Why LEICA M lenses are so expensive...'
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Interesting fiction. Film use initially was all contact-printed. My grandparents' photos from box cameras through the 30s and 40s were all contact printed. 35mm photography was practical because Leica and Zeiss were already making high quality lenses. The plethora of books appeared once a plethora of enlargers appeared. And how on earth could anyone ever consider that 35mm photography requires greater technical skill than shooting large format?
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Hardly fiction. You prove my point when you point out that most negatives were contact printed using large format film. Technically Leitz and Zeiss produced precision instruments with excellent lenses for the time, but affordable only for upper income folks. This can be seen in films of the time where wealth is hinted at by character owning a Contax or Leica. While I enjoy shooting with my Elmar and Hector lenses, they are certainly no match for postwar lenses.
Perhaps “greater skills” should be replaced by “different skills”. This is evidenced by a true master of 35mm technique, my late friend Lou Stettner, who also authored “U.S Camera’s 35mm Photography” in 1956. I have several other books addressing 35mm technique. All of these books mention an assortment of 35mm cameras in addition to Leica and Contax. In contrast, B. Abbott in her book “A Guide to Better Photography” 1941, mentions only two 35mm cameras: Leica and Contax. Book concentrated on photography with larger format film.
By the way, both Leitz and Zeiss produced enlargers for 35mm, so there was no need to wait fo a plethora of enlargers.
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- Don_ih
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There are great photographers who have used many different brands and many different formats of cameras. I do not believe using Leica cameras and Leica lenses will make you a great photographer. But if you want to use Leica cameras and lenses, by all means do so. Just skip the rationalizations and show me your prints.
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There are great photographers who have used many different brands and many different formats of cameras. I do not believe using Leica cameras and Leica lenses will make you a great photographer. But if you want to use Leica cameras and lenses, by all means do so. Just skip the rationalizations and show me your prints.
Query: Did you know there is a Louis Vuitton handbag forum? Is is sort of like the Leica camera forum.
Louis Vuitton
Sub-forum community for Louis Vuitton fans, shoppers and collectors.forum.purseblog.com
To be fair, there are forums or sub-reddits for virtually every recognisable brand of camera, handbag, motorbike or power tool, including Holga.
The real reason the Leica M lenses are so expensive is a plot to get people to buy Hasselblad and Hasselblad Zeiss lenses.
Way better cheaper cameras out here.
But when one uses a Hasselblad and the photographs are blah, then one can look in a mirror and see the problem straight in the face. [Can't blame the camera]
WHen it comes to medium format camera pretty much 100% are in the ballpark. I shoot a lot of folders from the 50s and they look great. Not to mention I shoot 6x9 6x7 6x45 as well as 6x6.
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Put it this way .... who eventually bought the Sinar line? That should tell you something. It wasn't Hassle-bland.
There you have it. Why Leica M lenses are so expensive.
OP
OP
Finally...!
I was able to replicate a similar test on my RB67. But I had to use a nickel because I'm Canadian and have moved in the last decade...
Hardest part was finding a spot I could balance the coin and not have it roll right off.
A real test of vibration's impact on an optical system would be fitting a quality laser in place of the film back, and then recording the patterns made across a long room.
OP
OP
I’m so glad we’re back on topic...!
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As mentioned in a previous thread:-
Everyone knows that Leica lenses are the dog’s bollocks of optics. They are made from rare earth elements that are only found near the centre of the earth. Mining and assembling of these rare elements are a huge task, involving thousands of miners and engineering experts in innovative mining technology. Minute quantities of these rare earths are then placed in platinum crucibles and then subjected to heat and pressure only matched by the production of the finest diamonds. Each lens is then ground by Peruvian virgins underwater and assembled to produce a matching set of optical perfection elements that could only be matched by zirconium optics from the planet zardos. When a Leica lens is placed in any proximity with another lens such as a Nikon, or Zeiss they will simply roll away and commit suicide by smashing to the ground.
Everyone knows that Leica lenses are the dog’s bollocks of optics. They are made from rare earth elements that are only found near the centre of the earth. Mining and assembling of these rare elements are a huge task, involving thousands of miners and engineering experts in innovative mining technology. Minute quantities of these rare earths are then placed in platinum crucibles and then subjected to heat and pressure only matched by the production of the finest diamonds. Each lens is then ground by Peruvian virgins underwater and assembled to produce a matching set of optical perfection elements that could only be matched by zirconium optics from the planet zardos. When a Leica lens is placed in any proximity with another lens such as a Nikon, or Zeiss they will simply roll away and commit suicide by smashing to the ground.
OP
OP
Please keep on topic as why Bronica cameras are superior to Hasselblad ...!
BRONICA??? MAYBE only the RF. But Mamiya for sure
has no soul.
Looks wonderful… Don’t care about soul.
My motto is:
”Do you want to look cool while taking a photo or do you want your photos to look cool?”
OP
OP
Glad we’re back on topic…!
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Translate that into : Do you want to be the first person mugged on the streets of SF or not? Nothing gives you more social status than filing an official police report stating you had a Leica stolen. Of course, you don't necessarily need to be mugged. Just leave it on the seat of your BMW when you're inside an expensive restaurant.
OP
OP
That’s exactly why I play it safe owning a F2...!
Leave anything on the seat of any car and it will be stolen.
OP
OP
Now that’s deep...!
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During college years and the reality of being devoid of sufficient income, a few of my old high school pals who rented an apartment together, but were trying to avoid paying a garbage bill, so saved up old Christmas wrappings, wrapped their garbage in it, and placed that on the back seat of a car with the door unlocked. Every day it got stolen.
But just this past month, overseas relatives of an acquaintance of mine arrived in SF, and left their baggage, including some very expensive 35mm camera gear, in a locked car right in front of a Chinatown restaurant just long enough to get themselves on the waiting list - less than 5 minutes unattended. That's all it took. They lost everything.
Even worse, a couple months before, an amateur photographer parked his Lexus over by the shore, and was walking around conspicuously shooting new high-end DLSR gear. That drew thieves to him like moths to a candle. But instead of mugging him, they tailed him a full hour back to his home 60 miles away, and not only took his camera gear, but went inside for an armed robbery, terrifying his family; and then, to add insult to injury, one of them drove off with his Lexus.
As for me, I'd rather look like one of the Beverly Hillbillies instead of looking cool. Or maybe I just look like that anyway. I drive a decently dented and reasonably dirty old truck, and dress accordingly. In any event, it works. But my brother tried to look like a pro, and carried his gear in shiny Halliburton cases, and drove around in a Porche, and had all his gear stolen twice from its trunk.
If I chose to shoot a Leica, I'd put some kind of nondescript relatively ugly wrapping over most of it, and then a dented or tarnished lens hood on the lens.
But just this past month, overseas relatives of an acquaintance of mine arrived in SF, and left their baggage, including some very expensive 35mm camera gear, in a locked car right in front of a Chinatown restaurant just long enough to get themselves on the waiting list - less than 5 minutes unattended. That's all it took. They lost everything.
Even worse, a couple months before, an amateur photographer parked his Lexus over by the shore, and was walking around conspicuously shooting new high-end DLSR gear. That drew thieves to him like moths to a candle. But instead of mugging him, they tailed him a full hour back to his home 60 miles away, and not only took his camera gear, but went inside for an armed robbery, terrifying his family; and then, to add insult to injury, one of them drove off with his Lexus.
As for me, I'd rather look like one of the Beverly Hillbillies instead of looking cool. Or maybe I just look like that anyway. I drive a decently dented and reasonably dirty old truck, and dress accordingly. In any event, it works. But my brother tried to look like a pro, and carried his gear in shiny Halliburton cases, and drove around in a Porche, and had all his gear stolen twice from its trunk.
If I chose to shoot a Leica, I'd put some kind of nondescript relatively ugly wrapping over most of it, and then a dented or tarnished lens hood on the lens.
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