Famous Rangefinder Folk

[CraigK]

Hi All,

I was watching an old documentary on the second world war and saw some archive footage of General Erwin Rommel using a Leica (I wonder what ever became of that camera?).

Anyway it got me thinking about famous rangefinder fans. So let's see who we can come up with shall we?

I'll start with Queen Elizabeth ll and her trusty Rollei 35

http://www.rolleiclub.com/rollei/images/35/Queen_E_II.jpg

And speaking of Rommel, how about Erich v. Stroheim as the famous "Desert Fox" in the classic film "Five Graves to Cairo" ....apparently he insisted that the prop camera be a real Leica AND have film in it.

http://www.geocities.com/bercovy/rommel.jpg

[rover]

I flipped through this book one day at a store and will pick it up at some point in time. It is a collection of photographs taken of celebrities and other famous folks with their cameras. It is a nice collection of photographs, and impressive representation of cameras.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=9c4kxnh90D&isbn=3865210279&itm=1

[back alley]

how famous are we talking here?

i'm pretty well known around these parts.

joe

[Roman]

Pablo Picasso with a FED2:

http://www.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/fontcuberta2/picasso/state.html

Roman

[Roman]

http://www.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/fontcuberta2/dali/state.html

- Salvador Dali with a Retina.

[Roman]

German film director Wim Wenders ('Paris, Texas' , etc.) used a Plaubel Makina 67 (medium format folding RF) for his book 'Written in the West' (and a Noblex panoramic camera - or was it a Widelux??? - for 'Pictures from the SUrface of the Earth')

Roman

[Roman]

Some Leica users (according to an interview with Ralf Coenen from Leica):
the Queen, Steffi Graf, Karl Lagerfeld, Brian Adams, Dennis Hopper, Eric Clapton.

http://www.triaton.com/bp/index.php?detail=25

Roman

[CraigK]

Russel Crowe with an M6(?)

http://i.timeinc.net/ew/img/daily/633/crowe1_l.jpg

[CraigK]

James Dean with a Leica lllc?

http://www.bigpictureimages.com/Prod_images/PP0682%5B1%5D.jpg

[Roman]

James Dean with a screwmount Canon:

[Roman]

Craig, you read that thread on the Leica Forum at photo.net? The general consensus was that it wasn't a Leica but a Canon (due to the non-rounded body edges and placement of rangefinder window).

Roman

[kafrf]

Here's a bunch, from Andrew Nemeth's site:

http://www.nemeng.com/leica/005ea.shtml

enjoy!

Ken

[o0dano0o]

http://www.brendanfraser.com/frame.htm?page=photo

I'm pretty sure he uses a leica. I think I just missed a showing of his at the leica gallery in nyc when i was there in november.

can't forget all the magnum oldies....

[Nikon Bob]

From this thread http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=006uqL I would say Brendan Fraser, among others, uses Leica.

Bob

[Brian Sweeney]

In the John Wayne film "Hatari", the female lead is a photographer, has a Nikon SP. Yeah, my wife has nothing to worry about with me yelling "Look at the camera that girl has!"

In the Smithsonian's photographic exhibit of the "Beatles" in the History and Technology building, most of the pictures were taken with a Nikon SP. Their publicity guy used an SP; one of the "Boys" took a pcture of him with it. Ringo preferred a Pentax, as seen in "Hard Days Night".

[Kin Lau]

In the John Wayne film "Hatari", the female lead is a photographer, has a Nikon SP. Yeah, my wife has nothing to worry about with me yelling "Look at the camera that girl has!"

A modified Argus C3 is featured quite prominently in "Sky Captain" being used by Gywneth Paltrow

[kbg32]

Jeff Bridges is an avid user of a Widelux that was given to him by his wife.

[SolaresLarrave]

I've read Meg Ryan is what's called a "shutterbug", but then, she's a Nikon user. And so is Alyssa Milano.

I read about Fraser in PopPhoto a while ago...

[scottgee1]

David Douglas Duncan and Horace Bristol really pushed the technology of RF cameras forward in new ways when they had some Nikon lenses "fitted" to their SM Leicas when they covered the Korean War. The negs they sent back to the the Life magazine labs in NYC were immediately hailed as the sharpest 35mm images ever seen. Duncan sold off his Leica glass. It marked the beginning of the end of German dominance of the 35mm industry.

Rather than copying and pasting the entire story, here are some links:

http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/eng/d-archives/camera/history_e.htm

http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/history/

(Use the 'Find' function of your browser to look for "Duncan" in each case.)

http://www.mail-archive.com/pentax-discuss@pdml.net/msg159894.html

:cool: /ScottGee1

[scottgee1]

And, to answer the orginal question, I'll add Stanley Kubrick. He was an expert on the use of optics to achieve the unique 'looks' for his films. There are numerous pix of him with a Nikon S of some sort around his neck.

:) /ScottGee1

[RogerC]

Here is a little bit of elaboration on the role of Nikon in the post WW II Japanese photographic. This comes out of the book Tokyo On a Five Day Pass by Horace Bristol. In it the author describes how he and David Douglas Duncan made the switch from German to Japanese equipment, including (obviously) Nikon but also Canon. Quoting from Bristol : "The tests were far from routine, for it was discovered that the Canon, whose popularity with the GI's in Japan had started the acceptance of Japanese cameras in America on the basis of precision products, were manufacturing lenses that were not only the equal of anything developed in either Germany or Japan for the 35mm camera, but in at least one instance, excelling the best produced anywhere! This lens is the f 2 Serenar 85mm medium telephoto, which I consider the most beautiful piece of optical equipment I've ever used.". Further on, when discussing the gear used for the photographs in the book he said: "For lenses, I used......., the f 1.8 Serenar 50mm
(which is free from the flare which spoils the Nikkon (sic) for use wide open)...".
Bristol used LTM bodies, 2 each Leica and Canon, without little comment at all on the bodies which he resolves by stating: "Throughout the pages of this book there has been considerable mention made of the specific lenses used, but little said about the cameras with which the pictures were taken. This is not an oversight; it is merely another tribute to the Japanese photographic and optical industry, for I consider their lenses so superior that emphasis has been placed on them, rather than the camera body.". Thus, from this perspective from one who was there when all this was happening, both Nikon and Canon had major roles in the emergence of the Japanese photographic industry as a dominant world force.