maureen_stretch

Gerard,

Thank you for this post. I share your opinion about the combination of Leica glass and

Kodachrome--IMO it's a match made in heaven. K25 is my favorite.

 

Doug Herr's comment about the detail in the slides taken using K25 and Leica glass is one

of the reasons I love it so. There is still quite a lot of it in my freezer.

 

I was saddened to hear that the lab there might shut down processing on the expiry date

of the last batch made. I hope they don't ever discontinue it, or if they do, they will at least

keep processing for a few years afterwards.

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

Maureen

Very sad news indeed. His posts were always worth reading. Never had the good fortune to

meet him in person, but he sent me an email or two on a lens question I had. I hope his

family and friends know how many people will miss him.

 

Maureen

Andrew, for me it's the lenses. My favorite film is Kodachrome 25. I still have a freezer full of it.

 

I suspect that if you compare R lenses to others using black and white film or high speed color print films, or even high speed color transparencies, it might be hard to see major differences, especially at f8-f11.

 

I switched from Canon to Leica SLRs in the 80's, after attending some photography workshops. When the students were using the same slow E6 films to shoot the same subject, I could see the differences.

 

Some of it may have been metering anomalies--shots a friend took with an Olympus system had a more pastel palette. The Canon shots I took were sharp, but the shots taken with Leica lenses were not only sharp but rich in color. The Nikon shots I saw always seemed a bit darker. In sharpness, I think the major systems are all close enough for high speed film. For me it was color rendition and gradations and Kodachromes.

 

If you like a slow speed transparency film and like to shoot hand-held,and mostly wide open to keep shutter speeds up, then you can see a significant difference (IMO) with Leica lenses. If you don't shoot this way, and many people don't, then I don't know if you'd see or need such a difference.

 

I do agree that the R bodies are probably not the greatest. I had an R3 then an R4 and then traded up to an R8. The viewfinder in the R8 is superb for focusing--as I have heard the SL's are. The R8 metering is terrific. It did have reliability problems (mine didn't, but I believe many others have) so if you do get one, get a warranty with it--i.e. get a used one from a dealer with a one year warranty.

 

The 100APO macro is a lens that you need to use to believe. I didn't realize how sharp it was until I took some pictures with flash. Exquisite sharpness with rich color and the extra fine detail of Kodachrome 25--wonderful combination! Any of the APO R lenses are superb.

 

From what I've seen on PhotoNet and other Leica forums, most people who still shoot film shoot black and white primarily. Very few shoot wide open all the time. I don't like most black and white, don't like grain,and don't notice much difference in the results from any cameras on B&W film.

 

My guess is that a lot depends on your style of photography, your preferences in film, and whether you like fine detail or not. If you like slow color transparency film and hand held shooting, you will probably love Leica APO lenses, IMHO.YMMV.

 

Maureen

Most of the guidelines seem fine to me. However, I would not want to see anything that prohibits people like Doug Herr from posting Leica SLR photos. IMO, telephoto and macro photos taken with Leicas should not be off limits--even though I don't think they would be considered rangefinder style.

 

I read this forum to see or find discussions about Leica SLR's and Leica Digital products--not just M series. Here's hoping it will still be acceptable to discuss all things Leica here.

 

Thanks for all your work to date in hosting and moderating this forum.

 

Maureen

Mac<div></div>

Amen to that Gary! I am so glad Tom pointed us to the site.

Maureen

For favorite images, it is hard to pick. The flowers are my first choice, especially the red rose and the two red tulips touching, and the one of the petals on the ground. The abstractions and the shiny puddles are also amazing to me.

 

On the Getty site there is a picture of the side of a car that looks golden--it is hard to tell if the car is gold or if it is just reflections. The picture of the seal mother and child is touching but not saccharine or maudlin.

 

There is a great deal of tenderness in his photos, to my eye. For example, the brown and white horses grazing by the water seem to be gentle creatures. The pictures of the wild horses also seem gentle and elegant.

 

For many of the ones I was just looking at on the Getty site, my first response was "how did he see that in that?" Ordinary traffic, puddles, rainy streets... are transformed by subtle or bold color.

 

I guess my favorite is still the red rose. The first photo workshop I went to I had taken a closeup of a red rose (not nearly as good), and my instructor said "oh, you must be trying to recreate the Ernst Haas photo". It was the first time I heard of him.

 

To me his work is all about really seeing what's out there. And seeing the beauty or elegance in it. Sorry for all the gushing, but he is my all time favorite photogrpaher. I wish I'd had a chance to meet him.

 

Maureen

Hi Tom,

 

The calendars seemed to come out every year in the mid to late 80's.It might just be a faulty memory on my part. I had one of them out recently, but think I put it back in my "archival room" i.e., it will take some searching to find it. With any luck, I can find it today and get back to you with the publisher.

 

Thanks very much for the reference to the Getty site. There were quite a few of his images there that I had not seen before. I still got some Wow reactions to them, even though the thumbnails and enlargements are tiny. If you download the comps, you get a better view. What an eye he had.

 

You are so right about the jaw-dropping nature of some of his images. Just looking at the thumbnails on the Getty site made me want to get out with my camera right now. He was able to see color the way no one else has, in my opinion.

 

One of the things he wrote in The Creation, I think, was that he often tried to photograph specific emotions or feelings. I seem to remember that in some of the pictures he took for The Creation he was trying to portray "power."

 

There is so much life in his pictures--he could have taken them all just yesterday. At least the color ones have that effect on me.

 

Thanks again for bringing the Getty site to our attention.

 

Maureen

Tom,

 

I couldn't agree with you more about Haas' work. His images are one of the reasons I got into photography and then Leicas in the first place. On the Haas website, there is a quote of his that sums up my feelings about Kodachrome and color-- "Color is joy."

 

Fortunately I was able to get some of his books when they were still in print and I used to get the calendar every year in local bookstores. Glad to know it's available again through Amazon.

 

Many others seem to try to copy his style, but he had an intensity of seeing color images that is hard to duplicate.

 

I agree with you about Velvia, too. It's one of the reasons I have a freezer stock of Kodachrome 25 which I am using till they stop processing it or I run out!

 

Can you imagine what it would be like to have some of Haas' talent for color? That is my photographic fantasy--to be able to produce work that is even a little bit as good as his.

 

 

Thanks for pointing us to the Getty site. I didn't know it had his work. Like you, I wish someone would fund the estate's website and publications. If I had the money I would love to buy some of the prints offered on the Haas Studio site. In bookstores I always check to see if his books are back on the shelves.

 

Maureen

Life's a breeze<div></div>

FWIW, I have used the 180APo Summicron with the 2x and 1.4xAPO converters and find the results extremely good. To my eye, there is no degradation in image quality. The photo of the iris was a test shot using this setup on a tripod.<div></div>

Mark,

You have my deepest sympathies. I couldn't agree with you more about taking pictures of those you love. Take care and keep taking pictures.

 

Maureen

Thanks for the color change, much easier to use.

Why the blue on blue for visited and unvisited links? That has changed too, and it makes it much harder to use, IMHO.

Changing preferences for colors for visited links in Netscape v. 7.01 for the Mac does not override the blue on blue on the photo.net page. It only changes the colors on other pages.

It is too hard to see the difference between read and unread items. Wastes time for those of us on dialup. I hope you change it back or make the colors more of a contrast.

Maureen

Pups

Dog driving

Posted the image too large from the 100 APO, will try again.

Maureen

Chris,

 

I agree with all those who say the 100APO Macro is a must for the R. It is a great lens.

 

Maureen<div></div>

Another female Leica shooter here, mostly R8 but lately have also gotten back into the M system. I've loved Leica lenses since the 80's. After an absence I got back into photography a couple of years ago.

 

Guess I'm not the only female to lurk these pages. Like the others I have gotten lots of useful information on the cameras and lenses and am very glad that Tony started this site.

 

Maureen

FWIW, I had an R4 in the late 80s. I started having trouble focusing and thought I needed auto focus. Then I took a hiatus from photography till a couple of years ago. I traded the R4 in for an R8. With the viewfinder of the r8 (and I imagine the R9 and the SL's), it is very easy to see for focusing. If you can try out an R8 or R9 or one of the SL's before you decide you might go for the bigger, brighter finders in them. Good luck.

 

Maureen

Chris,

 

Sorry to hear about your experience.Most of the time I just lurk on this list, but your header caught my eye.

 

I've bought Leica gear at Newtonville Camera for years now and never had a problem with them. I've gotten some good deals on used equipment there and have always been treated fairly. I think I deal with the same Mike, who reminds me to wait for a Leica day to buy something (on those too rare occasions when I am thinking of buying new gear) to take advantage of the 10% discount.

 

 

To date (knock wood) I have not had a bad experience with any of the Leica dealers in the greater Boston area. Park Square Camera is very good, New England Camera in Arlington is too.

 

Newtonville is the closest to me, though, so my experience with them goes back to the days when they had a branch even closer, out in Framingham.

 

For Leica gear, I prefer to deal with local dealers just because the stuff is so expensive. If there is something wrong, I can talk to them personally. I usually compare prices for what I pay locally with what others are asking on the net and don't find that there is that much of a difference.

 

YMMV

Maureen

Have you tried any of the APO R lenses? The 100mm APO macro, the APO

telyts in 180- the F.3.4, or the 280's? The 100mm APO macro is really

worth looking at.

 

<p>

 

For me, there is something about the colors and color consistency from

lens to lens with the R lenses that is wonderful, especially the APO

lenses.

 

<p>

 

Glad you didn't hit any icebergs!