Erwin Puts closing website ?

[Hektor]

I have been a keen reader of this site www.imx.nl for several years, and have bought his book on Leica lenses. Erwin says Hove haven't paid his royalties.

I thought he was the best reviewer of lenses so far.

What's he going to do now ?

What's Leica going to do now ?

What are we going to do now ?

Does this matter ?

 

[Nikon Bob]

Does it matter?

In a word, no.

Bob

 

[Hektor]

Hi Mango, Hmmm, I think I know what you mean, perhaps I didn't read between the lines enough. I thought his book was OK though.

 

[Bertram2]

Hey🙂

What's he going to do now?

Probably use his £3k camera and lens to take more awful pictures of girls in underwear.

What's Leica going to do?

Find someone else to fawn over their products, including the DMR this time. And then go bust.

What are we going to do?

Take some pictures and enjoy our equipment, in the knowledge that we are safe from the Erwin Putz history of the motorcycle industry (paralell universe edition).

Does it matter?

I'll miss slagging him off now and again and laughing at his awful photographs.

I could say more, but this is a family show. 😀

ManGo

I thought too about adding some words but somehow I feel it's not worth the effort. You said it all, and you said it so much more polite than I could have said it ever ! 😀 😀
Best,
Bertram

 

[Hektor]

Hi Bertram, Nice gallery, where was "a place to rest and think" taken ?

 

[jaapv]

This is not what his website says...

I am in the process of updating my site and improving (I hope!) the appearance and navigation. I am a dedicated follower of CSS and all my pages will be refurbished using the CSS technique. Not every page will be instantly updated. This takes some time.

This site has grown from a few pages to a large collection of information about Leica, BW photographic techniques, optical topics and also historical topics. I intent to provide the visitor with information that is as accurate as possible. In science and engineering it is customary, if not mandatory to check and recheck current knowledge to question its validity in the light of factual experience and logical reasoning.

Today I know more than I did ten years ago. Some of the things I thought were true then, are no longer true and some facts are plainly wrong. I do receive many e-mails of persons who point out typographal errors and factual errors. I am thankful for this information. As a result, I am updating my text and sometimes do a complete rewrite.

My previous email address was so loaded with virusses and spam that I had to find another one and change the provider. My new email address is a kind of alias. I can recieve emails in this box, but this is a public one and I will only sparingly reveal my real email address.

This thread smells of rumors, unless something happened that I don't know about, but his site is up and running......
I didn't realise he was so controversial, I always found his lens-tests very well executed and helpful. As to his photo's tastes differ, and they are not my first choice I admit, but they are well and professionally executed, so why all the hate?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

> So for the moment I will stop developing this site and will remove it from the web in a short period.

From:
http://www.imx.nl/photosite/comments/c018.html

It's the "take it down part" that that sounds final. I like the write-up on the viewfinder optics, explanation of RF patch flare, list of optics, and other useful information found on the site.

I for one will miss it, and have saved-to-disk the articles that I usually reference.

 

[Huck Finn]

I also find his reviews & books (I have a couple>) to be extraordinarily helpful.

 

[peter_n]

Hilarious ManGo! 😀 FWIW he posted his last piece about the Zeiss lenses.

 

[jlw]

It just sounds to me like he's decided to change his domain name to get away from the spammers, and wants to get his CSS conversion done all at once (which I can certainly understand; it's a headache to maintain a large site that's part CSS and part not.)

Personally, I would have posted an advance warning but kept the old site up while working on the new one. But we all know Putzi does things a little differently...

 

[Bertram2]

Hi Bertram, Nice gallery, where was "a place to rest and think" taken ?

3 miles from the house, a place where I go sometimes with the bike.
ThankS for looking !
Bertram

 

[clogz]

Mmm, yes . Erwin Puts may have been an invetarate Leicaphile. So what?
Writing articles that make sense -although not to everybody's taste obviously - takes more hard work than slagging him off in a facetious manner like Manolo seems to excel at. Since when has somebody's expertise in the field of camera testing anything to do with his preference for taking pictures of ladies in some form of undress? Anyway 99% Chimps do not write as far as I know. "Schadenfreude"is definitely not a noble sentiment.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Well I've downloaded the explanations on the M3 finder and other technical articles that are no where else to be found. I hope he opens a new site and puts these reviews back up. I've also downloaded his .pdf lens reviews.

 

[Toby]

I looked at his "glamour" photos is the girl in the middle going to the toilet? Or having a "Forrest Gump" as we call it here

 

[Toby]

Just read Zeiss ZM lens article...head hurts.....

 

[merciful]

You're quite right, it does take a lot of effort. What others may dismiss as facetious slagging has been a life's work for me.

Hey🙂

I disagree. I put a lot of hard work into it. 😀

ManGo

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Although I appreciate E.P.'s knowledge and insight, when I read his "writings", my head hurts not because of the technical content, but because of the hard-to-follow English structures (or lack of them) he uses. Granted, it's not his first language, but after decades of writing in it I would have thought some good writing skills would have rubbed off on him or some kind soul would have already stepped in to edit his works.

Maintaining a website is a lot of work, and time-consuming; it may not seem that way to regular browsers (i.e. users), but it is; it just sucks your available time away.

 

[zeos 386sx]

I looked at his "glamour" photos is the girl in the middle going to the toilet? Or having a "Forrest Gump" as we call it here

Actually Toby, that's whats called a "Forrest Dump".

I like Erwin. I emailed some questions to him a while back and he took the time to answer - in depth. He didn't know me but he took time out of his life to share his knowledge on a subject that seems to interest all of us. Whatever his faults may be he is a very nice person and I will miss his website (though it still seems to be up-and-running).

 

[Toby]

In the interests of all RFF members here is an all purpose Leica lens review scientifically designed to cater to all your future lens reviewing purposes:


1/ Is this lens the paragon of sharpness, the zenith of resolution and the apotheosis of bokeh, the ultimate expression of the 35mm lens makers art?

-YES


2/ Can you afford it?

-NO


Please keep this review in a safe place until Leica's next product announcement 😀

 

[Peter Klein]

I like Erwin. I emailed some questions to him a while back and he took the time to answer - in depth. He didn't know me but he took time out of his life to share his knowledge on a subject that seems to interest all of us. Whatever his faults may be he is a very nice person and I will miss his website (though it still seems to be up-and-running).

I have to agree here, and my experience with Erwin is similar to yours. For what it's worth, I find his technical evaluations very valuable. They are not an easy read. But once you calibrate your head to his particular way of describing things, you can find a lot of value.

My photography doesn't often take advantage of microscopic differences between two lens' responses at optimum aperture, when shot with slow slide film on a tripod embedded in a concrete block in a seismically inactive area. Erwin describes that kind of stuff in minute detail, and some people lose patience

BUT. . . when he talks about how a lens responds at its wider apertures, and about basic characteristic differences between lenses, I listen very carefully, and I've almost always found my results agreed with his statements. His description of the differences between the old (non-asph) Summilux 50/1.4 and the Nokton 50/1.5 are dead accurate, for example. They convinced me that I'd be happier with a Nokton and a Summicron rather than just a 'Lux. Having shot with all three, I now know he was right.

Anyway, I will miss Erwin's site, and I hope it comes back in another incarnation.

--Peter