Daniel, the Leica forum was much more interesting in the early M8 days, when there were many of us trying to push the boundaries, find problems and solutions, testing lenses carefully and so on. Recently the cameras are getting so popular (!) that there has been an influx of knee-jerk new owners some of whom post loudly and think briefly. It is a great shame, really.
Carsten, I was a lurker in those days, I still read the M8 forum with more interest than the "omg I haven't used a rangefinder before but I have bought an M9!" and "Leica should have put a D3x inside the M9 and given it autofocus!" threads in the M9 forum. I just read the M9 forum for delivery information and controversy haha.
I'm sure I'll find a way to get some black dots! I made a dual shoe accessory adapter today, but I think it sits a little too high and will cause parallax, MatchTechnical said they'd make one for me from a thumbs up, without the thumbs up part.
One of the things I love of this particular forum is not only the knowledge and the -imho, obvious*- intelligence of its members. It's also a matter of personal availability in working together to effectively help others.
One of my most interesting experiences, extremely useful for me and formative for my profession, was the making of the first compatibility list for the Canon EOS 5D body and C/Y Zeiss - Olympus OM lenses. Thanks to the helpful support of its members I was able to redact and post here probably one of the most read threads on Fred Miranda. This one is infact a great forum and, probably, one of the few (virtual) places in the world that sums up so well the spirit behind the photographer.
Thanks to the "Alternative Forum" I started my first steps in the most fascinating photographic experience of my life, learning about the existance of some kind of lenses and techniques, experimenting various optics in different tasks and assignments, thinking before shooting! It was (and is) awesome: a true "knowledge & experience" free exchange.
You cannot understand the strange sensation I feel when I go to read and participate other forums, especially if they're in my native idiom. There's not another place like this one, especially in Italy: everytime I start to read a post in another place, my thoughts go here and a question comes up almost immediately: "How my friends at the Alternative would discuss this thing?". And I feel alone, really.
The "Alternative" is like my home, even if I do not contribute so much lately. Among the first sites I open every day at morning and the last one I close at evening. I love it as I love the humbleness of its members: even with a great knowledge there's no one that uses it for his/her personal vaunt.
These words are only a tribute to the value of this place: my first and last "virtual photographic school". Sorry for this so long (and probably annoying) post.
Ciao,
Emanuele
P.S. I know, mine isn't a perfect english!
*My guess is that when someone speaks about very technical arguments and do it in a manner that permits to the reader to understand even complex concepts, we're in front of a very intelligent, yet competent, person.
Jos Tesseract wrote:
Oxymorons are usually two words, not three.
e.g. Pretty Ugly, Marital Bliss, Irate Patient, Fast Autofocus
Ummm. Let me "make haste, slowly" in correcting your understanding of oxymorons. (apologies to Octavian). There is no restriction of the number of words for an oxymoron, per se. Rather it is constructed from 2 different parts of speech or terms that together appear contradictory or incongruous -- usually an adjective and subject (noun), but other combinations are possible. "Usually two words", perhaps, but far from exclusively. In the case presented, "Canon lenses" is the subject (noun). It wouldn't work if it were just "good lenses", and much less of an oxymoron if it were "good Canon". No, "good Canon lenses" is quite acceptable as an oxymoron, if you accept or recognize its premise, of course.
And by the way, lighten up, it was a joke. We really weren't looking for a lesson on language (and it didn't actually require one).
Now excuse me while I go an relax over a plate of jumbo shrimp and welcome deafening silence on this.
There's probably a certain amount of madness prevalent in those who frequent the Alt forum. I remember the posts of horror and indignation from a few Canon fanatics when I sliced my 1DS mirror back in the day so that I could try mounting a few alt lenses. My surgical skills weren't very good ... but I found out that the Leica 180/2 produced some great images on the 1DS.
Lotusm50 wrote:
If one is truly intelligent, one must be.
That's good. But are people also happy?
A not very intelligent, not very verbal, typical mediocre sort of human (and a good friend of mine) once said he was happy not to be too smart. "Clever people never seem to be really happy".
Since when does happiness have anything to do with the question?
But now that you mention it, I know that a Phase One P65+ digital back exists and am unhappy that I don't own one. I would indeed be happier if I were ignorant. However, this has nothing to do with tolerance or humanism.
I feel underqualified to comment on the intelligence herein, but I will say that I enjoy this forum because there's a wealth of experience and information that people are willing to share, and they do so visually with examples of their work. That's a boon for those of us, like myself, who are only literate enough to recognize gear manufacturers' names, focal lengths, and maximum apertures.
Anyway, Dan, when the willfully ignorant of the world get you down, I suggest you remember this famous Aussie prayer that I've always found comforting. "This here's the wattle, the emblem of our land. You can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand. Amen."
While looking at various forums, both in native language and english, the one forum that is opened every day is the alt forum here. Even now that my lens lineup is stable and money for the hobby is pretty much 0, I still enjoy reading here the various threads and try to help, even if I sometimes have the feeling others do it better than me. One thing that strikes me is the fact that there is a lot of respect to others opinion on this forum, so discussions and differences in opinion are expressed in a polite and civilized way and there is a real will to try and understand the other, something I have missed on other forums.
Hm, I should start being a little more inteligent and write smaller posts
