Last Dispatch from Paris

["David W. Almy" <DAlmy@compuserve.com>]

All,

Have spent the week playing at the Paris Air Show, camera spotting, and
today, camera browsing in town, and thought I'd report in. I'll save the
best for last.

Over five days, the leading professional camera in attendance at the Air
Show was Nikon, followed by Canon. Saw three Leica Rs, a few Contax
rangefinders (new) and a couple of Contax SLRs. The most interesting Show=

sighting was the Nikon Digital camera, of which I saw two - massive thing=
s
for which I do not yet have the stomach, although they produce good image=
s
if you're just shooting for reproduction. I did not have press credential=
s,
so did not get into the official photogs bullpen. Maybe next time. Probab=
ly
the most interesting thing I did see was more third world military unifor=
ms
than I knew existed, most of which were exotic, fun and seemingly right o=
ut
of Casablanca. =


Now the good stuff. Per the suggestion of a fellow Lugnut, we took severa=
l
metro (subway) trains to Le Maison du Leica. If you can believe it, this =
is
a store (on Boulevard Beaumarchais) WHICH ONLY CARRIES LEICA PRODUCTS!!
Every city should have one. Highlights: the store had four R8s in stock (=
my
first sighting -- it's BIG!), three of which had serial numbers 2298XXX.
The fourth had the serial number 2412XXX!! Tell me what_that_means, you
serial-number-watchers. Posted price for the R8 was 17,990 French Francs,=

about $3,100. Also on display was a R 100 2.8 APO for 17,980 ff, the 70-1=
80
2.8 APO for 37,890 ff, about $6,500 and R7s, in black or chrome for 16,15=
0
ff, about $2,755. They also had 6.2s in stock and more lenses than I've
ever seen in one store. Quite something.

Now, in the window sat an M6J w/50 2.8, which looked really fantastic, fo=
r
I think about $9,000. They also had an Anton Bruckner (sp?) M6 with 35 1.=
4
ASPH, a "normal" black M6 with 35 Summicron, and an M6 Titanium. Not many=

new lenses though, at least that I saw. No 35 2.0 ASPH, which would have
been cool. A substantial bunch of used equipment, which interests me litt=
le
(sorry). Busy store, too many people to talk to the guys behind the
counter, who spoke English BTW, but well worth the trip to go see
everything.

My wife and I have coined a new oxymoron (to go along with military
intelligence, civil servant, etc.) -- "French Health Concerns" -- as the
French chain smoke, eat huge amounts of cheese, butter, pastries and wors=
e,
and drink like fish. They do seem to have fun, though, and you have to
admit, they do things with panache.

Reporting from Paris (for the last time), =


David W. Almy
Annapolis, Maryland =