A fond farewell: 35 'lux is gone.

[Fred]

Owning a Leica does not make you a better photographer. Owning any expensive camera does not make you better. It is how you look at the world that makes you better. Just my thoughts

Wonderfully put, I could not agree more! It's the person behind the camera that has to have the vision in the first place that matters most.

 

[x-ray]

Good logic. However, I prefer to have the best there is then to spend the saved money on Big Macs, shoes and Fashuionable shirts... Those shirts are so expensive, people spend a few Noctiluxes a year just to be good looking. If thewy succeed, I dunno.

I don't spend much on how I look because it would'nt help. My wife loves me for what I am and that's all that matters.

My wife and I were talking tonight at dinner. I remarked that I could sell all my 35 film gear and do the same work with the same quality with only one bessa body and 28, 50 and 90 CV lenses. I wasn't kidding because I know virtually every CV lens and Bessa R* body is equal or better than what i shot most of my best work with in the 60's, 70's and 80's and even today. Equipment does not define my work it's all about what i personally put into my work. I am what makes my work what it is not my equipment.

No negative reflection on Bessa or CV. I own three CV lenses and love them as much as I do my Leica lenses. The Bessa is a very fine body and ca do everything my MP or ZI can do and just as well.

Possibly this attitude comes form maturity in ones profession. I honestly believe this and have known better photographers than I am that feel the same way, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Arnold Newman. All of these people used old equipment with the exception of Adams in his later years. he was on the board for Hasselblad and shot Hasselblads because he got them free. Newman shot an old Bush 4x5 and some 1950 vintage lenses. He shot Nikon F's and 1st generation glass. Imogen used a early 50 Rollei TLR and old 5x7 view and vintage lenses.

 

[KM-25]

I hear you! It's liberating once you wake up to the fact that photography isn't about winning the approval of some snobs and self-appointed mavens on internet forums.

Yes, but lets do remember that not all who buy these lenses are like that, some of us will eek out every line per millimeter and push those aspherics to the utter brink of their limits and it will show in the images...

I have a 28 and 50 aspheric, I have no desire for any other Leica lenses, these things rock and I am going to squeeze every last drop out of them.

 

[RayPA]

Howdy, Francisco.

Yeah, once you've got the 35 Aspherical Summilux, there's really nowhere else to go, lenswise, is there?

I'm glad I owned the lens just to get it out of my system, if nothing else.

Cheers!

I never gave a damn about stuff when I was younger. I won a Kodak film grant in college for a super-8 movie I shot using a $3 thrift store camera with a magnifying glass taped to the lens for 'macro'; my still camera was a $50 Canon Canonet with a 48 to 52mm step up ring to use cheaper, Nikon sized filters. I got sidetracked somewhere in early middle-age acquiring more and more 'stuff' and I'm trying to get back on the rails. Wish me luck.

(A sign of good fortune, perhaps: I just got an email from DAG telling me my 40 Nokton is repaired. )

After all this, I can't wait to hear which digital camera model you're getting.
I'll bet it's not going to be a slouch of a kit.


;

 

[Krosya]

Not sure if I agree with all

Not sure if I agree with all

Well, let me get philosophical here too. Yes, I see how everyone (or most people) feel about gear, yet most still buying or wanting better, or more expensive or different stuff. Me included. I agree , but only partially. The way I see it - there is another way of looking at things. For example - I wonder sometimes - what if I had a better/faster lens - would I get a shot that I didn't due to the lens I used? Not that I'm super talented, but sometimes equipment may limits one's ability. Am I at that point? Probably not. But I would like to have the best of the best, so I know - if I still mess up or lose a shot - it's me and not my equipment that let me down. I wish I could afford all those nice expensive Leica lenses. But even with what I have now - very good photos can be taken. Yet, there is always that thought - what if? I know - many famous photographers used much simpler cameras and lenses and got great results, yet......well, you get the point.
I sometimes too think that I should go back to basics, sell off most of my gear and just have, let's say - one camera and one lens and just try to make the best out of it. Yet, there is always a new temptation to try. Thats how I got into RF - from SLR, to DSLR to CV Bessa, to now Leica, with MF and stereo photography in between there too. lol.
So, I feel that there is nothing wrong with wanting and getting new and better gear (although, someone here was correct, - sometimes we spend too much time doing that and not taking pictures), as long as you can affod it and it makes you happy - why not?