Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Folks, Let me tell you it was fantastic! Being next to the ocean, fresh seafood, great weather, quality gear & GREAT people. Fellow LUGnuts, who were there, it was great to meet you. And then of course learning from Ted Grant ;-) ! Finally got to compare the R-80 f1.4 & R- 90 f2 ( Much thanks to John Coleman; fellow LUGnut ) who loaned me his R-80 f1.4. The R-80 f1.4 was much more to my liking; ordered one this week. I also purchased a R-35 f2 while I was there & really love the slides from this lens. Ernst Hartmann ( Leica USA ) replaced my R8 split image screens with the new plain ground glass screens; what a difference! A far cleaner view for composition & it seems, to me, a much brighter view! I shot some images( with the R-80 f1.4 ) of a lady, from the hotel, in indirect light at f1.4 & f2 ( vertical format ) The way her eyes snapped in/out of focus was great; viewfinder brightness was awesome! The slides were beautiful; color & sharpness were great. There seems to be a special glow with this lens that I haven't seen before; I'm looking forward to better understanding it's ( R-80 f1.4 ) unique qualities! All in all, a magical time for my wife & I in Kennebunkport! Thomas Donovan