Have Leica bokeh workshops jumped the shark?

robert blu said:
Oppps, I just bought an F 5.6 lens ... :)
robert
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Me too. The fastest I use lately is f2.8. And f3.5 is the commonest maximum aperture lens I’ve shot on film the last 12 months. That’s us swimming with the sharks Robert. Let’s hear from Raid: he’s an expert on sharks.

But Peter M is spot on. Workshops are not new.
 
zuiko85 said:
.. I mean, who else could get away with building the MA, a fully mechanical, all manual rangefinder without a built-in meter in this day and age....
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The M-A is pure genius. The newest film model with fewer features thus less to go wrong. Apparently this camera was brought into production by a suggestion from Larry, the solitary service tech at Leica NJ, who is eyeballs deep in broken Ms.
Rumour mill has it that the next M - the M-T - will build on this and be the first digital M without any electronics. It will have a chalk board where the LCD screen used to be, and come standard with a cartridge containing 36 individual one time use sensors. This is the future my pixel peeping pals.
 
I have the Summaron M on my chrome M9-P. On my M2 it looks even more at home. I actually like the idea of a new MA with the new Summaron M f5.6. There's a brand new classic kit to last another 50 years.

Not sure about an an electronics-free digital camera. Maybe whiteboard instead of chalkboard for the screen....? It could come with a small black marker hanging by a string like the lens cap on the Leica 0. You could look through the viewdinder and then draw what you saw and photograph the whiteboard with your mobile phone. Or better, lay a piece of paper over the camera's whiteboard and have a reversed image of what you drew... OK I'm going to keep working on this idea...
 
airfrogusmc said:
Ha ha. Now that sounds familiar.

Ko, I didn't realize that I was rare but I am a full time pro that shoots Leica M and I am far from rich. I think that everything that Leica does to keep the cash flow coming in so they can afford to make cameras like the MM, M-D and the M 10 more power to them. They are a true alternative to all the other one size fits all options out there already. Rock on Leica with your special editions and workshops that I will probably never buy or attend but as I said if it helps the bottom line and keeps them making great cameras like the I previously mentioned that no one else will make that is a good thing in my opinion.
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What is the difference between pizza and paid photographer?
We all know, right? I know for sure, because one of our daughter do.
Maybe it is still old business model in USA, but in Canada only very few could support themselves by photography. It is mostly partial income here for families. Couple of years ago public was outraged for liberals paying to photog to get pictures on some small and irrelevant convention. Why, if it is doable by mobile phone - this was the message.
This is how bad it is here. It is really bad, because I have seen my daughter paid portraits and yours. She is really good with her huge Canon, L lens and flash. Her small hand veins are getting big every time she has to use it. I think she will be good with smaller Panasonic or Fuji, but Canon is unbeatable for easy of controls and it is OVF. I guess we share same problem with her on EVFs. And, yes, Canon nearby fixed her main lens within few days and for reasonable money. She doesn't have loads of cameras like you do, so she can't wait for months as you did with Leica.

Any way while I'm not finding anything different in your paid portraits with what my daughter does with Canon, I like what you have done after work with same Leica cameras. And I never looked for bokeh in yours images. They are one of the rare occurrences where bokeh is irrelevant :).
And then here is Aleksei Makishev who lives by taking pictures and who switched to Leica long time ago.
And then Anna Bocharova who does product photography for living with Canon and walks after work for hours with Leica. Her prints are at Russian Museum in St.Peterburg currently.
Some old fortes at Magnum and this is it whom I know with Leica.
It is really next to nothing comparing to how many paid photographers I know with non RF cameras.

At P.O.T.N. you are the only one who is using Leica for paid photography. And I'm afraid you are the one on RFF as well. LUF is just bunch of hobiests as well. With some old pro photogs who used to use Leica at work.
 
A pro can use any camera to make money. But does not make that camera a pro camera. What does is the service and support from the mfg to ensure that the photographer can maintain their livelihood. And that makes Leica with its one service tech for the entire USA the most amateur operation out there.
 
airfrogusmc said:
Funny, when I was in college and we had a guest speaker come to our school suddenly everyone had become many me's of that person. Why shouldn't Leica try and get their piece of the pie? If they go under being better, is that really better? There are some that post here who probably think that. Lotsa Leica bashing from usually the same folks.
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I've used many Leicas over the years (digital and film). I just no longer do. I still like the M, but I've moved on. I would hate to see Leica stop making them, but I still do not like the bokeh workshop. That's not hate against Leica, it is hate against a played out trend.

So which other camera companies are in line with your or my philosophy when it comes to photography?
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For me, Fuji. That said, they are all in the business of making money... and this was also very Leica like of Fuji:

http://home-magnum.com/en/

Kinda hard to tell most of the others that are on the gadget go-round apart. Well Leica M certainly comes the closest by what they produce as a product to the way I see and work.

My father said to me when I was young "always listen to what people say but really pay attention to what they do. It is their actions that always speak the truth." Leica's cameras like the MM, M-D, M10 M7, etc in my opinion is their truth.
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Agreed...
 
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