Adams did use 35 mm equipment. If you look in one of his books, "The
Camera", on page 14, he has a pictue he took of Alfred Stieglitz using a
Zeiss Contax II with a 50mm Tessar lens. Adams also used Hassleblads.
I have a Mamiya 6 which I bought on a whim a few years ago. It's much
trickier to use than a regular 35mm camera. Exposure is something I must
consider, definitely not the case with the superb meter in the Nikon 8008,
not to mention the Olympus spot metering. The Mamiya has a meter in the
viewfinder, which can been thrown off by glare etc. But, assuming you know
about light, (I know next to nothing), this camera can produce results that
are mouth wateringly sharp. Once you get used to the square format it
becomes a real joy to use.
I think Olympus makes for me the closest possible thing to a Leica
rangefinder in 35mm SLR. It is petite, the shutter (OM-1/2, but not any of
the other varients) is arguably the quietest of SLRs, and the controls are
superbly arranged. The shutter control is on the lens mount barrel exactly
where it should be, the aperture ring is on the end of the lens barrel, and
usually is silky smooth. All the parts are machine finished, and very
delicate yet solid, rivalling the leica's feel. No other 35mm camera is so
well designed. The only fault I can find with the OM1, OM2, is the on/off
switch, which was better on the OM-4.
The ideal camera for candid photography will always be for me, a rangefinder
like the leica, because of its compactness and silent operation. The
Olympus serves as a camera for close up shots, which the Mamiya can not do,
period. But once you've seen the bigger negative 35mm seems to come up
short. I think in the future they will be able to make photo bodies which
would have some kind of sensor, about the size of the current negative 35mm
6x6, etc. then you could have a body made to go with the lenses you have
already, the sensor would have so many tiny elements that would
electronically record the image. The technical hurdle is how to
electronically rival the sheer resolving power of film, but it will
definitely happen. The interesting question is if the golden age of
photography has come and gone, or if it will experience a rennaisance with
the electronic revolution. When you are able to capture an infinite ammount
of very high quality still images from electronic digital video, where is
the place for still photography?
Claude.
William Sommerwerck wrote:
> << FWIW, Ansel used a Leica exclusively after age 80 >>
>
> "I do not believe this to be true. I believe the Polaroid people gave
> him some
> SX70 equipment and around the time of his death he was shooting SX70
> film."
>
> To the best of my knowledge, Ansel Adams never used Leicas, or any other
> 35mm equipment.
>
> AA had a long relationship with Polaroid. He liked the visual qualities
> of Polaroid print materials, and even wrote a book about their use.
> (It's called "Polaroid Land Photography" and I think it was published by
> Focal Press. It's probably out of print. Check Amazon.)
>
> He did have an SX-70, and the book includes a discussion of the camera
> and its film, but it's unlikely it was the only camera he was using at
> the time of his passing.
>
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