ajuk
Established
I doubt he'd use an M9 it he did go digital, you may as well buy a gold plated diamond encrusted Swatch.
What would HC Bresson Do?
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Roger Hicks
Veteran
Instead of one of the dozens of other full-frame digital M-mount rangefinder cameras on the market?
Cheers,
R.
Robbie Bedell
Established
In all of his writings he used India ink, as he also did in many of his drawings. I think he was very aware of longevity and may have been very wary of the longevity of an electronically stored image. I actually recieved a postcard from him once and it was written with India ink.. Robbie Bedell
http://robbiebedell.photoshelter.com
http://robbiebedell.photoshelter.com
ajuk
Established
Yeah I don't understand why no one other than Epsom has made one, no way would I buy a digital Leica M, but a cheaper body then yeah maybe one day.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Perhaps the answer is that there is negligible demand, coupled with the fact that it is very difficult to make one as small as an M9. Epson's was a heavy crop, not 24x36. And why wouldn't you buy a digital M? Surely, the only reason (unless you actually don't want one) is money: either you can't afford it, or you would rather spend the money on something else.
Personally I'd rather have an M9 than a newer car.
Cheers,
R.
Peter Klein
Well-known
Very few (if any) of us knew HCB personally. And like many famous people who lived a long life, he said many different things. Which, along with his photos, get pored over like sacred texts by people looking for answers to photography's fundamental questions. Different people will come up with many different answers, because we all have a different HCB in our minds.
So, let's suppose that the HCB I have in my mind were somehow alive today, as young and vigorous as the HCB who took the photos I admire, roughly 1934-1960. I think he would be eager to try digital, to see if it would help him take his kind of photos with more ease. I don't think he would like digital P&S cameras. The shutter lag would drive him nuts. SLRs were never his thing.
He might like the M9. In many ways, it would let him shoot the way he always did, but without the delay and hassle of winding and changing film. I don't think he'd care about the higher ISO limitations. A D700 is so unlike his style that I don't think he'd care that it had a usable ISO 6400. The Leica M suited him. The ISO 640 or 1250 of the M9 would be quite enough for him, and he'd probably leave it at 320 most of the time.
I do think he would be bothered by the louder shutter noise of M9. It might not matter on the streets of Paris, but it would matter indoors. I think he'd be less interested in Photoshop than he was with the darkroom. Somebody else would do that for him, in collaboration.
What might drive him crazy is digital's different tonality and limited dynamic range compared to film. Highlights that his printer would just burn in on film would be blown beyond repair on the M9. He'd have to learn to protect the highlights instead of exposing only for the important parts of the picture. I'm sure he could adapt, but I wonder if he would want to. He'd probably ask his printer to filter the color channels in different ways to arrive at a B&W tonality he liked. Perhaps something reasonably close to what he got with Ilford films, or perhaps something a bit different, but he'd want it to be consistent so he'd know what he was getting when he clicked the shutter.
So I'm sure HCB would try digital. He'd probably set his M9 on DNG with B&W JPG so he never saw the color image. Whether he'd *stay* with digital or go back to film is a toss-up. It depends on whether he and his printer could arrive at a "look" that was consistent with his style. And whether he could tolerate the dynamic range issues and the shutter noise.
So, let's suppose that the HCB I have in my mind were somehow alive today, as young and vigorous as the HCB who took the photos I admire, roughly 1934-1960. I think he would be eager to try digital, to see if it would help him take his kind of photos with more ease. I don't think he would like digital P&S cameras. The shutter lag would drive him nuts. SLRs were never his thing.
He might like the M9. In many ways, it would let him shoot the way he always did, but without the delay and hassle of winding and changing film. I don't think he'd care about the higher ISO limitations. A D700 is so unlike his style that I don't think he'd care that it had a usable ISO 6400. The Leica M suited him. The ISO 640 or 1250 of the M9 would be quite enough for him, and he'd probably leave it at 320 most of the time.
I do think he would be bothered by the louder shutter noise of M9. It might not matter on the streets of Paris, but it would matter indoors. I think he'd be less interested in Photoshop than he was with the darkroom. Somebody else would do that for him, in collaboration.
What might drive him crazy is digital's different tonality and limited dynamic range compared to film. Highlights that his printer would just burn in on film would be blown beyond repair on the M9. He'd have to learn to protect the highlights instead of exposing only for the important parts of the picture. I'm sure he could adapt, but I wonder if he would want to. He'd probably ask his printer to filter the color channels in different ways to arrive at a B&W tonality he liked. Perhaps something reasonably close to what he got with Ilford films, or perhaps something a bit different, but he'd want it to be consistent so he'd know what he was getting when he clicked the shutter.
So I'm sure HCB would try digital. He'd probably set his M9 on DNG with B&W JPG so he never saw the color image. Whether he'd *stay* with digital or go back to film is a toss-up. It depends on whether he and his printer could arrive at a "look" that was consistent with his style. And whether he could tolerate the dynamic range issues and the shutter noise.
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HamSammich
Newbie
Let me settle this once and for all:
If HCB were alive today. . . He'd be clawing, furiously, at the inside of his coffin-lid, trying to get out.
If HCB were alive today. . . He'd be clawing, furiously, at the inside of his coffin-lid, trying to get out.
Teuthida
Well-known
Well done.
mdarnton
Well-known
HCB didn't seem all that interested in technology or the processing end while he was alive. I doubt very much he'd care now. Probably he'd use whatever there was, and let his darkroom/photoshop guy worry about the problems. If he even thought about the digital/film issue, I can easily see him using one of the new Fuji cameras.
HamSammich
Newbie
Thanks. The fact that only you got the joke, though, and everyone else is treating such fatuity with such gravity speaks poorly for the mob here.
So I'll revise and extend my remarks:
If HCB were alive today, after clawing his way out of his coffin, he'd take one look at this thread and never stop throwing up. Being a gentilehomme, he'd refrain from telling you all to go out and make some photographs.
I'm no gentilehomme and I'm no HCB, so I'll tell you. Go observe. Let someplace wash over you. Break it down. Put it together. Suss-out the light and line. With an M-9, an M-3 a Canonet or a a Sony NEX. Or whatever. It's a far better way of honoring the Frenchman than holding seances on what tool he'd use.
Corto
Well-known
Since he never had to work a day in his life, I doubt very much he would have cared about anything that happened during or after his lifetime. He lived in the here and now.
He had no worries.
He had no worries.
HamSammich
Newbie
Bravo. Though I can't imagine it's easy, no matter how comfortable your existence, to outlive all your friends. Seems a photographer's lot, though, longevity is. Garry Winogrand and war photographers excepted, being immersed in the living and making photographs is quite the fountain of youth.
Teuthida
Well-known
Completely agree. in my experience, there is an ironclad inverse relationship between interest in the "best" equipment and photographic vision. You have one or the other, but rarely have I seen a gearhead who produced anything other than stale recycled banalities.
Robbie Bedell
Established
I think HCB had plenty of worries while he was a prisoner of war of the nazis during WW II. I think the man paid his dues..photographically and otherwise...
http://robbiebedell.photoshelter.com
http://robbiebedell.photoshelter.com
stormbytes
Member
For this exact reason I say he'd use digital today -
HCB was all about the image and not at all about the process, character or esthetic. In numerous interviews (and one documentary) his statements focus on the 'moment' captured in his images. Never once does he mention anything about the medium.
I think had he been handed a Nikon FM3a instead of an M3, he would probably never have become the Leica poster-boy of the 20th century.
Paul Jenkin
Well-known
My guess is that he'd probably have used both digital and film. Being about the image, to me at least, suggests using the tools to suit the job. There are occasions - for example, when you need to mix ISO due to variable lighting conditions - where digital might have the edge. Whether he'd "prefer" film to digital or vice versa is a different matter.
kanzlr
Hexaneur
leicapixie
Well-known
HCB was also a painter. This is very important. He was concerned with 2 important issues. Light. Geometry. Film has a totally different look from digital. It is actual light burning the film. Digital is 1 or 0. Numbers. Not half numbers, not fractions.I like digital but hate the problem of poor dynamic range. Please don't mention HDR that resembles "Lino-cuts".
HCB would have really enjoyed the control of color, in digital.I think he would go M9 or a small point and shoot digital! Portability,quick responses easy downloads would all be met with any small digital.
The Nikon D700 or D800 cannot compare to a Leica M methods. large, bulky, heavy, lenses are monster size, even the AF primes..
I am a street shooter mostly. The P/S fits me perfectly. Getting shots that were never possible with a larger camera! Even as small as Leica M,Canon AE series or my Nikon-F3. The last is HEAVY but very compact!
HCB would have really enjoyed the control of color, in digital.I think he would go M9 or a small point and shoot digital! Portability,quick responses easy downloads would all be met with any small digital.
The Nikon D700 or D800 cannot compare to a Leica M methods. large, bulky, heavy, lenses are monster size, even the AF primes..
I am a street shooter mostly. The P/S fits me perfectly. Getting shots that were never possible with a larger camera! Even as small as Leica M,Canon AE series or my Nikon-F3. The last is HEAVY but very compact!
maggieo
More Deadly
I'm thinking that Hank would sure like the X100.
Aristophanes
Well-known
HCB shot in B&W mostly. Sensors are analog and photons exist in discrete digital quantities depending on how one "samples" them. We A/D them for economical convenience, but don't have to (think TV).
Digital can, therefore, given enough samples (data) completely emulate film in all respects. It's almost there and 2 more generations of sensors it will be.
HCB would have gone digital as he was about the cultural attitude of the capture all the way. Is style of shooting was as much about quantity as some esoteric quality ideal.
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