Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/31

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Subject: Re: Leica M6 versus Medium Format
From: "C.M. Fortunko" <fortunko@boulder.nist.gov>
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 17:49:33 -0700

David,

Rest assured that you will not be "lynched" on this forum.

The Mamyia7 is a very fine camera. In some ways, it is a "big" Leica.
However, it suffers from obvious physical limitations. Its normal lens is
the 80mm lens with a 4.0 aperture. Therefore, it has all of the
depth-of-field and speed limitations of a Leica lens of similar focal
length. The Mamyia is also bigger and uses more expensive film. 

Yes, the Mamyia 7 has a place in this world, but it is not a Leica. Please
read some of the pre-war Leica manuals. What has changed. Probably not much,
except that we have more sensitive materials, which also exhibit superior
definition and contrast.

To be honest, I prefer the Mamyia 7 to the Pentax 67. It is lighter and more
handy to use. I don't know how the Pentax lenses compare with Mamyia's, but
they are probably both very good.

Personally, I will not probably own a medium-format camera. If I have to go
to a bigger format, it will probably be a 4-by-5 or 8-by-10. This will
probably not occur any time soon. I am still learning how to use my Leicas.

Best regards,


Chris


At 10:58 PM 10/31/96 GMT, you wrote:
>>      As you can see I would like to use the lighter weight Leica system 
>> and      still achieve sharp gallery quality B&W prints close to what I 
>> get      with the Pentax 67 system.  I would be very appreciative if 
>> you would      offer your thoughts to my questions.           Best 
>> regards,
>
>At the risk of being lynched by the LUG, I would have thought that the
Mamiya 7 system was 
>*designed* for you.
>
>Light weight, rangefinder, excellent lenses, and 6x7 format negs.
>
>David Morton                 | "The reason that Korean companies are
>Technical Director           | investing here is that wages in large
>Speed Publications Ltd.      | parts of the UK have fallen well below
>dmorton@journalist.co.uk     | Korea. Following years of economic
>104707.2434@compuserve.com   | failure, we can also boast a cowed and
>Kilburn, London, England.    | pliant workforce." (Simon Hoggart)
>
>
>