OK,

We have the finest, most rigid light boxes, and the finest glass. But, for you DIY'ers, how 'bout your enlarger lens? For you slide shooters, your projector lens? What about the local lab? Would you use a Fuji lens on your M? (don't flame me, I know they don't exist). I'm referring to Frontier digital (another issue) prints. How about the capabilities of your film.

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), February 22, 2002

Answers

For me, the weakest link is often me. Poor technique is poor technique, regardless of camera and lens used. BTW, I've found the scans from the Frontier to be quite good and I see the difference between scans of Leica chromes and scans of chromes made with Nikkor lenses.

For large prints of slides made using Leica glass, Kodachrome 64, and exemplary technique, the Frontier is the weak link and it's time for a drum scan. For projection I use an old RT-300 with Colorplan lens.

-- Douglas Herr (telyt@earthlink.net), February 22, 2002.

Having nice cameras with real nice glass which I usually fill with slide film, I found the weakest link not the lens of my cheap Rollei projector, but in the wall I use as a projection screen. Another weak link are my slide frames - I don't like glass frames; moreover glass frames are quite expensive if you shoot a lot (and I pay $3 for a developed slide film which makes me paying about two times the price only for frames).

As for prints the weakest link here is processing, since I don't process myself.

But the weakest link seems to be me: Mostly the choice of exposure and angle of view are the reasons why my pictures are not what I expect. All other reasons like camera shake, film choice and those mentioned above are just secondary. Even the best gear doesn't help here ... it just stresses the points you have to work on.

-- Kai Blanke (kai.blanke@iname.com), February 22, 2002.

That's a common sense thread, I like it.

Weakest point? The Fuji Lab processing a Provia Roll, the projector, a Kindermann (good but..) the loupe, Russian Horizon...

Yes, we are using the finest equipment in a real world environment.

And the weakest of the Weakest point, zis French Guy who puts his eye before the eyepiece of his R7.

Just an opinion.

-- Xavier d'Alfort (hot_billexf@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

I agree with Douglas, the weakest link is me, and that is primarily my disdain for tripod use. I keep telling myself that I don't own a leica M (which I consider to be tiny having come from an EOS 1V HS with big white lenses) to lug around a 7lbs gitzo (including ballhead)... and i am sure that this makes the biggest difference in the equation, but it sure makes taking pictures more enjoyable.

-- Matthew Geddert (geddert@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.

I have sometimes wished that Leica New Jersey offered a premium printing service. You'd be assured that prints were being made on Leica equipment. Perhaps it could be for black & white only.

-- Frank Horn (owlhoot45@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

My weakest link, besides myself at times is the projector and it's inability to find a total flat field when focusing, my wall as a screen and my inability to print onto Ilfachrome paper. Fuji Frontier is the best for dometic stuff, but nothing can do Leica lenses justice except for Ilfachrome. Too expensive and virtually non-existent now.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

Similar to others, I consider my body the weakest link in making the image that's in my head. I do my own B&W processing, and have fairly tight, standardized developing techniques. I just recently bought a new 40mm Schneider APO Componon HM enlarging lens for the 35mm stuff, and I'm very pleased with the increased sharpness - even over the older Schneider Componon lens I was using.

This was scanned from an 8x10 print and reduced in Photoshop. The original is on Ilford Delta 100, in my M6 TTL w/ 24mm Elmarit-M ASPH in an old train station in Gilroy, CA.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), February 22, 2002.

The weakest link is the photographer's ability to see a picture that is interesting in the first place.

-- Pete Su (psu_13@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.

I'm usually the weakest link. For each time the statement "this would be better if my [insert piece of equipment here] were better" is true, the statement "this would be better if I had done [whatever] differently" is true about a hundred times.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), February 23, 2002.

I agree with Pete and Mike, but assuming you have a good picture on slide, by far the weakest link is the lab, that's where your beautiful image gets scratched and ruined. However, the latest versions of vuescan are getting better and better at dealing with this, it's becoming less of a problem. The next weakest link for me is the laptop screen, which it's impossible to calibrate, and my poor ability to judge the colour balance of a scan.

If fuji made an excellent 24/1.4 I wouldn't hesitate to buy it.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), February 23, 2002.

Sarah [#3], 2/22/2002

My weakest link is my location, stuck in the California boonies with only nice weather to keep me warm. Well, there are a few other perks. Hm. "I wish they all could be California girls..."

-- Peter Hughes (ravenart@pacbell.net), February 23, 2002.