Dear Mark,
That's all right, I don't get yours either.
The thickness of a collapsed Elmar is completely irrelevant, as no-one holds the camera with their fingers across the lens. A case or grip plumps up the part you actually hold.
Roger, we might be talking about two different things here. And you just prompted me to try something. If I am grabbing or holding the camera, but not in shooting position, the grip provides a more secure hold, as my fingers can now easily cup around the grip without
nearly as much muscle tension as without a grip. Think of it like holding onto a stick.
Now, as I lift the camera into shooting position, I find that the grip becomes almost foreign to how I want to hold the camera. My entire hand now rotates foward a small amount. In addition, my shutter finger now goes from a completely flat, "pressing" position, into a more curled, pointed downwards position. Hmmm...this has got me thinking. I don't want to be using the tip of my finger to move the shutter button. I want the pad, with a flatter finger position.
It seems (to me at least), that the grip will provide a more secure way to hold the camera, even while shooting, but might also cause one to modify their hand position while shooting. Enough to cause a problem? Everyone has to try himself, I suppose. I would assume that much might also be dependant on not just the size of your hand, but how about the length of your fingers? Some people may have large hands, but short fingers. In such a case, I can
easily see how a grip would be very uncomfortable. But I have fairly large hands and fairly long fingers. That might prove why, even though the grip compromises my shooting position a bit, it's not enough to cause any real problem. That "tooth filling" is very easy to adjust to and disappears almost immediately.
😉
Grips are simply NOT unobtrusive as far as I am concerned, let alone 'very unobtrusive'. They're horrible great lumpy things. For me, grips and half cases are like a new filling in a tooth: even something quite tiny can feel like Mount Everest. I feel much the same way about soft releases
I have never seen a need for one. I have never had a problem with smoothly pressing a shutter button. As yous said, these are also very personal choices.
I've been using Leicas for around 40 years. For the first 25-30 years I never heard anyone bemoan the lack of a grip, which leads me to suspect that they are a fairly recent fashion,
Rcent, yes. But I would still call them more than a fashion. Granted, some of them look pretty slick, but there are still practical reasons for them (for some of us).
much like a blind belief in frequent CLAs.
I'm of the belief that if it's working properly, don't try to fix it. I picked up my 1958 M3 last spring. It was in great shape, both cosmetically and functionally. There are a couple date stickers inside the bottom plate, which I assume were CLA dates. The last one was performed 35 years ago. I've tested all shutter speeds against my MP, and they all match. Obviously, I should be considering a CLA.
😉
My 1952 IIIf RD works just as well. I'm not messing with it.
I have nothing against bolt-on goodies. My MP has a Leicavit, my M2, one of Tom's rapid winders.
See, now to me, that's messing up a fine camera! LOL :bang:
But as I said, it's totally personal.
Yes.
🙂
