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In august I asked the question whether photography as a medium is dead. With the exception of a few persons (Mike Johnston being one of them), most comments were not only negative, but, as is increasingly common these days, very rude and superficial. You get accustomed to this approach, but Mr. Pogue of NYT gave the question why people on the internet are so rude and impolite a high mark in his list of top questions that needed an answer. In the current issue of Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/73349/page/1) you will find an article that poses the same question (Is photography dead) and uses arguments that closely reflect my way of reasoning. This is not to suggest that this article borrows from my article, but the validity of the question is justified and the answer (whatever that may be) is of interest to all who have still sympathy for the art, culture and science of silver halide photography. In recent weeks we got the offer to analyze the Nikon D300 and D3, but we had to do it in a few days. Now this is impossible: cameras like these are extremely complex in functions, parameters and interrelations and you need a month or more to get a thorough understanding of the tool. This is not possible and we get the impression (sometimes confirmed in private speak) by marketing and PR managers (of all major companies) that they are not all interested in serious analysis. What these persons want to read is glowing praise and nothing else. It goes even so far that they are only interested in an article that gives high marks and a magazine that is critical will only get a test camera after all other magazines have done their thing and the consumer is already brainwashed about the plusses of a particular camera model. Of course one accepts a minor critical comment (the hand book is not informative), as this is seen as an indication of independent testing but one is not waiting for major critical comments. A magazine test is simply seen as an extension of the PR activity. Any craft or profession is dead as soon as critical and independent thinking is seen as a nuisance and the hobby of a madman.

TAO of LEICA

Analysis and Insight by Erwin Puts

Fujinon X100 versus Leica M9 test part 2 (December 5, 2011)

Fujinon X100 versus Leica M9 full test part 1(September 28, 2011)

Leica Super-Elmar-M 1:3.4/21mm ASPH full test (June 22, 2011)

Towards a modern paradigm for Leica CRF photography (March 24, 2011)

M9 colorimetry (Aug 18, 2010)

New Leica book (Aug 13, 2010)

Leica S2, part 5: conclusion(July 22, 2010)

Chromatic aberrations (July 2, 2010)

Leica S2, part 4: a comparison(june 21, 2010)

Leica S2, part 3: the lenses:litmus test(june 10, 2010)

Leica S2, part 2: the lenses: technical analysis(june 4, 2010)

Leica SX35 ASPH. FLE, part 2:improving a landmark design + ADDITION(may 27, 2010)

Leica X1:has the camera true Leica DNA?(may 23, 2010)

Leica SX35 ASPH. FLE, part 1:improving a landmark design(may 17, 2010)

Leica S2, part 1:the new paradigm for post-modern photography?(may 7, 2010)

Spur Nano Edge: the comparison with the M9, part 1 (march 29, 2010)

Leica M9 (the final frontier?) (March 7, 2010)

Leica CM (on popular demand!) (February 24, 2010)

Spur Nano Edge: a new record for resolution!(January 14, 2010)

Leica M9, part 8B1: the case of the color artifacts (December 2, 2009)

Leica M9, part 8B digital versus film: the prints (December 16, 2009)

Leica M9, part 8A digital versus film: a comparison (November 24, 2009)

Leica M digital: intermezzo 2 (November 13, 2009)

The Leica M9: part 7: colour and noise (revisited) (November 7, 2009)

The Leica M9: part 6: intermezzo (October 19, 2009)

The Leica M9: part 5: M8/9 noise and dynamic range (October 14, 2009)

The Leica M9: part 4: more on M8 and M9 and shading (October 5, 2009)

The Leica M9: part 3: more on M8 and M9 and D3X (October 2, 2009)

The Leica M9: performance and comparison D3x ADDED: explanation how to read the graphs (September 26, 2009)

The Leica M9: the digital CRF matures (September 9, 2009)

The Leica S2: its significance (August 9, 2009)

What can we see in print: the true litmus test for digital and AgX (July 10, 2009, updated July 14!)

Moersch Chemie Tanol Speed:more on pyro developers (June 16, 2009)

Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH.: the report part 2 (June 7, 2009)

Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH.: the report part 1 (May 18, 2009)

Is there a future for the Leica MF CRF (May 4, 2009)

Prescysol EF and Spur HRX-3 (April 30, 2009)

Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH.: the report part 2 (April 27, 2009)

The myth of the glass laboratory (April 7, 2009)

SPUR DSX32/62 film/developer (April 4, 2009)

Obituary: Leica R9 (March 5, 2009)

Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH.: the report part 1 (February 19, 2009)

Leica SX21mm and SX24mm: the report part 2 (January 25, 2009)

BIOS report as PDF file (January 13, 2009)

Leica SX21mm and SX24mm: the report part 1 (January 9, 2009)

Leica Elmar- M 3.8/24mm ASPH: the report part 2 (December 18, 2008)

Leica Elmar- M 3.8/24mm ASPH: the report part 1 (October 27, 2008)

Rollei Film Developer RLS and Delta100 and Tmax100 (October 20, 2008)

Leica M lenses: a first analysis (October 9, 2008)

Leica M8(2) versus Nikon D3: an appraisal (October 3, 2008)

Leica M8 versus M8.2 (October 4, 2008)

New Leica M8.2 and more lenses (September 15, 2008)

Zeiss C-Biogon T* 2.8/35 ZM compared to Summarit-M 2.5/35 (August 9, 2008)

Burden of history (July 22, 2008)

Digital machinery and photographic image (June 25, 2008)

The continuing saga of low speed films: new developers for Rollei ATP 1.1 (May 8, 2008)

The case for simplicity (May 4, 2008).

Vibration Reduction technology compared (April 2, 2008)

Occam's razor and T.rex (March 3, 2008)

The question no one dares to pose (February 27, 2008)

Leica Angst (February 23, 2008)

Is the question "is photography dead?" a boring question? (december 25, 2007)

Is photography dead? (december 6, 2007)

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