First M8 Review in Print?

Jim Watts

Jim Watts

Still trying to See.
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I expect that after tomorrow the reviews of the digital M will come 'thick & fast' especially on the web, but The British Journal of Photography this week (13/9 isssue) is claiming a world exclusive for next weeks issue (20/9):

"In a world exclusive, we showcase Magnum Photos' Simon Wheatly, who has been using Leica's new M-series digital rangefinder to photgraph London's underground music scene".

Sounds more like a user report than a proper review. Will all the other Magnam Photographers who have been given one to try be doing the same?
 
His pictures look like they have been taken with VHS camera...
(correcting my awfull grammar)
 
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LOL! Nice one Vladimir. You are relentless, you really are, never give a digiguy a chance.:D

The underground music scene photos look to me awfully clean... While the subject is 'underground' they have a glossy feel that doesn't do them any favours.
 
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:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :angel:
I wonder what ralph gibson thinks about it :D check this part of his old interview

http://bermangraphics.com/press/ralphgibson.htm

Chris/Larry: And have you experimented at all with digital cameras?

Ralph: I have I have a wonderful relationship with Leica and they send me things to experiment with. I’ve used the large S1, that big studio camera, and I’ve used the little Digilux. I have four Macintosh computers in my studio as we speak right now. Digital photography is about another kind of information. Digital photography seems to excel in all those areas that I’m not interested in. I’m interested in the alchemy of light on film and chemistry and silver. When I’m taking a photograph I imagine the light rays passing through my lens and penetrating the emulsion of my film. And when I’m developing my film I imagine the emulsion swelling and softening and the little particles of silver tarnishing.

Chris/Larry: So you’re not just previsualizing the image, you’re visualizing the process?

Ralph: I’m communicating with my materials. It’s different than previsualizing. If you talk to a sculptor about how he looks at his rock or wood, you realize that he has a special relationship to his materials. In music it’s called attack. A concert violinist once told me that if Rubinstein came in and hit concert A, it would sound different than if Horiwitz came in and hit the same note. And a good musician will recognize which one was playing based on the performer’s attack. When you look at de Kooning’s brush stroke you can see the energy of the bristles of the brush right in the stroke of the paint. This is another example of attack. So I’ve applied some of these principals to my relationship to my materials and I think of them with great respect. I think film has more intelligence than I have. I could not make a roll of film. I learned this when I was an assistant to Dorothea Lange, this incredible respect for materials, almost homage. But anyway, the big emphasis in digital photography is how many more million pixels this new model has than the competitor’s model. It’s about resolution, resolution, resolution, as though that were going to provide us with a picture that harbored more content, more emotional power. Well in fact. It’s very good for a certain kind of graphic thing in color but I don’t necessarily do that kind of photograph. So when it comes to digital, I have to say that digital just doesn’t look the way photography looks, it looks like digital. However, I strongly suspect some kid is going to come along with a Photoshop filter called Tri-X, and you just load that, and you’ve got your self something that looks like Photography (laughs). It’s about the same relationship that videotape has to cinema. Digital imaging and photography share similar symbiosis. I think it’s a mutual coexistence situation. I don’t think they even compare.
Click to expand...

I don’t think they even compare
I don’t think they even compare
I don’t think they even compare
I don’t think they even compare
I don’t think they even compare
 
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telenous said:
The underground music scene photos look to me awfully clean... While the subject is 'underground' they have a glossy feel that doesn't do them any favours.
Click to expand...
Of those shots only one was taken this year, and there is no way to tell on which camera. The rest is film I assume :)
 
Nachkebia - i don't wanna sound churlish now - but have you read the title of this forum?
You know, i think what's happened is that you thought you were in one of the many other sections of RFF, where people discuss film cameras with each other, but by accident you clicked your way in here.
 
varjag said:
Of those shots only one was taken this year, and there is no way to tell on which camera. The rest is film I assume :)
Click to expand...

I doubt that any of the photos of his on the Magnam site or his own site; http://www.simonwheatley.com/ (a slow loading Flash site) are on the M8. They may though be either film, digital or both.
 
I think you have to read the announcement very carefully. They have a world exclusive on Leica M8 work as shot by Simon Wheatly, and I think the Simon Wheatly part is essen tial to the truth of the statement. Sean Reid is going to have what I believe will be a fairly comprehensive review this evening or tomorrow, which will put something of a dent in the "Leica" part of the world exclusive, but not the "Wheatly" part.

JC
 
Nachkebia said:
His pictures look like they have been taken with VHS camera...
(correcting my awfull grammar)
Click to expand...

I'm not seeing what you are talking about. :confused:

The pictures are quite good and if it really was taken with a VHS camera it would make it that much more incredible.
 
Nachkebia said:
newyorkone : Pardon me, I had a film attack that day, bashing all kind of digital technology... accept my apology :)
Click to expand...

No need to apologize :) I just didn't understand the analogy. Take care.
 
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