The Votes

[MP Guy]

I want to thank everyone who submitted an essay. It has been an experience reading the essays and seeing how everyone takes pride in their RF camera. It was also a difficult task going through the essays and deciding whcih should be selected. Every essay was inspiring and well written. Unfortunately, we had to select 11 due to the number of entries.

Please take the time to read and vote for your essay. At the end of the month a winner will be chosen based on the polls.

Thanks you again

[Natalia]

ESSAY#2 grabbed me from the beginning and kept me engaged till the end. The pros and cons of the SLR vs RF cameras were presented in am easy to grasp manner. Very well written. Great style.

Hey, I am the 1st to vote!!!!! :D

[Todd.Hanz]

Ladies first Natalia :D.

#2 also rang true to something inside me, but they were all great! I loved these two quotes:

"the holy grail of HCwannaB's"
and
"when I got my film back.........Holy Crap" (kinda says it all :D )

Congrats on everyones essays, superb work, we have some real talent here. Everyone deserves a gift!

Todd

[Natalia]

Where are my manners? Of course, congrats to all participants!

[DougK]

Well done everyone... the winner will be truly deserving!

[ray_g]

I had to stop the "Motorcycle Diaries" DVD I was watching and read through all eleven. Great stuff. Everyone should be congratulated! Now back to Che...

[Ratticus]

Number 3 really did it for me, it was very compelling and very well written.

Made me want to go and buy a rangefinder... if I only I could find the money ;)

Cheers

[laptoprob]

Number one made a great story about the feeling of the 'oldfashioned' way of photography. The feel, like the feel of wonderfully made machines, older cars etc.

Not at all a technical story, well done.

Rob.

[SHERPA]

that is good

[Grumblepunk]

Cartier-Bresson and Elliott Erwitt used it for many of their best-known works. Robert Capa carried two of them when he waded ashore at Normandy. Ansel Adams chose it for environmental portraits. In fact, if you researched the iconic photographs of the past 80 years, you'd find that a disproportionate number of them were made with the secret camera.
What IS that difference? To put it simply: When you use an SLR, you look into it and see an image. When you use an RF camera, you look through it and see the world in front of you.This is exactly what made me first decide to purchase a Rangefinder. This essay grabbed me and hit on every point that the world at large needs to consider.

Every essay posted was bloody amazing and making a decision was by far not an easy task, but Essay 11 had me from the start. Whoever you are, thank you for the read. :)

[bmarkmain]

All great essays! Very difficult to decide on a "best". My vote will remain confidential. As a novice photographer, I feel that the way you feel and know the subject, or know about the subject, is of primary importance in deciding when to take the shot; that is in wanting to capture your feeling for the subject, so that others can see what you see. To me that is the essence of photography.

[TPPhotog]

OK I'll go public and announce that I've voted for essay 11. They are all really interesting and it's a difficult discussion, but essay 11 grabbed me by the throat and made me smile.

I think for me it sums up exactly why I'm moving over to RFs and have put my F100 up for sale. The first time I got my hands on a Canonet QL17 it really did change the way I see and think photographically!!

My congratulations to everyone whoever you are for the quality of the essays entered, they are all amazing and I couldn't have done it :)

[parasko]

Essay 11 wins hands down (but also congratulations to other entrants).

For a newbie like me, I've learnt more reading this essay about the differences between Rangefinders and SLRs than I have through any other article. You've summarised it perfectly and passionately.

Great!

[MP Guy]

I for one will not be voting. This is your contest. But, keep the votes and the comments coming in. This has been really exciting.

[cp_ste.croix]

wow...these are all awesome!

[Basil]

Well, to add my humble opinion - Essay 11 is the most professionally written, but sounds somewhat like an advertisement. Essay 7 gets my vote because of this:

[\quote]
To take a good picture, a mediocre photographer needs a combination of coincidence (be at the right time at the right place), creativity (maximise the effect of a shooting opportunity) and equipment (have the tools available to realise the desired effect). A good photographer doesn't need the coincidence: he relies on creativity and equipment to take a good picture in any circumstances of any subject. A very good photographer doesn't need the coincidence nor does he rely on equipment: he solely relies on creativity and is master of the equipment

[aizan]

oh man, great bits (and, uh, lousy bits) in all of the entries...if only we could put them all together! i voted for #3 because it really articulated why rangefinders are better "cameras for life", though it doesn't have a section on digital photography. luv the subtitle, it's so to the point:

why do you want an SLR anyways?

[dmr]

There are several well-written entries. A few of them definitely run ahead of the pack, and, IMAO, one is a clear front-runner, which I voted for.

For some reason, I don't feel like saying which I voted for until the count is in. I also avoided reading the comments until I went through all of them and decided for myself.

Although I've only been here a few months, this is definitely one of the high points of my tenure here, even though I declined to make a submission. :)

[snaggs]

Essay 3, concise and to the point, with real world application. I found some of them too long. If you think about it, will someone whos not a rangefinder fan read such long arguments?

I think the essay topic instructions were at fault for ephasising detail, when brevity and focus are always better IMHO.

Daniel.

[back alley]

thought this could use a bump...

[cp_ste.croix]

maybe a temp sticky to the main page? can that even be done?

[RML]

Essays, right? While most of the entries were interesting reads, they were too long to hold my attention long enough to finish the whole read. The ones that did hold my attention were 2 and 9. I'm going for 9. Someone who can create a poem that long and sound on the pros and cons of RFs vs SLRs deserves to win. And it was an entertaining read as well.

Congrats to all, and good luck. May the best one win!

[jlw]

Essays, right? While most of the entries were interesting reads, they were too long to hold my attention long enough to finish the whole read.

Oops, maybe some of the entrants didn't realize they were writing for "Short Attention Span Theater"...

[titrisol]

I liked some of the essays, some I did not.
Who am I to say thought that RF lovers can also be poets, writers and lovers?

Kudos to all!

[RML]

Oops, maybe some of the entrants didn't realize they were writing for "Short Attention Span Theater"...

Sarcasm doesn't suit you, JLW. :)

If one writes for an online forum IMO things should either be short and catchy or, if that isn't possible, broken up in easy-to-read pieces. Most were far removed from either. It's hard enough having to read from screen not having to plow through acres of text.

Anyway, nr 9 got my vote. I really enjoyed that poem.

[jlw]

A thought for Jorge:

Maybe you shouldn't be allowing "electioneering" at all...?

Just let people read the essays and make up their own minds, without being influenced by other people's preconceptions as to what the essays should or shouldn't have been.

[dmr]

A thought for Jorge:

Maybe you shouldn't be allowing "electioneering" at all...?

Just let people read the essays and make up their own minds, without being influenced by other people's preconceptions as to what the essays should or shouldn't have been.

I would tend to agree with this ...

[cp_ste.croix]

i'll second that...or third it as the case may be.

[gabrielelopez]

My congrats to all the partecipants, I had a really good time while reading all the essays. My best wishes to everyone!

[Roman]

Wow, just finished reading all the essays - and now I'm having a hard time deciding between no. 2, 4, 6 and 9...

Roman

[MP Guy]

Getting interesting. Lets keep the votes coming. Only 2 more weeks before we know who the winner is :)

[back alley]

so has everyone read all 11?

still wondering which to choose?

life is full of tough decisions...;)

not long to go.

joe

[GordonSBuck]

We only have to read eleven. Jorge, how many did you have to read?

[denishr]

Congrats to all participants/authors!
Some nice writing there... I won't tell you which one got my vote, though :)

[taffer]

Congrats to all participants and thanks for giving us such good and fun readings ! :D

And good luck everybody !

[solane]

essays three and four made me laugh and smile. the "HCwannaBs" in (#3 ) is a great reference! the motorcycle vs. car metaphor (in eassy 4) is spot-on, though i wish the writer had compared scooters to cars but that's just a personal preference. :D

essay #11 is very professional and astute.
number 9 in verse has its charms.

decisions! decisions!

everyone did a great job and each essay has merits. how will i ever choose just one!?!?

[Tom Diaz]

There are several excellent expressions, in the contest, of what I consider the big deal: Mobility. For the artistic opportunties at less than one meter from the lens, the SLR has all the advantages. For what I consider the much more limited artistic opportunities needing more than a 135mm lens, again nothing will beat the SLR.

For macro and and long telephoto work you're in the cage--tripod, stationary position, and all the rest. It may be worth spending some of your time in there, but you should not exclusively use equipment that excels only in the cage.

For anything except macro and telephoto work, rangefinders have all the advantages. I repeat: all the advantages, including price advantages or parity, thanks to used rangefinders and Voigtlander-Cosina.

For me, and I really think, the vast majority of photographers, the greatest number of artistic opportunities are not in the macro or telephoto domains but in the range of 28mm to 135mm lenses, and you find them when you're out walking around, not when you're stationed in one spot.

Essay 4 expresses these points (among others) succinctly and powerfully. I love the motorcycle metaphor. Furthermore, this essay is not overly metaphorical or abstract. It suggests the practical argument you might actually give a friend and is not merely a hymn of praise.

[yankeedoll]

I will keep my vote to myself but they were all very interesting & made it very difficult to choose one.

Jorge, hats off to you! as it must have been very difficult choosing the finalists.

Congratulations to the eventual winner. :)

And I for one have learned much in the process.

[TPPhotog]

Just bumping as I had trouble finding it :D

[murrayatuptown]

Dumb question from the disoriented one...

Where can I read the essays? (Please don't tell me here on RFF or on my computer! I have two two steps figured out! :O)

I found the Vote screen but am having trouble finding the essays themselves.

Thanks

Murray

[toming]

you can find them here.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=54

happy reading. :)

[cp_ste.croix]

Bump for an almost closed poll.

[aizan]

*bump. almost over!