Wise words .... or horse s**t?

[peterm1]

Sounds like Ken Rockwell. Everything...............EVERYTHING Ken says needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Like you I don't mind him in small doses, because I do understand this about him and I make allowances and exercise my own judgement on anything he says. (Which incidentally, in relation to his statements, sometimes changes on the same topic from day to day). In relation to this statement - I think its horse puckey! Why would you buy only Leica if you cannot afford Leica. And why would buy it if you are not of the sort that appreciates the best. Its like saying everyone must drive a Rolls Royce. Crap!

 

[zuiko85]

I've come across that "why buy a Leica if you don't use Leica glass" nonsense before, KR didn't invent it. As a RF body I like my M4-2 (right there I have offended the delicate sensibilities of some snobby Leica M owners. "The M4-2 is just not up to the earlier M body construction, blah blah blah, etc.") Although I like my M4-2 body I would never have had the money to complete a small kit if all I bought was E. Leitz glass. CV lenses brought owning a Leica RF into range of my pocketbook. However if you have the surplus funds.....well somebody's got to buy the lenses or Leica would go out of busness and that would be sad.

 

[anjoca76]

KR is hilarious. I think a lot of people are too foolish to see he's trolling them. A lot of his reviews are pretty spot on the money for a user's perspective, with anything having to do with Leica duly inflated to suit most Leica users level of perceived self-importance.

Funny guy with a good sense of humor that is lost on too many people who are too up-tight to see he's just screwing around with them.

Exactly! Most things he writes are tongue in cheek, especially when it comes to Leica. He usually goes out of his way to praise CV lenses and poke fun at Leica's elitism. He can be super annoying, but he can also be knowledgeable and funny too.

 

[thegman]

Yep.. That his goal.. There is some good info mixed into the pile of s**t though. I don't go to his site very often these days.. It gets kind of old after awhile.

Gary

I agree, there is good stuff on his site. In fact, It's mostly down to reading his site that I decided to get into film. Does not hurt that perhaps the best known photo/camera blogger raves about the advantages of film.

He's probably partly responsible for me getting into 4x5 too.

People knock him, but his landscape photos are certainly better than mine, and most of the ones I see on other blog sites. He gets out there and takes photos, photos which I'd be happy to be taking.

 

[Keith]

Various levels of contempt aside there is obviously a modicum of truth in what he says about Leica lenses. More related to perceived value than optical quality though IMO.

I remember Roger (Hicks) stating that he thought the 50mm Sonnar was the best optic he had used on his M9 ... and that included any Leica lens he had used.

 

[Sparrow]

... if we're judging things by optical quality we would see a lot more of CV's f1.5/50 than we do

 

[Keith]

... if we're judging things by optical quality we would see a lot more of CV's f1.5/50 than we do

Great lens ... but it doesn't tick the smug or satisfied that I spent a load of money boxes! 😀

 

[JoeV]

I'm almost certain KR is secretly monitoring this thread for its response count to his article. Oops, I just increased it by one; dang!

~Joe

 

[shortstop]

I think Ken Rockwell has at least one quality: it is sympathetic and says things in a nice way.sometimes contradicts himself a little, but be overly consistent is boring.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

but be overly consistent is boring.

Very true: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." ...Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Why does anyone give a sh*t about what KR (or any supposed "expert") thinks? Are we incapable of assimilating information and deciding for ourselves?

I'm all in favour of objective bench testing of kit but, once the outcome has been posted, we need to consider the use to which we would put the item, decide whether we can afford it and then move on. Opinions are, for the most part, worthless as they are largely subjective.

Having what you love doesn't always end happily. Loving what you have, at least in my experience, tends to be a better state of affairs....