frank theriault wrote:
> [...] in very
> bright light, the led's are a bit hard to see. I actually prefer the
> match-needle of the Spotmatics in that regard. In lower light situations,
> however, the MX led's are a huge improvement over the match-needle.
Another case of "right tool for each job" and an excuse to have
multiple bodies.
No flippant "enabling"; it really is that useful if you shoot
reasonably often in both extremes. I find match-needles really
nice, very quick to read, clear in a wide range of environments,
but they are Absolutely Frustrating in uneven candlelight. (If
I fill the frame with a face, that's one thing. If I'm shooting
the _room_ and the right edge of the viewfinder is dark, that's
another.)
Of course, both my bodies that go up to 6400 on their ASA
settings use match needles, so I don't really have the perfect
tool for that job, but if I did have a body with LEDs that went
to 6400 (or faster), I'd probably wind up using it a lot in the
dark despite how much I like the KX and K2.
(The LCD on the Super Program is kind of a compromise -- it's
even harder to see in the dark than a match needle, but I do
have the option of draining the battery to light up the display,
and the ASA dial goes to 3200.)
What about the LX? Are there both match-needle and LED finders
available for it? How about the 67II? (I should just go look
at Boz' site, but it's not terribly urgent since I'm not
shopping for a body right now, and I've already got a lot of
browser windows open.)
The pre-Spotmatic bodies I use either for the sheer pleasure of
them[*] or because I need one more body at a particular moment (or
because I don't really _need_ one more body but it's just a
little more convenient and I'd already brought those along as
backups anyhow so I might as well). The other bodies I've got
each have their particular strengths: match-needle, LED,
aperture-priority, manual control, shutter-priority, program,
DOF preview, MLU, controls easy to operate while wearing gloves,
TTL flash, faster ASA settings, slightly less conspicuous black
paint ... it's nice to be able to pick the one that's going to
be easiest to use in a given situation. If I ever get (or
build) a proper flash handle and order some flashbulbs, the mere
presence of an FP socket will make some cameras the right tools
for some situations.[**]
(Of course, I often use a camera that's not the "perfect tool"
because it's the one I happen to have with me, or because I'm
using two or three bodies and only one of them is exactly right.
The general idea still stands even if real life doesn't _quite_
get there. It's still nice to be able to say, "Hey, _that_
camera solves this problem...")
-- Glenn
[*] There's a lot that they're good for where their lack of
modern features isn't a problem -- such as shooting with
an auto-mode flash for example -- but for most situations
a more modern body (Spotmatic or anything K-mount with a manual
mode (now that I've got a screw-to-K adaptor)) works just as well,
since I can just ignore the features I don't need at the moment.
Nonetheless, the sheer aesthetic pleasure, and a little ergonomic
benefit, from the way they fit my hands and how nice they feel
to operate make them quite a bit more than "oh I guess I can get
away with using this old thing" tools.
[**] Oooh, I want high-speed flash sync for daylight fill, really
I do. And if looking cool and old-timey happens as a side
effect, well that's not a problem.
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