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RE: [OM] questions about other low ev cameras

Subject: RE: [OM] questions about other low ev cameras
From: "JOHN SCHEUERER" <jhs8956@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000 18:06:53 EDT
   Thanks for the input Doris.
  Sorry bout the misinterpretation.
      What is the XA about?
                        J.S.

From: *- DORIS FANG -* <sfsttj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [OM] questions about other low ev cameras
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 01:34:23 -0400 (EDT)



On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, JOHN SCHEUERER wrote:

> I think the yuppies will raise their kids like every other generation before
> them and the old fads will become new fads as they always have.

  I was not talking about the kids, just how the coccoon business seems
to have been mirrored in the arts world. The hot trend is to use very
high production values (basically a movie set) and the directorial mode
to emulate "reality" at home.

> Personally,Its a great experience to shoot slow film on a tripod at night in
> a fairly well lit town or city. Perhaps because with patience and slowly
> growing skill and yes luck the photo enthusiest might get that perfect shot
> worth enlarging to near poster size without much degradation.

  It's just a way of working. A lot of my night shots have been in
precisely this manner, others WFO at f/1.2 and 1/8th of a second,
with me draped over the backs of chairs, tables, street signs,
bus benches, you name it. Whatever it takes.
      IMO, only seeing guarantees results worth printing.

 Look at Robert Frank's shots in _The Americans_, done with Super XX
pushed to a then-startling EI of 125-160. No one complains about the
fuzziness of the jukeboxes or the cowboys in the bars.

> These days I would consider it dangerous to night shoot
>in SOME PLACES HERE without having the company of friends,
> family or the cops.

  Things have really changed in the past two decades, although we should
not forget that R. Frank spent days in jail under suspicion of being
a communist photographer. Street shooting has always been dangerous,
even in daytime. I agree with you.

> Maybe the Olympus OM2&2n were made in the good old days when the average
> photo enthusiest for art or for science, would take pictures at nite without > the worry of being acused of invasion of privacy,not to mention the chance
> of being mugged and robbed of your gear or worse.
> Some of these cameras abilities are nonexistent in todays best cameras.

  I understand what you're saying, but any body with a mechanical "B"
setting will do. If it was good enough for Frank, L. Faurer, Ted Chroner,
Kertez, Brassai and others, I think we can manage, no matter how spoiled
we may have become by all the marvelous electronics of our beloved OMs.
Yes, I have a pristine OM-2, and I love its long-exposure capability.

[Is anyone going to tell me where that led is so I can paint over it ?]

 I think of trial and terror as "experience", and the people who've
invested capital there seem to have all the luck. The path is our
own. There's nothing to conquer but our own ineptitudes and shortcomings.
The Muses constantly whisper in our ears, but we're too busy with
other things to listen.
  I disagree that photography has "conquered" daylight. Automation
and getting trapped in the Matrix (Oooooh nooooooo) and its homogenization
programs is no solution.  It's merely easier than ever to be a hack. The
path of excellence is still a long, lonely road.

>  When will we be able to do this without a flash and with an
> average point and shoot?

                         Buy an XA. I have three.

>          Its not JUST the lense OR the film. I'ts the capabilities
>          of the camera after all!!!
>                                        DREAMER?

       You are not the only one. (with apologies to J.L.)

> They just don't make em like they used to...YET... AGAIN!!!

  I agree, but never let the hardware intimidate your creativity.

                                     *= Doris Fang =*


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