Archive for December 2008
I Leica A Lot (Part 2)
As I am quite tired tonight, and I fell asleep for about 2 hours whilst watching telly (or not as I was asleep!) this part isn’t nearly as full as it should be. But I’m going to write something anyway, and probably delete it all tomorrow evening when I decide it’s awful!
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The main thing that had changed was a simple matter of a Leica available at a price I could afford. As I said, an R3M from Voigtlander/Cosina was the plan right up until pretty much the last minute. The R3M is a well made camera, decent frame lines, a wonderful 1:1 viewfinder and a decent effective base length which would mean decent focusing at wide apertures. It’s a very decent camera for the money but it’s oft cited that a Leica has the feeling of being better made (in part down to its sheer heft) and is quieter (it is, but not as quiet as something like an Olympus XA.)
I Leica A Lot
If you are moderately interested in photography, you will know the names like Canon, Nikon, and probably also Olympus, Pentax and now Sony (formerly Minolta.) But there is one other name that beyond all others seems to stir up a hornet’s nest of illicit passion — Leica. Those that have them rave over them and are caricatured as “fondlers” and generally quite bonkers, and those that don’t are regarded as the enemy to the Leica hardcore fraternity. Nothing stirs more passion than the M8.2’s price tag of £4000 for a crop framed sensor body, nothing unsettles the Canon/Nikon shooter more than hearing that a f/1.4 lens can cost How Much! And what you hear just about everybody who buys one is that now they are a believer, that there is nothing else now for them.
A Leica M2. My Leica M2. With a MR meter attached to the top.
I bought one this week, an old 1959 M2 — highly regarded by many, and for a 49 year old camera (50 soon) it was £300. And that for its condition is regarded as cheap. Let’s put that in context, I *think* you can buy the Nikon D40 with a kit 18-55mm brand new for that. You can probably also source the Canon EOS 1000D body for that. And £300 of Leica M2-ness gets you a fully mechanical, meter-less body which on the face of it, looks like a raw deal for me, the M2 owner.
But you see, it isn’t when it’s in the hands of someone who appreciates what it is, and why they’ve bought it (certainly not to fondle.) Let’s get this out of the way, the Leica is a fantastic bit of a kit, quiet, smooth working and a mechanical marvel but it’s not the holy grail of life, it doesn’t solve the mysteries that keep you awake in your pensive moments, and it doesn’t even do the dishes (what a swizz!) But what it does do, it promises to do well.
I say promises because I haven’t even got a lens to try out on it yet! So what’s all the fuss, why a rangefinder (what the heck is one, some ask) and why unlike some I intend to take this camera literally on walks of hundreds of miles… Read the rest of this entry »
OpenSUSE 11.0 — The Long and Short of it
I haven’t been using my blog much over the ast few months. I have generally been very busy with life in general. Not least of course with work which has been a great player in my life this year. Not in a negative overtaking way but apart from my photography and walking, it has been my main creative output. So, trying to get things back on an even base before I leave once again for a weeks (for Christmas and New Year) it’s about time I updated this blog on my exploits with OpenSUSE 11.0.
OpenSUSE 11.0 Desktop with Firefox 3 and LyX
