Jump to content

If Cartier-Bresson's Leica had an EVF & AF . . .


Guest Ming Rider

Recommended Posts

Guest Ming Rider

Advertisement (gone after registration)

. . . one can only imagine his highly influential picture 'Man Jumping Over a Puddle' would have been called 'Man with Wet Shoes', (because of the delay see) ;)

 

Any suggestions for iconic images that would have been missed because the Viewfinder was 'behind' the action, or the photographer couldn't Hyper Focus ?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Replies 52
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Guest Ming Rider
The Eddie Adams summary execution photo might look a little different.

 

Yes, it would either be called "dead man on ground after being shot in the head", or "condemned man shares cigarette with firing squad before execution".

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Ming Rider
We might have missed all his pictures as he would have been kept waiting speculatively for the 'maybe to be released models' and the ensuing shipment delays.

 

Mrs Cartier-Bresson - "Henri, are you going to India, I hear Ghandi's giving a seminar ?"

 

Henri - "No, I thought I'd wait and see if an M10 comes out, with an EVF. "

Link to post
Share on other sites

. . . one can only imagine his highly influential picture 'Man Jumping Over a Puddle' would have been called 'Man with Wet Shoes', (because of the delay see) ;)

 

Or he could have taken 10 frames per second and chose the decisive moment later. A lot of EVF cameras take 10 fps give or take. So I don't think the delay is that much of a problem. Unless you are talking about an EVF film camera :rolleyes:

Link to post
Share on other sites

. . . one can only imagine his highly influential picture 'Man Jumping Over a Puddle' would have been called 'Man with Wet Shoes', (because of the delay see) ;)

 

Any suggestions for iconic images that would have been missed because the Viewfinder was 'behind' the action, or the photographer couldn't Hyper Focus ?

 

I have this art house films documentary about Henri Cartier bresson and in it HCB claims that when taking that photo he didn't even see the man jumping. He said that he stuck the lens into a hole in a fence and snapped and he got lucky by capturing the man jumping. It's a bit hard to believe but that is what the man claims...

Link to post
Share on other sites

. . . one can only imagine his highly influential picture 'Man Jumping Over a Puddle' would have been called 'Man with Wet Shoes'

No way ! It would still be called 'Man Jumping Over a Puddle'.

That's because he actually did not use the viewfinder for that one, he slided the lens in a small space between two boards and clicked to shot the view. It was only once the film was processed that he saw there was a man in there…

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGKubZ1B07c at 16:20

 

Edit: Ooops. It looks like we both posted at the same time! You beat me! :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Ming Rider

Err, uhmm, ah, yeah but no but . . . Oh yes, he was also an habitual liar.

 

Pheww, think I got out of that one ?

 

I did know the story but was trying to express in my OP the purity of the Leica experience and I believe that there are many situations where a technological mishmash would have hindered the outcome.

Link to post
Share on other sites

but was trying to express in my OP the purity of the Leica experience and I believe that there are many situations where a technological mishmash would have hindered the outcome.

 

I knew that, most people knew that, but it's the Leica Forum and it was always going to bring out the pedants and habitual point scorers.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Cartier-Bresson would probably have used AF when it was to his advantage, and turned it off when it wasn't. He would probably have slipped an optical viewfinder in the hot-shoe when it was more advantageous than the EVF. He would probably not have sat around his house unproductively moaning about the shortcomings of his equipment, or waiting for someone to come out with his fantasy dream camera. That's just my speculation of course...although it's documented that in his final years he used a Minilux, so he clearly wasn't averse to new technology. How much of the time he used the Minilux in AF, if at all, I wouldn't know.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Any suggestions for iconic images that would have been missed because the Viewfinder was 'behind' the action, or the photographer couldn't Hyper Focus ?

 

The M8 and M9 have ~.08 to .12 second shutter lag.

The M3 has ~.016 and the M7 ~ .012.

Many digital cameras are faster, but the real factor is the experience and reflexes of the photographer.

 

What's to complain about? One of the photos in my gallery (yeah, I gotta catch up on that) shows an image that was made possible because the shutter was responsive and fast enough. I'm sure you can see why. And that comes from an older man with a tremor and nerve damage in his hands.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Ming Rider
What's to complain about?

 

Who's complaining?

 

I'm all for the simplistic nature of the M (film & digital), with it's negligible shutter delay and manual hyperfocusing. I'm merely hypothesizing as to whether the Classic photo's of the past would have been possible if an M of the type some forum members seem to be requesting, had been available 40 - 80 years ago, ie. EVF, AF, Program/Scene Modes etc.

 

Nice pic's by the way.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Ming Rider
Perhaps EVF will give rise to new genre; Post Decisive Moment :p

 

It will all be in my new book, "The Indecisive Moment - 100 Choices, All Of Them Crap."

Link to post
Share on other sites

Very funny titles and scenarios :-) Brilliant :-)

 

One thing that I don't understand though is the constant complaint of fast drives or AF etc... (on several threads) Surely it's up to us how we choose to use our tools and which features we use? Alongside my Leica M gear, I also use Canon DSLRs for longer lens and macro work. Very complex cameras with lots of features, yet 99.9% of the time I shoot in full manual, but use AF. I set my cameras up to how I want to use them and ignore the bits that don't suit me.

 

With the 5D MkII, I took to shooting video in a big way, but I also have colleagues who aren't interested in this feature and wouldn't even know how to put their cameras in that mode.

 

How many photographers here shoot in aperture priority on their Leica M7s or M9s? Personally, never used it myself! I also know of a Magnum colleague who hates that his M9 has a continuous setting on the drive; his answer is to stick some Blutak to stop the selector going past 'S'. Just because some cameras shoot at 10fps doesn't mean we can't just fire off one shot.

 

Hilarious image titles though :-)

 

Edmond

Link to post
Share on other sites

[...]How many photographers here shoot in aperture priority on their Leica M7s or M9s? Personally, never used it myself! [...]

 

So what is your working method?

 

I use aperture priority on M9 and M7 a lot because aperture effects rendering. When I shot nothing but M2 and M4 cameras, I set aperture first. As long as I know the shutter speed is within the range I like, I see no difference from letting the meter handle the shutter speed.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...