Which lens is best?

Lorem Ipsum wrote:
: "Frank Pittel" wrote

: My first instinct is to say that they can't. However they do have the
: leica
: label on it and they're stupidly expensive. As everyone knows it's the
: label
: that says "leica" on it that makes the camera good.

: I disagree in part. Even a top-of-the-line Leica made in Germany must
: absolutely be overpriced in order to be good. A free Leica is almost
: worthless for picture making.

I'm sure that you'll agree that a lens with the name Leica on it is
by definition overpriced and therefore good.

--




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Keep working millions on welfare depend on you

Frank Pittel wrote:
Lorem Ipsum wrote:
: "Frank Pittel" wrote

: My first instinct is to say that they can't. However they do have the
: leica
: label on it and they're stupidly expensive. As everyone knows it's the
: label
: that says "leica" on it that makes the camera good.

: I disagree in part. Even a top-of-the-line Leica made in Germany must
: absolutely be overpriced in order to be good. A free Leica is almost
: worthless for picture making.

I'm sure that you'll agree that a lens with the name Leica on it is
by definition overpriced and therefore good.

Where I work there is "Leitz" on almost every piece of office
equipment. Just think if they still used copy stands instead of
photocopiers and the copy stand had a Leitz camera on it. Even with the
best lens in the world on it and with the best engineering it would
still be an office equipment camera and therefore useless for
photography. A "Leitz camera" - just the thought of it makes me laugh.
But a -- Leica ---- , well, that's something else entirely. I feel
I've won an award for brilliant photography just by thinking about one.

wrote:

A "Leitz camera" - just the thought of it makes me laugh.
But a -- Leica ---- , well, that's something else entirely. I feel
I've won an award for brilliant photography just by thinking about one.

Laika... wasn't that the name of the first living being to be put into
orbit? A dog! I can't get it out of my head. I'm taking pictures with a dog!
See how it works? "I need film for my Spot, Fido, Lassie, King,
Rin-Tin-Tin!" fer gosh sake.

OTOH, making pictures with a Cannon(sic)... silly.

Lorem Ipsum wrote:
wrote:

A "Leitz camera" - just the thought of it makes me laugh.
But a -- Leica ---- , well, that's something else entirely. I feel
I've won an award for brilliant photography just by thinking about one.

Laika... wasn't that the name of the first living being to be put into
orbit? A dog! I can't get it out of my head. I'm taking pictures with a dog!

I got it wrong about Leitz. The office equipment company never did have
anything to do with the Leitz who made the Leitz cameras.

See how it works? "I need film for my Spot, Fido, Lassie, King,
Rin-Tin-Tin!" fer gosh sake.

It wouldn't surpise me if some Chinese cameras were named after some of
the dogs you listed.

OTOH, making pictures with a Cannon(sic)... silly.

Pictures made with a Cannon might sometimes be good enough to blow you
away.


But as for Leica cameras and lenses, though I have not been following
this thread carefully, I have an M6 and a number of lenses. Some of the
lenses are good and some not so good. I bought a very expensive
aspherical wide-angle lens some years back, new, for a lot of money and
that lens was one of them that was not so good. If I wanted to take
slightly wide angle shots using the 35mm format then the M6 with the
35mm pancake lens would be my first choice. But for wider angle shots
there is nothing that pleases me about the Leica and I would use my
Pentax 6x7 instead with the 55mm or 45mm lens.

I think with these super-expensive Leica lenses, they are trying to
squeeze as much money out of what they know is a dying format. And they
are just letting the word spread among the idiots who pay a huge price
for them (I was among them once) that their range of equipment is
somehow vastly superior. So these people with too much money and too
little brains buy their cameras and lenses and go visit camera shops to
make sure they are seen by the right people with their M7 or whatever
draped round their neck. And they want to be admired as good
photographers simply because they are carrying Leica equipment. Of
course this is vanity and nonsense. So long as you have a decent lens
and a working light-tight box behind it then the quality of the
photograph depends on the person pushing on the shutter button and the
camera brand makes no difference. And for the 35mm even the best
photographer is limited by the format.


I use a wide-angle compact digital camera as a convenient snap-shot
camera and for low-resolution landscape. If I want high quality, I use
medium format. For me, the 35mm format does not have a clear role any
more.