[MightyWinnebago]

Originally Posted by analogika

vs.

Is this the part where I get to chide you for being a complete idiot?

love,

-chris.

P.S.: Like I didn't KNOW you have a DJ turntable and some vinyl. You've seen me in the turntable threads. You're ego's just too big to let it pass, eh?

Sucka.

Nah. I jsut wasn't abut to let you know I hav evinyl.

dude Kristn just won the prettist girl int ehe bar cotest. Hehe.

[ChrisF]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

The Nikon FM2 has always been a dream of mine, but it was too pricey back then (I was still in High School).

They've gotten pretty darn cheap on the used market lately. I owned one briefly but was always partial to F2s instead in spite of the extra weight and inferior flash sync. There's something about the FM/FM2 feel I never quite liked.
I had a near-ownership experience 15+ years ago with a beautiful Rolleiflex 120/220 model with the Zeiss Planar 2.8 but my then-boss ended up selling it to a customer who was willing to pay a whole more money for it than I could afford. It was positively mint and it had come in as a trade-in where I worked. The store had only given a couple hundred $ for the Rollei and IIRC, that one sold for something like $1200 back in the late 80s/early 90s to a wealthy guy who came in and always paid cash.
Can't say that I currently own any real classic equipment unless a Nikon F4 (which I regard as perhaps the best manual focus SLR Nikon ever made) or D70 count, though I work for a Hasselblad/Sinar/Canon/Leaf dealer so have lots of access to neat stuff on a regular basis- though I don't use film in any of it.

[ChrisF]

Originally Posted by SimeyTheLimey

Leicas are also very quiet and because they are rangefinders, you can take pictures in lower light at slower shutter speeds, without the need for flash. That's one of the reasons documentary photographers like them. Another is their small size. Some people do collect them, and those people (who generally aren't really photographers) baby their toys. But working photographers buy Leicas as tools.

To nitpick just a bit: Leica Ms are quiet; Leica Rs are regular SLR bodies and lose that advantage (as I'm sure you're aware). It's very common for working photojournalists to have a Leica M with a short, fast lens or two tossed in the camera bag next to the big Canons or Nikons; it's hard to beat that small, unobtrusive camera when shooting up close with people but it's also hard for photojournalists- who generally don't earn much money- to afford a full Leica system for the majority of their work. Also a factor: Canon and Nikon have extraordinary support for working professionals through their professional services departments.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally Posted by ChrisF

To nitpick just a bit: Leica Ms are quiet; Leica Rs are regular SLR bodies and lose that advantage (as I'm sure you're aware). It's very common for working photojournalists to have a Leica M with a short, fast lens or two tossed in the camera bag next to the big Canons or Nikons; it's hard to beat that small, unobtrusive camera when shooting up close with people but it's also hard for photojournalists- who generally don't earn much money- to afford a full Leica system for the majority of their work. Also a factor: Canon and Nikon have extraordinary support for working professionals through their professional services departments.

Of course that is so. The R series cameras are the red headed stepchildren of the Leica lineup. They are very nicely made, have wonderful lenses, but in general, the most significant advantages to a Leica don't apply to them because they are not rangefinders.

Personally, also, I have always felt that the Leica single lens reflexes missed something very important to being a Leica. They ought to be small: In my opinion, they ought to be like an Olympus OM-1. But they are not. They are as big and clunky as a Nikon or Canon. Have you ever handled an R8 or R9 next to an M6? Big ugly bricks!

There are a couple of models I have been tempted by, though. The Leicaflex SL and SL2 have wonderfully big and bright viewfinders. I'm tempted.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by ChrisF

They've gotten pretty darn cheap on the used market lately. I owned one briefly but was always partial to F2s instead in spite of the extra weight and inferior flash sync. There's something about the FM/FM2 feel I never quite liked.
I had a near-ownership experience 15+ years ago with a beautiful Rolleiflex 120/220 model with the Zeiss Planar 2.8 but my then-boss ended up selling it to a customer who was willing to pay a whole more money for it than I could afford. It was positively mint and it had come in as a trade-in where I worked. The store had only given a couple hundred $ for the Rollei and IIRC, that one sold for something like $1200 back in the late 80s/early 90s to a wealthy guy who came in and always paid cash.
Can't say that I currently own any real classic equipment unless a Nikon F4 (which I regard as perhaps the best manual focus SLR Nikon ever made) or D70 count, though I work for a Hasselblad/Sinar/Canon/Leaf dealer so have lots of access to neat stuff on a regular basis- though I don't use film in any of it.

Hmmm, to be honest, I have never shot anything with FM2s, so I don't know how their handling compared to other cameras. I kind of like this reduction to the essentials, things like programs were always irritating for me.

Until I got my first digital, I always took my father's camera and my Nikon with me, so I had both. (So technically, the Zeiss Ikon is not mine, yes )

[euphras]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

Hmmm, to be honest, I have never shot anything with FM2s, so I don't know how their handling compared to other cameras. I kind of like this reduction to the essentials, things like programs were always irritating for me.

Automation (programs) are nice as long as i can manually override them. 70 percent of the normal stuff is managed well by them. My new digital cam (which was a gift) has none of these options

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by euphras

Automation (programs) are nice as long as i can manually override them. 70 percent of the normal stuff is managed well by them. My new digital cam (which was a gift) has none of these options

I was thinking of programs like `portrait', `landscape', etc. Things that just take you away from the essentials. Most of the time I work in time automatic, sometimes aperture automatic, sometimes in full manual.