I found this edifying:

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/galleries/essays/090800.htm

-- Erik (xx@xx.com), September 09, 2000

Answers

Erik, thanks for posting that. Interesting story. I'm one of those "full frame, black line" people too.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), September 09, 2000.

What, he didn't need a huge F5 or Canon EOS with 20 point auto focus and Image stabilization to get his award winning shots? See, there is still a use for the simple basic rangefinder camera in photography. And I thought it was just a bunch of us old fashioned guys making this stuff up.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), September 09, 2000.

Is there anywhere on the web to see his pictures?

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), September 09, 2000.

I though the same thing. I was scrolling all over that page, but didn't see any links to the guys photos.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), September 09, 2000.

I like this quote especially:

"...intimacy of his pictures. Working with a rangefinder camera forces you to get close to your subjects. [For example the longest lens the Leica RF can take is a 135mm telephoto.] And getting up close to one's subject is a heck of a lot easier if your camera does not sound like a howitzer [the near-silent click of the Leica's shutter is legendary] and if you are not motor-driving your way through a series of flash pictures going off in your subject's face".

-- Erik (xx@xx.com), September 09, 2000.

I did a search for Claus Bjorn Larsen on Google and it turned up a few sites with his pix.

-- Erik (xx@xx.com), September 09, 2000.

A great site.Full of imformation.Read some of the other essays...Truth time!The Leica is quite but some slr are quieter these days.I love my M3.We are together 33years. The Leica is not simply a camera.It is a whole philosophy of another approach to photography.I think in this day and age,we Leica users are the very basic photographers,after the others who use 8x10 and 4x5 view cameras.There is purity in simplicity and vision.

-- jason gold (jason1155234@webtv.net), September 10, 2000.

Jason,

Do you have experience with SLR's that are quieter than Leica M's? Which ones? How do they dampen the mirror flipping and aperture actuation?

Just curious.

Al

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), September 10, 2000.

I haven't seen any SLR ever made by anyone that is even in the same league of quiet as the M3. Certainly nothing current with motors and AF zipping and buzzing. You can not even hear my M3 go off if there is any ambient noise present. Often, people do not know if I have taken the photo yet.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), September 10, 2000.

Here's one site with some of Claus Bjorn Larsen's pictures: http://www.f ujifilm.pt/paginas/epa/EPA99_1Premio.htm.

Interesting to see that quite a few of the essays archived in the link mentioned by Erik relate to Leica. Mr. Van Riper is obviously an enthusiast, and interesting too, to see the confirmation about a possible medium format Leica effort. it remains to be seen what it is...

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), September 10, 2000.

I love my Leica.I also have listened and worked with some of the new cameras.Their noise level is very low.I have a Pentax 6x7.That is NOISE.WHAT DID YOU SAY?My 54 Rollei TLR is truly silent.Dont assume the noise level is that good. Also some newer cameras are way faster to use.All auto hi-tech has advantages.I find people very impatient at weddings,events and can no longer rely on my ability to work fast enough!I need help.I stand by what I said.We are (Leicaphiles)like the users of view cameras.Just very different.Even when we do a landscape.See HCB pic of "Brie" in "Tete a Tete".That is equivilant of any Ansel.I will never be without my M3/2....Have great light and good exposures.

-- jason gold (jason1155234@webtv.net), September 12, 2000.

I agree with Jason. I have an EOS 50, an M2 and a Rollei T, and the T is silent, while the EOS is not much louder than the M2. The thing about the M shutter is it sounds just sooooo good. Hell they should put a loudner on it, cause it sounds so good. Kind of like Nikon did with the MD-12 creating the loudest motordrive ever, Hollywood's favourite camera sound :)

-- Mark Wrathall (Wrathall@laudaair.com), September 12, 2000.

"We are (Leicaphiles)like the users of view cameras.Just very different."

My use for the Leica is that it is the perfect companion to a view camera. Need a closeup? Monorail time! Need a candid? M3! You're already carrying the meter around, right? It'll make more sense when I switch to a collapsible 50, though...

On the photography, though, that's why I am not a photojournalist. Another league.

-- John O'Connell (boywonderiloveyou@hotmail.com), September 12, 2000.

Following on from the reference to Claes Bjorn Larson's work and a web page. He was one of leica's featured photographers this year at Photokina and has a page dedicated to him on their web site: http://www.leica-camera.com/markt/photokina/fotografen/larsen/index_e. html

-- Jem Kime (jem.kime@cwcom.com), October 18, 2000.