On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 07:06:57 +0100, Jens Bladt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<snip>
> I guess Leica users do this to minimize the risk of getting the camera
> stolen.
We had a minor flame war about this several months ago, IIRC, but:
I think the whole "tape up your camera (particularly, but not always
Leica)" thing started a way back before they made black cameras, back
when all Leicas were silver. Guys like HCB (he may not have been the
first, but certainly was into this early on) wanted to look
inconspicuous, so they taped over the silver with black tape, so the
cameras wouldn't be so easily noticed as he moved in and out of
crowds, all the while taking photos.
In the process of taping over the silver portions of the camera, the
logo, naturally, was covered, too.
Even after Leica started making black cameras, some still preferred to
cover the logo, as the brightest thing of the front of the camera.
I've seen several photos of HCB with a black M3 with logo taped over.
I think that's how it got started.
I'm guessing that now people do it for all sorts of reasons, from a
desire to be stealthy, to a "no-logo" anti-corportate sentiment, to
simply being pretentious ("see me? I'm like HCB!").
cheers,
frank
--
"Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
