leicapixie
Well-known
No problem! I used film for a long time. There was no choice. I printed all my own work, BW only.. The poor scans done "professionally" are simply un-acceptable.
Why HCB uses a 50mm lens
- Thread starter kshapero
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I agree... I am shocked what passes for acceptable these days.
Retro-Grouch
Veteran
...and not just in the world of photography!
leicapixie
Well-known
Thank you for your comment. I showed the best of the worst, to a FB photo group. I warned I would delete. I never mentioned the lab but recommended a good one. A Leica fanatic wrote me. I bring Leica M3 into disrepute! I should not show such images. Hail Caesar. Drink the lemonade.
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
There were crappy “pro” labs even in the pinnacle days of film usage.
When I lived in Portland, for a while I tried a much-touted lab up on Terwilliger Blvd - they printed some color 16x20 images (from 6x6 negatives) and the magenta cast was outrageous - there wasn’t one true white area on the print. I showed them what they did and complained, but they didn’t care. I had those reprinted properly at Citizen’s Photo and never went back to the hoity-toity lab.
Another “pro” lab in NW Portland, where I’d spent thousands on lenses, printed my Crater Lake photos, 8x10 color, as reversed images - and wouldn’t re-do the work. Last time I went there, too.
For comparison, in the last few years I’ve sent the same batch of 35mm color negatives to various labs and looked at their prints. Only one lab, mentioned in my earlier post, does an excellent job. The rest are dumb machines.
When I lived in Portland, for a while I tried a much-touted lab up on Terwilliger Blvd - they printed some color 16x20 images (from 6x6 negatives) and the magenta cast was outrageous - there wasn’t one true white area on the print. I showed them what they did and complained, but they didn’t care. I had those reprinted properly at Citizen’s Photo and never went back to the hoity-toity lab.
Another “pro” lab in NW Portland, where I’d spent thousands on lenses, printed my Crater Lake photos, 8x10 color, as reversed images - and wouldn’t re-do the work. Last time I went there, too.
For comparison, in the last few years I’ve sent the same batch of 35mm color negatives to various labs and looked at their prints. Only one lab, mentioned in my earlier post, does an excellent job. The rest are dumb machines.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
I have seen a number of tech shops, audio and photo, in PDX turn to crap in the last five or so years. The original guys sold them to yokels who just cannot fix problems or deal with customers. The market will solve this problem and these jerks will fold. But I have been bitten by the chancre mechanics too many times. I am amazed that they survive as long as they do.
I have had lens CLA's done up in PDX by a formerly great shop. I'll take them all over to Jadon to get them done right. The shop I went to is a joke and they carry on as if they are the best of the best. Times sorts this out.
An audio shop replaced 11" speakers with 10" speakers. Yes, you read that right. Another had a pair of mono-blocked hafler 500's three times for repair and never fixed them. The shop had been the best around before these clowns bought it. And they were as arrogant as they were incompetent. Same with the camera shop. Boggles the mind.
ptpdprinter
Veteran
This is clickbait and the guy sounds a little bit like an idiot to me, but here is a contrary argument about the 50mm lens:
https://fstoppers.com/originals/nift...ed-lens-619214
I don't think the arguments on either side are very convincing. I say show me the results. HCB did a good job with the 50mm lens, for example.
https://fstoppers.com/originals/nift...ed-lens-619214
I don't think the arguments on either side are very convincing. I say show me the results. HCB did a good job with the 50mm lens, for example.
Yes, we all need some self proclaimed internet expert telling us which lens to use. How can people look at the history of photography and claim any piece of equipment is overrated?
ptpdprinter
Veteran
I did mention the article is clickbait. The poor guy is just trying to put food on the table, and writing a blog about how terrible the 50mm lens is may be the only way he is able to accomplish the task. Surprising, since he is a fashion photographer.
I am an expert on the Internet.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6820230B2/en
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2004004135A3/en
Spent the 90s working on it.
And I know about the same level of detail about 50mm lenses.
The F-Stopper is dead wrong. Just wrote a full-of-it article to be contrary. If he cannot understand how to use a 50mm lens, he should not be taken seriously.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6820230B2/en
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2004004135A3/en
Spent the 90s working on it.
And I know about the same level of detail about 50mm lenses.
The F-Stopper is dead wrong. Just wrote a full-of-it article to be contrary. If he cannot understand how to use a 50mm lens, he should not be taken seriously.
Oh, I know you did. I think we are on the same page a lot. I know why they make the articles. I just do not know why people read them and get fooled by them. Like you, the only output that tells me anything is photography. And even then, people make great photography with lenses I hate.
ptpdprinter
Veteran
The only reason I read the fstoppers article is I remembered this thread, and I thought people might get a chuckle out of it. And it was more of a quick scan than a read. I have a couple of 50mm lenses and they work fine when I want to use them. My other lenses work fine when I want to use them too. You don't really need to be an internet expert to know that you can make great photographs will all kinds of different lenses.
Yet, we have that article still and many others like them.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
This is one of the greatest pictures made by Cartier-Bresson. No one who sees such a picture thinks of a camera or a lens.
Erik.
Erik.
Dogman
Veteran
Erik, I couldn't see which of Cartier-Bresson's photos you referenced. This one is my favorite:
It's my own processing of a JPEG found online. To me, this is the epitome of Cartier-Bresson's output--a joyful human moment preserved for us all.
It's my own processing of a JPEG found online. To me, this is the epitome of Cartier-Bresson's output--a joyful human moment preserved for us all.
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
Pretty sure that one was made with an R3M and 50/1.5 Nokton.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
In the Magnum archives about 7.000 pictures of Cartier-Bresson are preserved. About 400 or 500 of them are world famous. Everybody knows they were made with a 50mm or a 35mm lens.
I was talking about the picture of the three boys in front of a fence that has been scratched by children, somewere in Canada. That is an astonishingly beautiful photo. What's the point of whining about a camera or a lens while looking at such a masterpiece? The same goes for the photo with the wine bottles and many other photos by Cartier-Bresson.
Erik.
Evergreen States
Francine Pierre Saget (they/them)
I don't think I've seen a single picture of his shot with his Contax T or Leica Minilux post-retirement. Does anyone have any on hand to share?
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
I believe it was “Three Juveniles”. I posted a copy in post 155 in this thread. And the article: https://www.holdenluntz.com/magazine...l-canada-1965/
Retro-Grouch
Veteran
Blasphemer! Does your wickedness know no limits?
