Nikon, Canon and Leica

[wgerrard]

painters do not talk about their brushes.

If brushes were made in Japan and cost hundreds of dollars, or by elves in Germany and cost thousands, I'm sure painters would argue the merits of their favorites. 😉

People do tend to get their egos invested in the hardware they buy.

 

[bohdan]

I have to admit...I was an animator in another life...Everyone in the business know there is only one pencil to draft with. If I remember correctly, they were called "Black Beauty". They had a beatiful quality of being silky smooth. You could lay down a line with minimal pressure and easily control the line weight.

Hearing that they were going to stop making them, I grabbed a few from the stock room every week. I think I have a bunch of them hoarded at home in my art box.

Ultimately, the TOMBOW pencils became more popular. Their B and 2B's were comparable to the Black Beauties. They were good, but just not the same.

And, yes we did discuss techniques. You had the younger guys that took the easy way out and built up the line weight with the 0.3 mechanical pencils and the mid career and older ones that used the Tombows and Black Beauty. You really had to use your whole body to get your sandwich holder to guide the pencil just right.

Ahhh...those days.

 

[MikeL]

The set of chisels I have costs more then a nice router. When I have the time, I like using the chisels. When I don't, the router and table is really nice. Both require skill, and you can create an effective joint with both. You can also screw up and waste lotsa nice wood with both tools. Either way, not letting them rust is important. How's that for a non sequitur.....

 

[LeicaTom]

Leica M digiback...........

That would slove many people`s problems 😉

It`s coming someday soon 😀 Stay Tuned!

Tom

 

[rsl]

I don't know or care what half of the buttons and settings are.

But one of the great things about all those buttons is that once your fingers learn where the buttons are you can do astonishing things, like change the ISO, image quality, white balance, image mode, burst rate, exposure comp, etc., without having to cycle through a bunch of menus. The other fantastic advantage of a DSLR is that the lens can talk to the camera and the camera can talk to the lens. If you use a coded lens on the M8, it can talk to the camera too, but about all it can say is: "Duh!."

You're right, though, a rangefinder is smaller, easier to carry, and more effective on the street. Those qualities can be worth a lot. Each kind of camera has its place. Trying to compare a DSLR to a rangefinder only makes sense with reference to the kind of work you're trying to do.

 

[jaapv]

Comparing Hummers to Porsches again?
From Leica literature, 1957:
"The fact that Leica offers both the traditionl rangefinder system and a reflex system is based on Leica photographers being well enough versed in the science of photographic theory to be able to use both systems side by side, each for the fields where it is best suited. "

Nothing has changed in the last 50 years....

 

[cmogi10]

Really? I love my M8, but I see a Canon 1ds mrkIII and a nikon D3 I slap myself sometimes. Both are incredible cameras, very capable of any task you throw at it.
I find myself in a lot of positions where I wish I had more then my M8 has to offer.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my M8.

 

[TJV]

Interesting.

Today I took a few photos with a pre-release 1ds MkIII. I only bothered taking 1600 ISO shots as to me I'm not interested in the pixel count, just high ISO performance. To be honest, it's not much better than the M8 at 1250ISO. It is better but not remarkably.

I think that the Nikon's are going to eat the Canon's the next few years. Leica, too, are on the right track. Understand that this is a pretty big thing for me to say considering my past anamosity over my m8 experience.

 

[jaapv]

I find myself in a lot of positions where I wish I had more then my M8 has to offer.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my M8.

Which is exactly why I'm looking for a DMR.

 

[Avotius]

do you know what is the difference between painters and photographers?

painters do not talk about their brushes.

I spent the last 4 years in art college, my girlfriend is a painter as well as a photographer, that statement is so wrong. On top of that my 65 year old sculptor talks about his tools and what not that he makes himself all the time. In fact i got a box of them sitting in my living room because he doesn't have anywhere to put the damn things!

 

[novum]

WTF? We painters do talk about brushes. Painting is a very physical medium, and I have had many conversations with other artists about a gigantic range of issues particular to slapping paint onto canvas or board: binders, studio lighting, toxicity, just to name a few that immediately spring to mind. And we most definitely discuss the inadequacy(!) of our brushes. I suspect watercolorists are the worst obssessors about brushes, and I'm not in that group.

I have a D40 and a couple of MF cameras. The D40 is a competent little machine, but it's not nearly as much fun as my SLR/TLR MF cameras. I like my D40; I love my Rollei. That said, I could get used to a donated M8!

 

[Digital Dude]

As a new M8 owner, I was tempted to choose the D3 with all its glorified features and superior quality. However, the ballistic missile launch codes and switches would see little use in the hands of this glorified novice. The M8 by contrast is soOoo much more intuitive and manageable. The form factor is what initially appealed to me despite its rather dense weight. With the grip attached, I find the M8 and it’s functions to be excellent.
Regards,🙄

 

[shadowfox]

... and oh by the way, cooks do talk about their pans and grills and spatulas ...
... and don't get me started with musicians ...

we photographers are just cleaner ... mostly 😀

 

[Photon42]

My ideal camera would be an FE2 with a D3 sensor.

F2, of course :angel:

 

[cmogi10]

Which is exactly why I'm looking for a DMR.

That's why I'm looking at a 1DS Mark II :bang:

 

[TJV]

If I was going to buy a dslr I would buy a D300 and a few Zeiss lenses. It seemed a great camera and definatly worth the hype it's receiving, even if it doesn't have the same technology in the CMOS chip the D3 has.

Could have sold you an "as new" 1ds MkII last week for as little as $3000US. It has less than 1000 frames taken on it. It's gone now, though.