Is Leica now officially a "hobbyist's" camera?

[amateriat]

1. The pros in my circle including my self use both film and digital. We also use it in 35mm, not dead. In fact, since digital has proven so profitable, many of us use more film because of that. So all in all, film use is on the rise by some 70 of 170 photographers I know.

I, for one, am damn glad to hear this. This is the sort of "horse's mouth" data that means more to me than mere postulation. Thanks!

2. Every single pro I know is much, much better than 95% of any amateur work I have seen on here, Pbase, Photo.net, etc, etc. Many win top awards. Only three are wedding photographers by the way. A few of my friends have won pulitzers, I know of not a single amateur that has won a pulitzer.

Probably true enough...hence my point about consistency, which is where the rubber meets the road, and the good pros leave even the good amateurs in the dust. Then too, I've known pros whose work on a bad day outshines my work on a good day, and a few others who are "okay", but simply not in the same league. None of these guys or gals suck. I have respect for anyone who picks up a camera for a living, however.

So yes, there are a good many amateurs that may enjoy their hobby and even do some great work, but there are a huge amount of pros....*Huge* amount who are outstanding and are passionate about what they do.

Agreed.

I think X-Ray's comment on 10% of pros are good and 2% of amateurs are good is a more accurate place to be with all of this.

Can't argue with that, either.

How many of you subscribe to Photo District News or Communication Arts?

(Raises hand)

Well, I used to sub to PDN for a few years, and picked up CA with some frequency. I somewhat preferred Photographer's Forum and a few other smaller pubs that covered a lot of the pro scene. Learned a lot, even though I only "play" a pro photographer 20% of the time. 🙂

I am not trying to put anyone down, it is just that ever since the inception of the internet and these types of forums, there is a growing misconception that amateurs are getting better than pros and pros are not passionate about their jobs.

Point taken. I think the advent of digital has augmented, to some degree, the attitude of "anything you can do, I can do better", just by buying the right hardware/software. More's the pity.

I am a pro and know over 170 pros, I call BS!

Okay. Can we call a truce? 🙂


- Barrett

 

[John Camp]

I think Leica's reputation was really made by World War II, simply because they were better for the job: small, reliable, handy; and the SLRs' reputation by the Korean War and Indochina. I was in the Army in middle 60s, sent to the Army Journalism School, and even then, we were trained on Speed Graphics; as soon as I was on the job, I bought a Pentax Spotmatic. There was never any thought of going to a RF; they were already passe.

I was looking at a catalog from a department store in San Francisco today (Bullock & Jones) and I started examing the photos of their clothing, and I was amazed by the subtlety of the lighting. I think that's what pros do better than even very good amateurs: they know how to light and shoot even mundane subjects and make them "lookable," and to do it efficiently and for a price. When it comes to the very best subjects in other areas, like landscapes, I think pros and amateurs are on a more equal footing, since so much depends on setting and natural light and being there at the right moment. A very large number of landscape books seem to me to be made by people who don't really making a living from shooting, but in other allied fields, like teaching.

I think of a "pro" as somebody who makes a living from shooting, whether it's weddings or catalogs or landscapes.

I don't doubt that a few pros use Ms, but it's an ideosyncracy, and remarked upon. I doubt that anybody would exclaim, "Whoa, he's a pro, and he's shooting a Nikon!" Because of course he's shooting a Nikon, or a Canon.

JC

 

[KM-25]

Okay. Can we call a truce? 🙂

- Barrett

Yep, it's all good. 😉

 

[Morca007]

Factoid: more than 50% of all the Leica's ever produced are in the hands of collectors in Japan.

I don't know if it's quite that high, but the sad truth is that a good portion of Leica's are sitting in glass boxes, never to be used. Collecters should move on to something else, and let us actually get seom use out of their trophies. 😛

 

[x-ray]

KM-25:

Just checked out your website to find you've added images since last looking. OUTSTANDING work!!! Absolutely beautiful!

I want to see more.

 

[amateriat]

I don't know if it's quite that high, but the sad truth is that a good portion of Leica's are sitting in glass boxes, never to be used. Collecters should move on to something else, and let us actually get seom use out of their trophies. 😛

I'm with you in this, but it's a double-edged sword. If the collectors had up-and-left en masse, Leica would likely have been a smoldering crater years ago. As things stand now, you grimace, you wince, then you ask your repair tech to order parts for your 34-year-old M4, because he or she still can. A tough, strange world we live in.


- Barrett

 

[mfunnell]

excepting weddings (bridezillla, mother in laws, kids, and of course the family member who has a camera and thinks they can out shoot you.:bang🙂

<going sideways for a moment...>I've heard people say (even of a couple of shots I've taken) that their favourite wedding photos are those taken by family/friends rather than the pro who was hired for the task. There are more than a few things that can be said about that.

The first thing is that these are almost always in addition to more formal shots taken by the pro, and which they wouldn't really be without. The second is that anyone can get lucky (and sometimes there's no accounting for taste). Further, a lot of such photos are those taken before and after and involve candid shots of the guests. The pro is often working on the shots that have to be taken, so may have limited opportunity to take many of those. And the pro doesn't know the people - how can they know "that's so like Aunt Mabel" or "who ever thought those two would speak to each other again?".

I'd hate to face the bride if I were the only photographer at the wedding and made the hash of it I'd undoubtedly make 😱 . </sideways>

I will note, to get even partially back on topic, that RF cameras are great for the kind of candid shots that make great additions to the de rigueur photos expected from every wedding.

...Mike

 

[Morca007]

I'm with you in this, but it's a double-edged sword. If the collectors had up-and-left en masse, Leica would likely have been a smoldering crater years ago. As things stand now, you grimace, you wince, then you ask your repair tech to order parts for your 34-year-old M4, because he or she still can. A tough, strange world we live in.


- Barrett

Touche, the company had to be kept afloat somehow.

 

[amateriat]

I'd hate to face the bride if I were the only photographer at the wedding and made the hash of it I'd undoubtedly make 😱 .

Oh, I have, although things ended amicably on both occasions. And this is why I once said I'd almost rather eat live waterbugs than attempt another wedding shoot. (And, yes, that's the one insect that gives me the creeps most. Hope no one was reading this in the middle of a meal.)

I will note, to get even partially back on topic, that RF cameras are great for the kind of candid shots that make great additions to the de rigueur photos expected from every wedding.

...Mike

My last two wedding shoots were done entirely with RFs, and the results, by and large, were fantastic. But, if anything, I think you have to be even more "on-point" than if you're working with the usual gear for such a shoot, since you're essentially going for the unusual. I think there's even less room for sloppiness in that case.


- Barrett

 

[KM-25]

KM-25:

Just checked out your website to find you've added images since last looking. OUTSTANDING work!!! Absolutely beautiful!

I want to see more.

Thanks X, it is mostly a portal right now, so when people ask me just what in the heck am I shooting for, they have a place to go for the relatively long winded answer.

As far as updates, they will be only a few here and there as the bulk of the work will be saved for the big finale...whenever that is.

 

[KM-25]

http://www.lightstalkers.org/how_is_using_an_leica_m_for_assignments

I decided to ask the "pros", take a look, seems like most use the Ms for personal, but there are few hold outs.

Now your talking!

 

[demian]

Touche, the company had to be kept afloat somehow.

True. These are very good points....

 

[x-ray]

As far as updates, they will be only a few here and there as the bulk of the work will be saved for the big finale...whenever that is.

Again beautiful work and best of luck!

 

[Al Patterson]

I know I shouldn't have looked at The Kodochrome Project. Every time I look at that page it makes me want to burn all my slide and prints, format the hard drive and start over...

Great stuff! Easy to see why you are a pro and I'm just a gearhead....

Keep up the excellent work.

 

[soulkitchen]

Is being a "hobbyist" a bad thing? How can I know if I'm a hobbyist? Is it necessarily important what color my Leica dot is?