mingmac Posted October 11, 2009 Share #1 Posted October 11, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I really wonder about it cos I have seen many B&W photos from Leica users, then it makes me have a question in my mind "Is Leica good only for B&W photography?" Im a newbie so sorry if this question is too stupid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 Hi mingmac, Take a look here Why most Leica-ers like to shoot B&W?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
ryancrouch Posted October 11, 2009 Share #2 Posted October 11, 2009 Leicas (M series at least) are a "basic" camera. They focus on exactly what you need to take a photograph and leave off the 20 extra features other cameras include. This is similar in my mind to B&W photography. A B&W photo focuses on the moment, the light, the expressions, etc. Color adds on just that and often times, in my opinion, does not add any substance to the photo. There are I'm sure numerous photographers who use Leicas and color photography to great effect. One of them is David Alan Harvey who has had more stories published in Nat Geo than any other photographer. He covers Hispanic culture mainly and makes color work beautifully in his photographs. He is probably my favorite photographer. I guess it just depends on what you are covering and whether you believe the color will add anything positive to the image or not. I apologize if this doesn't make sense, but I'm in the middle of studying for a nursing exam and thought I might answer this post. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cweg Posted October 11, 2009 Share #3 Posted October 11, 2009 Photos say more then words. Have a look here: Flickr: Search Leica Summicron-M 50mm here: Flickr: Search Leica M Users and here: Flickr: Search Leica M3 There you'll find wonderful colorshots, taken with Leicastuff. I hope it help you a little bit out and welcome to the Forum. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted October 11, 2009 Share #4 Posted October 11, 2009 I don't mean to be rude, but if we were handing out awards for the most stupid questions you would be in the top one! I'm not even sure how to respond to that question - maybe take a look at the photo forums? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted October 11, 2009 Share #5 Posted October 11, 2009 If you look in this forum you find the photo section; all photos are supposed to be made with Leica cameras or lenses. Do you really find that most photos are B&W? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted October 11, 2009 Share #6 Posted October 11, 2009 Guys - the OP did say: "Im a newbie so sorry if this question is too stupid." so maybe cut him some slack? The answer to the question is no, Leica cameras are just fine for colour photography. There are a few reasons why you may have seen a lot of black and white images shot on Leicas. One is that Leica cameras have been around for quite a while - way longer than usable colour film. For a fair amount of that time they were a very popular choice for reportage, before colour film was used much at all for that purpose. The vast majority of 'famous' Leica images are black and white as a result. The more interesting question is "are Leica photographers only good for black and white photography?" - to which you might get a whole lot of different answers Personally, I like black and white. It's what I learned on, it's what first inspired me to take up photography. I'd say about 80% of my images end up black and white, even though now I mostly shoot with the M8. I'm really just not that good a colour photographer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted October 11, 2009 Share #7 Posted October 11, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I'm really not being rude (smiley added to post to show intention). Maybe the OP has been looking at work by photographers like HCB, Capa et al. Good point, Leica's have always been there so there's a huge body of work that is in B&W, but a camera is a camera after all, so to assume that it would be better for B&W or colour? What about the M8/9 ? I reiterate, look at the photo forums here, find out about some of the more contemporary Leica photographers and ask yourself, could you take a colour image with a Leica? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentleman Villain Posted October 12, 2009 Share #8 Posted October 12, 2009 The OP makes a perfectly reasonable point. Leica shooters generally work in available light conditions and these circumstances make for extremely difficult management of color space. Prior to digital control of white balance, many Leica film photographers overcame potential color problems by shooting in B&W. Combine this with the fact that many of Leica's most famous early photographers were working with B&W simply because color film and processing wasn't yet readily available and it's easy to see how many viewers could get the impression that Leica's are mostly for shooting B&W. The mandatory internet forum disclaimer.... Of course, Leica's can shoot in color or black and white or whatever. But Leica has a long history of photographers associated with B&W so it's easy to see how a viewer could associate Leica exclusively with B&W Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnastovall Posted October 12, 2009 Share #9 Posted October 12, 2009 B&W is a purer aesthetic. Color distracts too often from Light and Form. Leica PLEASE offer an ala carte or limited subscription run of a Monochrome M9, PLEASE. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingmac Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted October 12, 2009 Thank you for all you guys. You really help me know more about this amazing camera, especially dpattinson. I think your reason really makes sense. I understand earleygallery that u do not mean to be rude. I really have to admit that im really new to Leica M so i dont mind to get no.1 the most stupid Q. Thank you for a warm welcome from everyone again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted October 12, 2009 Share #11 Posted October 12, 2009 For me B&W is a film I can do all the work myself. I take the shot, develope the film, in the old days I used a enlarger to print the shot and developed that paper, today it is scanning those negative and briing them into a computer for final adjustments and printing on a inkjet printer. Now we get into does B&W tell the story better then color? Yes and no. But at least for me I learned to love shooting B&W because I could do all the work. No taking the film to a lab and waiting for them to return and the cost, I didn't have a lot of money back in the old days especially after buying Leica gear. Since going digital for most of what I shoot, I still do shoot some film but not much and I still develope that film, I use color much more now then I did when shooting just film. But that is not to say I don't take some of those color digital images and convert thenm to B&W. I still do for certain shots. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted October 12, 2009 Share #12 Posted October 12, 2009 I did post this questions a little while ago http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/barnacks-bar/100978-b-w-colour.html I think maybe there is less discipline now that we have the choice if we want to decide after the event if we want a B&W or Colour image - if I load B&W film in my Leica that's what I'm stuck with, and for my part at least, I will take different photographs than if I had a colour film or digital camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
E.M Posted October 12, 2009 Share #13 Posted October 12, 2009 For me B&W is like a special effect. I like it sometimes but I prefer colour, because the reality is in colour . . . Etienne Michiels Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
budrichard Posted October 12, 2009 Share #14 Posted October 12, 2009 Color film used to be expensive and could not be developed outside a Lab very easily. Leica users also shot in low light levels without flash. Early color film was not very sensitive and under incandecent and later flourescent lighting gave a color tints that were false to the eye. Later Type B and Type A color films tried to remedy the color balance with limited sucess. So, B&W was a less expensive media that could be processed almost anywhere with no color balance problems for indoor photography. This preference for some has continued to this day. Me, I shoot almost entirely in Kodachrome but do have some bricks of TMax 400 for projects that require extensive indoor shooting without flash. BTW, your Post was not 'Stupid' despite the incredibly rude comments that were made.-Dick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alun Posted October 12, 2009 Share #15 Posted October 12, 2009 Mingmac -- Many other replies have explained the technical, practical and aesthetic reasons for so many Leica photographers shooting in B&W but few (if any, I think) have mentioned photographers -- such as Joel Meyerowitz, Alex Webb and Constantine Manos (and theremust be many others too) whose work using primarily Leica rangefinders began in B&W and subsquently switched to colour. Of course, since then, these photographers, like so many others, have switched away from Leica and indeed away from film entirely, and so many of these debates, while interesting, are increasingly being overtaken. Nonetheless, take a look on the Magnum website at David Alan Harvey's work (alreday mentioned), or Alex Webb's, or Constantine Manos's to see colour being exploited beautifully and creatively. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted October 12, 2009 Share #16 Posted October 12, 2009 Here's an observation... Mediocre images have more visual impact in black and white than in colour. A bad photo is a bad photo, but a colour bad photo really looks like (sh)it, whereas a monochrome image "gets away with it". Mediocre photographers (who know they are, as opposed to the poor deluded fools who think they are great) will therefore choose to work in monochrome. Discuss... Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammam Posted October 12, 2009 Share #17 Posted October 12, 2009 I don't mean to be rude, but if we were handing out awards for the most stupid questions you would be in the top one! I'm not even sure how to respond to that question - maybe take a look at the photo forums? Well, you ARE rude. And your comment should be in contention for the nastiest post awards. Smilie notwithstanding (too easy, that one.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haris Posted October 12, 2009 Share #18 Posted October 12, 2009 If you look in this forum you find the photo section; all photos are supposed to be made with Leica cameras or lenses. Do you really find that most photos are B&W? I think if we check are photographs made with film Leica or digital, we would see that most film made photographs are b/w and most colour are digimage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haris Posted October 12, 2009 Share #19 Posted October 12, 2009 Here's an observation... Mediocre images have more visual impact in black and white than in colour. A bad photo is a bad photo, but a colour bad photo really looks like (sh)it, whereas a monochrome image "gets away with it". Mediocre photographers (who know they are, as opposed to the poor deluded fools who think they are great) will therefore choose to work in monochrome. Discuss... Regards, Bill This particullary is worth for photographs made before 1950es... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenneth Posted October 12, 2009 Share #20 Posted October 12, 2009 Well, you ARE rude. And your comment should be in contention for the nastiest post awards. Smilie notwithstanding (too easy, that one.)I agree totally and anyway I am after that prestigious award Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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