[Leica] BEST WISHES AND TWO QUESTIONS

["Brian J. Given" <bgiven@ccs.carleton.ca>]

Greetings from a new member and old Leica user!

I have enjoyed lurking for the last week and want to wish you all a very
Happy Holiday

I would also like to ask your opinions regarding the reliability of R-4S's
and the reproduction potential of the film scanners like the Nikon LS-2000

1. I have not had very good luck with new Leicas. Years ago I bought two new
M-series to add to my M-3, M-2 and M-4.   Unfortunately I bought a pair of
M4-2's which did not appear to equal my M-4 in quality of build and they
certainly were not its equal in resale value.  I seem to have made the same
mistake when I decided to trade the delights of M-series in for the
practicality (for me that is .. I'm an anthropologist and some automaticity
comes in handy!) of the R-series.  I traded for a pair of new R4-S bodies
and collection of lenses. I am very happy with the optics (including the
Minolta<G>) but have had some reliability problems with the bodies.  With
only light amateur usage I have had to send in each body because the LED
readouts went berserk - even with new batteries the LED's would show either
top shutter speed or off the bottom of the scale with no gradation in
between, rendering the body unusable.  I now am about to send in a body for
the THIRD time for repair and am becoming discouraged.  Now I have NEVER had
a Japanese camera that needed repairs and, even when I was a professional
photographer, rarely needed cameras repaired.  So this experience with the
R4-S's is very unusual for me.  A couple of dealers have told me that the
R-4's have had electronic reliability problems but the Leica distributor
here says that this was only true for about 1000 R-4s in early production
and never for the R4-S.  I don't know whether I should get rid the R4-S's or
not.  Ironically, I bought the R4-S instead of the R4 because I figured that
a simpler camera would be more reliable.  Is the distributor correct?<G!>

2. I am looking at film scanners. I've tried the Nikon LS-2000 with some
Kodachromes I shot with M-series equipment in India but am only just
beginning to explore the limits.   I want to use this equipment for two
purposes.   (a) I want to digitize the Kodachromes before they can fade
further - i.e. I want to use CD's as a storage medium for digitized and
therefore relatively permanent images. and (b) I want to replace my darkroom
with a digital "darkroom" and make all my prints using this medium IF I can
get professional quality.  What I am not clear about is whether a 2700 dpi,
12-bit scanner like the Nikon, used with Adobe Photoshop will be good enough
quality to replace my darkroom or whether I should wait until the next
generation of scanner (perhaps 5400 dpi?) is available.  Does it make sense
to go digital?

Thanks everyone!

Brian Given