Perhaps my favorite article about what it's like to shoot an M

[onasj]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

For those who haven't seen this yet:

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/09/24/candid-camera

 

Happy holidays!

[Deliberate1]

Lovely article. Thanks for posting. The following excerpt is a splendid example of design by chance:

 

According to company lore, he [barnack] held a strip of the new film between his hands and stretched his arms wide, the resulting length being just enough to contain thirty-six frames—the standard number of images, ever since, on a roll of 35-mm. film

 

For reasons I cannot explain, the reference to the "36" brought me to an example of numerology with deep religious significance. In the Jewish tradition, the number 18 has elemental meaning, and is the numerical equivalence of the the word "chai," which means "life." It is a portmanteau of the eight and tenth letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Those of the faith often make donations in increments of 18 for that reason. Consequently, it may be said that a roll of 35mm film, equal to the spread of Barnack's arms, is not just a single but truly a "double chai." Given the wondrous output of all those little machines over the years, who could doubt it.

Cheers.

David

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Bison]

Thanks for posting this . . . an excellent read. 

[Herr Barnack]

It's too bad that the redoubtable Mr. Barnack wasn't Buddhist - a standard roll of 35mm film might have been 108 exposures...

[jmahto]

For those who haven't seen this yet:

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/09/24/candid-camera

 

Happy holidays!

Thank You.

[Letin]

Thanks for the article, great read!

[albertknappmd]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Excellent article!

Thank you for sharing!

Albert     

[TinyTempo]

That was a great read. Thanks for sharing!

Markus

[Jeff S]

It reinforces how dramatically the world of photography, and Leica, has changed in the mere 10 years since I first read the article.

 

Jeff

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Everybody,

 

The 36 frames of double the format (18 X 24) of the movie film that Oscar Barnack had been using comes to around 1.5 meters. If you leave some room for an appropriate leader.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[rodders]

Great article. Thank you for sharing.

[Simon]

I think my favourite thing about that article is the font they’re using! It’s gorgeous and makes a huge difference to readability.

 

I’m sick of boring vertically-compressed fonts that infest the internet including this very site! Capital letters should be twice as high as lowercase! On this I’m objectively correct and I won’t have it any other way! . A bit of personality or subtle serifs also help, though there there are nice sans-serif fonts for certain applications.

 

I seriously think I can read decent fonts about twice as fast as awful and overused ones like Arial. It’s certainly more enjoyable when they’re not squashed flat and devoid of all life.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Simon

[evikne]

I think my favourite thing about that article is the font they’re using! It’s gorgeous and makes a huge difference to readability.

 

Adobe Caslon I think.