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Archive 2013 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!

  
 
Photon
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


The author or this article, Nick Bilton, makes a few questionable statements. For example, "In the 1950s, Leica rose to fame when it introduced the M-System camera, its first so-called range finder body with an interchangeable lens mount." Or, "Unlike DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras, in which a photo subject is viewed through a mirror, range finders offer crisper images because the lens is closer to the sensor of the camera." Hmm, yes a rangefinder doesn't require room for a mirror, so short focal lengths don't have to be retrofocus designs, etc., blah, blah. But not all lenses are wide angles, and closeness to the sensor doesn't inherently lead to crisper images. I know, I'm nit picking, but check out the article, and enjoy the contributions of Mr. Rockwell.


Aug 08, 2013 at 12:17 AM
sirimiri
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


tagged!


Aug 08, 2013 at 12:36 AM
millsart
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


I heard they were doing a sequel to the movie Dumb and Dumber..... guess we know who to cast in it now


Aug 08, 2013 at 12:41 AM
alundeb
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


millsart wrote:
Dumb and Dumber.....


Initially I thought this could be the journalist and the camera expert, but thinking about it, they both cover their own interest well, that is to attract readers. So the dumbest has to be the reader, and since I read the article, ....



Aug 08, 2013 at 01:51 AM
rattymouse
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


alundeb wrote:
Initially I thought this could be the journalist and the camera expert, but thinking about it, they both cover their own interest well, that is to attract readers. So the dumbest has to be the reader, and since I read the article, ....


Exactly. Frauds like Ken Rockwell would disappear if no one read their crap.




Aug 08, 2013 at 02:44 AM
rattymouse
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


alundeb wrote:
Initially I thought this could be the journalist and the camera expert, but thinking about it, they both cover their own interest well, that is to attract readers. So the dumbest has to be the reader, and since I read the article, ....


Exactly. Frauds like Ken Rockwell would disappear if no one read their crap.




Aug 08, 2013 at 02:44 AM
justruss
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


What's most interesting to me is all the hinting that "pros" use these cameras...

Do a quick survey of working photojournalists... and see how many Leica shooters show up. It's not going to be many.



Aug 08, 2013 at 02:58 AM
philip_pj
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


Ken is a known guy with a large volume website, has a lot of great info and interesting opinion - good, he has a place in the firmament and I would rather have him around than some of the squabbling dim bulbs at DPR arguing minutiae.

Every time someone laughs at him, more $$ for him in click throughs and page impressions. It's an effective business model, and will make you feel good to know you are helping him out - so keep talking about him!



Aug 08, 2013 at 03:53 AM
edwardkaraa
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


I actually like Ken Rockwell. He's a funny guy, and he knows Leica gear thoroughly. His "opinions" about Leica M glass are very accurate and trustworthy.


Aug 08, 2013 at 06:09 AM
Photon
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


I first heard of Ken Rockwell here at FM. I read a few of his articles a few years ago, and found nothing for me to learn. I also didn't find the writing particularly amusing, so I haven't been back. Some of the statements quoted in the Times make perfect sense, others are hyperbolic.
“Leica makes a lens the way it should be made, with metal and glass, while everyone else is making plastic lenses that are meant to be thrown away in a couple of years,” said Ken Rockwell, a photographer and expert on cameras and lenses. “The Leica lenses are so special because they are smaller, faster and sharper.”
They are indeed special, but I don't think all other lenses are meant to be discarded in a few years. Of course the most important message for people not already familiar with Leica and serious photo gear in general is the last paragraph. I agree with it completely:

“Don’t think that if you buy a Leica you’re going to be taking the same photos as the world’s best photojournalists,” Mr. Rockwell said. “The camera doesn’t take good pictures; the person holding it does.”

Come to think of it, I suppose my subject line for this thread was designed to draw readers through controversy, much like what I hear people accusing KR of doing. Mea culpa.



Aug 08, 2013 at 07:27 AM
f.hayek
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


The New York Times has seen lapses in journalistic quality on many fronts for some time now. As such, little surprise that Ken Rockwell is for them, an authoritative source.


Aug 08, 2013 at 07:58 AM
Bijltje
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


edwardkaraa wrote:
I actually like Ken Rockwell. He's a funny guy, and he knows Leica gear thoroughly. His "opinions" about Leica M glass are very accurate and trustworthy.


+1, a very useful website.



Aug 08, 2013 at 08:06 AM
AhamB
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


Bijltje wrote:
+1, a very useful website.


Useful for certain things, but I had to chuckle a bit when a new FM member here recently wrote that he shot jpeg with the saturation turned up "because Ken Rockwell recommends it". No disrepect to that FM member, but I found it funny to see that people hold Ken to be an authority on photography related knowledge with simpleminded advice like that.



Aug 08, 2013 at 01:17 PM
FlyPenFly
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


Makes me skeptical about the NYTimes... who knows what other experts they've quoted in fields I know nothing about.


Aug 08, 2013 at 01:26 PM
millsart
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


FlyPenFly wrote:
Makes me skeptical about the NYTimes... who knows what other experts they've quoted in fields I know nothing about.


Indeed, do they think that because someone has an website (with lots of "reviews" of gear they never even handled in person) that makes them an expert ?

I could easily name 20+ regulars on this forum that could provide more firsthand experience on all things Leica than KR



Aug 08, 2013 at 01:35 PM
FlyPenFly
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


Tabloids are a billion dollar+ industry. To me, Ken Rockwell is photography's version of it. Say things loudly and inaccurately, get lots of views.


Aug 08, 2013 at 01:42 PM
freaklikeme
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


AhamB wrote:
Useful for certain things, but I had to chuckle a bit when a new FM member here recently wrote that he shot jpeg with the saturation turned up "because Ken Rockwell recommends it". No disrepect to that FM member, but I found it funny to see that people hold Ken to be an authority on photography related knowledge with simpleminded advice like that.


Yeah, I was happy to see the member didn't get dog-piled under anti-Rockwell sentiment after that. Agree or disagree, if Rockwell's method works for him, who are we to say any differently?

I don't find anything wrong with what Rockwell or Huff or any of the other bloggers put out there. It's up to the audience to determine how much faith to put in any single source on the internet.



Aug 08, 2013 at 01:44 PM
millsart
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


I think KR is much worse, because he often blatantly spreads false information, and then writes it of as just being in jest, because he knows it will bring in traffic. The "victim" to this isn't the forum regulars who love to bash him yet still read his site, but those who believe everything he says as factual.

Now yeah, its just photography, so its not life and death, but suppose I had a site giving medical advice and I made up some stuff, just to be sensational, or funny etc. Maybe most would know to take what I say with a grain of salt and a pinch of common sense, but others could likely follow what I say to and become ill or injured.

Huff et al, might have some bias etc, but I don't think they ever mean to mislead on purpose.



Aug 08, 2013 at 01:52 PM
runamuck
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


philip_pj wrote:
Ken is a known guy with a large volume website, has a lot of great info and interesting opinion - good, he has a place in the firmament and I would rather have him around than some of the squabbling dim bulbs at DPR arguing minutiae.

Every time someone laughs at him, more $$ for him in click throughs and page impressions. It's an effective business model, and will make you feel good to know you are helping him out - so keep talking about him!


Every time his name is mentioned here, it brings him some extra shekels that help support his family. Plus it allows some FM'er to feel smugly self-satisfied that he put down Ken Rockwell.



Aug 08, 2013 at 01:52 PM
AhamB
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · NY Times quotes Ken Rockwell on Leica!


runamuck wrote:
Every time his name is mentioned here, it brings him some extra shekels that help support his family.


You mean his ever "growing family".



Aug 08, 2013 at 03:07 PM
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