Funny seeing SLR sites trying the RF gig

[MP Guy]

No offense intended here. But, this is somewhat comical. I was visiting a few other sites today and saw one site where most of the people are SLR users talking about RF cameras and the best way to focus etc ... It's like a group of grown ups just follwed one person into the RF world and they seem to be completely lost including the leader 😀

Like I said, no offense intended I think its great that they are willing to deviate from the SLR world.

Maybe someone should go overthere and give them a RF 101 class for free.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Maybe someone should go overthere and give them a RF 101 class for free.

give us a link, we'll straighten 'em out!


Todd

 

[BrianShaw]

It's like a group of grown ups just follwed one person into the RF world and they seem to be completely lost including the leader ...

What gave you the impression that they were "lost" - did they not know how to focus a rangefinder? 😕

 

[gdewitt]

Leica won't survive the transition to digital and the M8 won't turn them around unless they win converts from the SLR world.

Heck, I'm one of them. When I started hearing rumours about a digital M some time ago I was intriqued and went out and bought an M4-P just to see if it was a direction I wanted to go. I had worked with RF cameras a lot about 35 years ago but otherwise I had worked on ground glass, either SLR or view camera, ever since. But I wanted a digital camera, NOT a digital consumer electronics gadget. I've talked to an awful lot of other people who feel the same way. So there's an opportunity, and a need, for Leica to bring some of those SLR users back from the dark side.

Anybody who wants to see Leica succeed in this great venture of theirs could lend a hand by going to those other forums and HELPING people!

 

[Didier]

I was once asked how the rangefinder could work through the lens. No joke!
Didier

 

[jaapv]

Leica won't survive the transition to digital and the M8 won't turn them around unless they win converts from the SLR world.

Heck, I'm one of them. When I started hearing rumours about a digital M some time ago I was intriqued and went out and bought an M4-P just to see if it was a direction I wanted to go. I had worked with RF cameras a lot about 35 years ago but otherwise I had worked on ground glass, either SLR or view camera, ever since. But I wanted a digital camera, NOT a digital consumer electronics gadget. I've talked to an awful lot of other people who feel the same way. So there's an opportunity, and a need, for Leica to bring some of those SLR users back from the dark side.

Anybody who wants to see Leica succeed in this great venture of theirs could lend a hand by going to those other forums and HELPING people!

Which is exactly what I'm trying to do. But I draw a line at DP****forums...(no names mentioned) And hey! GdeWitt (first names here please 🙂) you're exactly the kind of person we need here- both sides of the fence -any fence- and a heart for photography 🙂

 

[ray_g]

Leica won't survive the transition to digital and the M8 won't turn them around unless they win converts from the SLR world.

Heck, I'm one of them. When I started hearing rumours about a digital M some time ago I was intriqued and went out and bought an M4-P just to see if it was a direction I wanted to go. I had worked with RF cameras a lot about 35 years ago but otherwise I had worked on ground glass, either SLR or view camera, ever since. But I wanted a digital camera, NOT a digital consumer electronics gadget. I've talked to an awful lot of other people who feel the same way. So there's an opportunity, and a need, for Leica to bring some of those SLR users back from the dark side.

Anybody who wants to see Leica succeed in this great venture of theirs could lend a hand by going to those other forums and HELPING people!

Good point. I think that if the prices for digital rangefinders were to become more competitive, not a few people may be tempted as RF's are not plagued with what, for me at least, is the main drawback of (non-full frame) digital slr's - small viewfinders.

 

[erikhaugsby]

Leica won't survive the transition to digital and the M8 won't turn them around unless they win converts from the SLR world.

Heck, I'm one of them. When I started hearing rumours about a digital M some time ago I was intriqued and went out and bought an M4-P just to see if it was a direction I wanted to go. I had worked with RF cameras a lot about 35 years ago but otherwise I had worked on ground glass, either SLR or view camera, ever since. But I wanted a digital camera, NOT a digital consumer electronics gadget. I've talked to an awful lot of other people who feel the same way. So there's an opportunity, and a need, for Leica to bring some of those SLR users back from the dark side.

Anybody who wants to see Leica succeed in this great venture of theirs could lend a hand by going to those other forums and HELPING people!

Unfortunately I find that Leica is in the same situation as Mamiya, Hasselblad, and the rest of the MF crew--used gear is just too common and too cheap relative to the new stuff. They need to find a way to sell more new equipment if they want to float.

Not that I want them to sink...

 

[BrianShaw]

I was once asked how the rangefinder could work through the lens. No joke!
Didier

None of us were born with this knowledge... we all learned it one way or the other. Right? 🙂

 

[MP Guy]

Focus is one of thing they are talking about. Focusing on one part and recomposing seems to be a hot topic now. None the less, good fun and They will enjoy their experience with the M8. The advantage they have over us old timers is that if its fuzzy and out of focus they just hit the delete key and try again. A lot better than roll after roll until success 🙂

 

[gdewitt]

Which is exactly what I'm trying to do. But I draw a line at DP****forums...(no names mentioned) And hey! GdeWitt (first names here please 🙂) you're exactly the kind of person we need here- both sides of the fence -any fence- and a heart for photography 🙂

Both sides of the fence, maybe. But certainly not ON the fence!

Thanks,
Gary

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Horses for courses

Horses for courses

Not sure which I like better, my Pentax SLRs or my rangefinders.
I am fortunate to have both and can use whatever suits me...

Chris

 

[haagen_dazs]

I was once asked how the rangefinder could work through the lens. No joke!
Didier

i thought that too when i first joined RFF.
:angel:

 

[AShearer]

Good point. I think that if the prices for digital rangefinders were to become more competitive, not a few people may be tempted as RF's are not plagued with what, for me at least, is the main drawback of (non-full frame) digital slr's - small viewfinders.

Good point, but I doubt they will have have anything close to mass appeal because, mainly due to MF and manual settings, except AP, they are more work than point and shoots and EvEN pro-sumer DSLR's. I have a D70s that has full AUTO, AP SP and M and 5 presets scene modes on it!!! Anybody could use it. And, currently there are A LOT of affluent babyboomers moving from Point and Shoots to Pro-Sumer lever DSLRs. Look at Nikon sales of the D50 thru D80.

People seem to want to upgrade their equipment but they still want it to be fairly automatic and easy.

I don't see RF's making a big dent in that.

 

[IGMeanwell]

Good point, but I doubt they will have have anything close to mass appeal because, mainly due to MF and manual settings, except AP, they are more work than point and shoots and EvEN pro-sumer DSLR's. I have a D70s that has full AUTO, AP SP and M and 5 presets scene modes on it!!! Anybody could use it. And, currently there are A LOT of affluent babyboomers moving from Point and Shoots to Pro-Sumer lever DSLRs. Look at Nikon sales of the D50 thru D80.

People seem to want to upgrade their equipment but they still want it to be fairly automatic and easy.

I don't see RF's making a big dent in that.

Just wait until the D40 comes before christmas ... I have a feeling Nikon is going to hit gold with it, since it will be a great camera but it will force people to upgrade if they want to experience the entire Nikon lens line (the D40 is rumored to not to use anything but AF-S lenses). Although if thats true its going to cut into the 50mm 1.8 sales (easily Nikons most popular lens for amateurs) as that is not an AF-S lens.

 

[MadMan2k]

They could (should) release an AF-S version of the 50 that actually has an equivelant focal length of 50mm on 35mm film, though.

 

[E_Aiken]

Nice Tele, Alan... where in VA are you?

 

[sf]

No offense intended here. But, this is somewhat comical. I was visiting a few other sites today and saw one site where most of the people are SLR users talking about RF cameras and the best way to focus etc ... It's like a group of grown ups just follwed one person into the RF world and they seem to be completely lost including the leader 😀

Like I said, no offense intended I think its great that they are willing to deviate from the SLR world.

Maybe someone should go overthere and give them a RF 101 class for free.

. . . or invite them all to join us here in the light?

 

[David Murphy]

I came into photography in the early 70's when the film SLR was really at a heady apex. Most of us knew or understood little about rangefinders, although I was always intrigued at the still intense interest in Leica's of all sort. I did use my fathers Yashica Lynx before I could afford my own SLR, so I gained a vague notion of what rangefinders could do and I remembered that.

I as well did not fully understand at the time how interchangeble lenses could work on a non-SLR camera, and of course it is still non-trivial to frame a shot correctly compared to SLR world. For instance just look at all finders and the contortions needed to use Visoflex and all the many similar reflex boxes (not to mention all the close-up gadgetry of Leica and other makers). There was no one really to explain all this because there were so few rangefinder shooters at the time. Of couse we now all adore this sort of thing now here at RFF 🙂

 

[Sylvaticus]

It's a standing joke among Exakta fans that e*y sellers confirm the rangefinder is working. On the other hand a useful Exakta accessory is a split image focusing screen. My Minolta SLRs (fixed screens) have them as standard. From FED in the 1950s through the Minolta SLRs right up to the 1990s I was doing identical split image focusing, but the techonology was different and, a cm or so from the focusing hand, invisible. Then I went autofocus, also a method for rangefinding. So what is "rangefinding" if not "measuring distance"? In the world beyond cameras, rangefinding is done by laser beams or radar and maybe a host of other methods too. This forum is dedicated not to rangefinding but to one rangefinding technology, based on a pivoted mirror. So who cares if e*y sellers talk about rangefinders on SLRs, or if split-image focusing screns on SLRs "rangefind" through the lens?