-fault insurance)... mind you, you'll need a decent tripod if you would seriously consider buying and selling or renting a 600mm lens...

and spelling is also something that should be worried about... (i really need to proof read)

It doesn't bother so much that Leica has a poorly size image of the United States, because that is minor in comparison to what most people have completely insufficient knowledge of geography in general (in particular Americans, but also other places). It has been so bad that I was once told somebody i was born in Canada (I live the US) and they seriously asked me "what ocean do you cross to get there" and my response of "the Indian ocean" was taken seriously... that is horrible.

<p>

National Geographic did a study this year and found that:

<ol>

<li>Only 25 percent of Americans can name 4 countries that acknowledge having nuclear weapons.

 

<li>When asked to located the following 11 countries on the geo-political map with numbers in place of the names.

<blockquote>

Israel,

Russia,

Afghanistan,

India,

Iran,

Pakistan,

Iraq,

China,

Saudi Arabia,

Indonesia,

Japan,

</blockquote>

The US average was 3.1 correct for 18-24 year olds (the only worse country tested was Mexico). These aren�t obscure countries! The highest score was inn Germany, it was an average of 6.7 correct

<li>And that saddest thing of all is that only 13% of Americans could located Iraq on a map!

</ol>

We have worse things to worry about in regards to geography then whether or not a map on Leica's website is distorted...

Ellis - Amen to that!

Point taken.

<i>I'm sure that almost everyone would agree that your time/money is best spent on learning photographic technique, which includes exposure and development.</i>

<p>

I couldn't disagree more. I think too many people worry about photograpic technique. The only crowd worse - which i used to fall into - is the crowd that worries about having the latest and/or greatest camera above all else. In my not so humble opinion, in order to become a better photographer your time is <i>best</i> spent learning about <i>photographic vision</i>.

a nikon n80, or canon elan 7, either of which with a 50/1.4 is a great "starter kit" (and the body and lens combined cost less than a lieca f2.0 lens by itself). Leica's are good, possibly even great, but there are very specialized tools and almost certainly not appropriate learning tools for a person that doesn't know the difference different f-stops makes. The Canon and Nikon bodies i mentioned are both terrific, as are the lenses i mentioned. Plus with an SLR you can see what difference f-stops makes on the image... once you know how to use that i would consider using a leica if and only if your SLR isn't cutting it for you.

 

BTW the Canon Elan 7 with a 50/1.4 lens is almost as quiet as a Leica... it is certainly one of the quietests 35mm slrs out there.

the second scentence wasn't too clear, it should have read:

<ul>

Do you seriously contemplate buying a new car each time you have to drive it backwards to get out of a parking spot?

</ul>

are you kidding? can you drive your car forwards and backwards?

every now and then i drop a camera - it is a sign that you are using them :) though i normally drop it while dangling from a tree not when taking out of the car. The others have already mentioned what you should look for. The lens could be in trouble... only testing it will tell. I wanted to make two comments:

<ol>

<li>If you have home owners insurance or renters insurance you can normally get the camera added to it as a "floater"... i have this through state farm and for about 4-5% of value of the camera. This is no fault insurance, i can drop the camera, throw it in a lake, loose it, drive over it and the insurance covers the loss. It is both good finainacially (i don't understand how they make money on it), as well as good photographically because you don't need to worry about your equipment and can feel free to experiment.

<li>If your camera does need service, i can highly recommend Canon's service center in Southern California (they have one on the easy coast, i haven't used it but i have no reason to believe it isn't just as good). The repairs they do are first rate and when you get the product back it works as good as new (i haven't tried cameras, but i have sent a number of lenses - which are monre finiky then cameras - i.e. lenses with IS, etc. and they all came back as good as new).

</ol>

If i were to climb Mt Meru or Kilimanjaro, i would carry as little as possible (you should certainly be bring two cameras - just in case one of them has problems). And for me that would be a Ricoh GR1, my Yashica T4 and my leica tabletop tripod. altitude is altitude - so your experiences in the alps will be similar to those in africa. Being on a infrequently done trip (or possibly once i a lifetime trip), means photographically you should stick with what you already know (i.e. the films you know)... these trips are not the times to try out new things.

That entirely depends on how much money you are able to play with (and you already have soem pretty expensive equipment, so either you don't have money because you spent it all already, or it isn't that big of an issue). This is inherently a personal issue, but i'll tell you the way i am thinking about it for myself.

 

I am waiting for digital to "get there" for my SLR work - and won't be buying any more film SLRs (in med or 35mm format) until i can get a digital camera i am happy with to replace either system (the EOS 1Ds may be it, but i need to wait and see what the street price is). I believe digital is close enough to being there, that it doesn't make sense to get any more film based "large" cameras (and a pro body Canon or Nikon 35mm camera are certainly in that camp).

 

However, the leica is another "beast" entirely (or rather a svelte princess). It is both timeless in design and in value (if you buy used). I can certainly see myself 10 years from now having digital cameras that far surpass the leica technically in each and every respect (possibly even ones that are quieter and less intimidating to people) - nevertheless I think i will own and use a leica from time to time because it feels right. Owning a Leica for me is much more of a heart decision than a head one. And following ones heart, although often foolish, isn't all that bad.

i like the 50cron at f2... in my opinion it has just the right amount of depth of field and sufficient viewing angle... my second choice is a 28mm lens.

the name. the build quality. the history.

if you don't want to go the route suggested by tak-fu and carry an slr or med format with a wider lens - and he probably is right that it is "techically" better at it - but whether or not you want to carry that equipment with you is a whole different story - and in terms of practicality a differnt camera may not be that great of an idea. I would go with the 28mm lens.. but this is a very personal issue! I had a 24mm with bright line finder, and think the perspective was excellent for what you want to do - however, and this is a big however, i simply couldn't get used to the external finder - it bothered me so much that it outweighed my liking of the 24mm lens perspective (with SLR's i've always liked 24s), and in particular the excellent quailty of images the 24mm on a leica produces. If it were me i would go with a 28mm lens in addition to the 50. I currently have a 28, 35 and 50mm lens kit, and if i could only have two it would certainly be the 28 and 50, especially if i really wanted to take pictures of buildings and narrow streets (and i do a fair amount of this when i am in Germany - normally for about 4 weeks a year).

 

You may want to consider doing it the way i did. for less than the cost of one leica 28 or 35mm lens you can get both a Ricoh GR1 with its 28mm/2.8 lens and a Konica Hexar Classic with a 35mm/2 lens... in addition to your leica M with 50. Then you not only get all the perspectives you want, but you also get three camera bodies - and thus a lot of "backup cameras"... the Ricoh isn't as good quality wise - but it is pretty darn close and in my opinion it is "good enough." The konica hexar classic, essentially has a pre-asph 35/2 leica lens - so the quaility is very good indeed.

if you don't want to carry a tripod, and want to use tele lenses then IS is by far the best way to go... you truly gain 3 stops of hand hold ability (at a minimum). I haven't ever used the 70-200L IS, but if it is as good as the 70-200L (non-IS) - which everybody seems to say it is then it will would excellent with a 1.4x TC (and save you a lot of weight from not having to carry two big white lenses). I went ot africa with the 100-400L IS, and it was fine, i just wish the 70-200 2.8L IS had been out before i went. If I were to get back into the Canon system now (i left it for smaller lighter cameras because i don't have time to do wild life photography any more)... but if i were to get back into the canon system an EOS 3 (or 1v, or 1D, or 1Ds - depending on my budget), with a 24-70L and 70-200L IS, with a 1.4x TC would unquestionably be the first lenses on my list - no second thoughts on the 70-200L IS for me (especially if i lived where you live)

i found the hexanon to be interchangeable with a leica 50 cron... in my opinion it was equally good in all respects - except resale value - there pretty much nothing in mass production beats a 50 cron.