BBC News magazine: One hundred years of Leica cameras

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Short but pleasant video:

BBC News magazine: One hundred years of Leica cameras

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27516384

 

[Jeff Kubach]

You're right, short but I like it.

Jeff

 

[br549]

Very nice.

 

[Lee Rust]

Quiet and unobtrusive story. Just like the camera.

 

[DannL.]

Internet Video . . . Now there's a technology I wouldn't want to be without.

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

only a nebraskan would think this !

 

[Sirius Glass]

Thank you.

It is nice to have a quiet camera sometimes, but there is nothing like the thwack of a Hasselblad, Graflex Model D or a Speed Graphic.

 

[Sirius Glass]

No, not really. Some of the famous photos were staged. Take Weegee's famous shot..staged http://museum.icp.org/museum/collections/special/weegee/images/wg164.jpg

The URL did not work.

 

[Sirius Glass]

And again I get

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

staged or not , if you can , do it.

 

[cliveh]

That is not staged.

 

[Sirius Glass]

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) Try the link in this post. APUG is a pain to post to. I never have problems on the other forums.

Yes, it was staged, but it is still a great photograph!

 

[cliveh]

Yes, it was staged, but it is still a great photograph!

What makes you say that?

 

[cliveh]

Thank you.

It is nice to have a quiet camera sometimes, but there is nothing like the thwack of a Hasselblad, Graflex Model D or a Speed Graphic.

The thwack means vibration.

 

[Sirius Glass]

What makes you say that?

If you have to ask, you probably would not understand the answer. Jus' sayin'

 

[Chris Livsey]

The thwack means vibration.

Is it not the case that the energy being disapated as noise "thwack" is not being disapated as vibrational energy?
The louder the noise the less vibration perhaps.

 

[cliveh]

Is it not the case that the energy being disapated as noise "thwack" is not being disapated as vibrational energy?
The louder the noise the less vibration perhaps.

What causes the thwack sound? I would have thought the louder the sound the greater the vibration.

 

[Sirius Glass]

What causes the thwack sound? I would have thought the louder the sound the greater the vibration.

The thwack sound is the mirror coming down after the shutter has closed. Therefore there is no vibration effects on the photograph except in the minds of the Hasselblad haters.

 

[cliveh]

The thwack sound is the mirror coming down after the shutter has closed. Therefore there is no vibration effects on the photograph except in the minds of the Hasselblad haters.

I have a Hasselblad and don't hate them, but in terms of physics is what I'm saying incorrect?

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have a Hasselblad and don't hate them, but in terms of physics is what I'm saying incorrect?

I was responding with the cause of the thwack, and I was not commenting on the physics. I think we should sit down and drink several Martini [the structure of the word is already in the plural form of Matinus] and talk about this over grilled Pacific salmon. Besides anyone who owns and uses Hasselblad is a wise and fortunate person.

 

[Película]

A long history of compelling images. But it also reminds me how it's become a bit unfortunate that Leica users today have been for the most part reduced to well-heeled hobbyists who are concerned primarily about resolution and 'bokeh' and 'lens renderings' etc..

Leica has designed some excellent optics over the decades that are wonderfully small, and their film cameras are indeed robust and very portable. But again, the current trend seems to be a desire for the much more expensive and exotic lens formulas with the belief that the the lenses themselves will actually make or break a photograph (which then becomes the rationale for spending big money on those lenses.) The photographers from that video (and other recognized artists using Leica over history) were concerned first and foremost with the content and context of the images that the Leica produced, and not so much the device itself or the 'rendering characteristics' and 'bokeh' of the lenses (aside from choosing the focal lengths that worked for them.)

I've always been curious about the obsession with 'resolution' and the desire for a recording 'perfection' by the device itself that seems to be such a priority these days. Any of those images discussed in that video would never pass the muster of today's technically oriented hobbyist. And yet that very same technically minded individual would freely admit that the content of those images are indeed compelling and that they are worthy photographs. Which should remind them that an obsession with achieving 'technical perfection' is for the most part some kind of Sisyphean task.

Anyway, I personally think the Leica is a pretty good tool (since it works for me.) I've been using film Leicas for a long time, but it happened only because I was given one to use for a year by a photographer who had hired me to do her gardening as a summer job. The camera turned out to fit me well and so I started a long term relationship with Leica. But they are a device that makes an image. There is no 'mystique' about them nor do they posses any supernatural abilities. We all know making a photograph comes from the mind; the device is simply something that facilitates (or doesn't facilitate) the process of making an image. Those 'mystical' characteristics always being mentioned are just part of the mythology which gets promoted by the manufacturer (and a reminder that we need to be invested more in the photographer him/herself and the images, and not the camera they used.) I guess this is my dislike about the current Leica AG. They emphasize the past pretty heavily and yet their current business plan has no real connection to that past; it's become a marketing strategy.

 

[cliveh]

The photographers from that video (and other recognized artists using Leica over history) were concerned first and foremost with the content and context of the images that the Leica produced, and not so much the device itself or the 'rendering characteristics' and 'bokeh' of the lenses (aside from choosing the focal lengths that worked for them.)

Those 'mystical' characteristics always being mentioned are just part of the mythology which gets promoted by the manufacturer (and a reminder that we need to be invested more in the photographer him/herself and the images, and not the camera they used.) I guess this is my dislike about the current Leica AG. They emphasize the past pretty heavily and yet their current business plan has no real connection to that past; it's become a marketing strategy.

You are correct and I would like to think that many of us still think that we are concerned first and foremost with the content and context of the image. But in some cases a Leica could be the best tool for the job in hand, just as a Stradivarius violin maybe for a virtuoso to play a particular type of music, so why not use it.

 

[Kitschretro]

As someone that mostly uses plastic cameras and instant I often fondly see Leica users as the equivalent of the military's special forces with well oiled shiny durable cameras that look nice but also perform brilliantly.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I was responding with the cause of the thwack, and I was not commenting on the physics. I think we should sit down and drink several Martini [the structure of the word is already in the plural form of Matinus] and talk about this over grilled Pacific salmon. Besides anyone who owns and uses Hasselblad is a wise and fortunate person.

I'm in.