[Leica] Laugh at Leica and the world laughs with you.

["Dr James Harper" <DRJH@btinternet.com>]

 In the interests of research, I have been  trying to imagine what would be
the most inflammable on-topic message one might send to the Lug.  No
offence meant - just for a laugh  to get the last year of the Millenium
under way  with the right amount of creative irony.  The Lug is evidence
that civilisation has not yet gone away, however small it may have become.


Here is a first offering.

<Dear Luggers,

I have just found this site, and I hope you can help me with some problems.

a]  I was told that the Noctilux was the ultimate Leica lens, but I find  
mine (black version) hopeless for pictures with my Cobra flash gun.  There
is nothing wrong with the flashgun - I am sure of this because it worked
excellently on my Canon.  Has anyone else experienced  over-exposure with
this lens?  There may be a fault with the diaphragm?  Should I be using a
Leica flashgun?  Would a chrome Noctilux be as  prone to this as  a black
one?

b]  I originally wanted a Leica reflex camera like my Canons, Nikons and
Praktica (the best at F1.3 I ever had)  but people said that they were not
very sharp unless you used them on a weighted tripod.  Is this because
Leica get all their R lenses made by Japanese sub-contractors? Has anyone
managed to get sharp pictures with a Leica reflex camera?  How did you do
it?  What is the secret?  My Yashica T4 pictures look to me  as good as any
Leica reflex pictures. Someone said that its lens was made by Leica, but
that they wanted to keep quiet about it.  Has anyone done a test chart
comparison  between the T4 and  the R range?

c]  I started with an M1, but focusing problems put me off that and after
an M2,  M3,  M4 and M5, I settled on an M6 (0.72).  But I still felt that I
had wasted my money, and  tried an M6HM.  Same problem - bubbles
everywhere.  I think that a decent manufacturer would spot bubbles in the
body covering.     Some of them were even in the lenses, which is
unforgiveable, surely.

d]  The Japanese etc are obviously  about to produce cheap rangefinder
bodies for us to use Leica lenses on.   I would certainly go for a cheap
single-use body  so that I could buy more Leica  lenses.  But what are the
non-Leica lenses which Luggers would recommend to be used  in this case?
This would should surely make  Leica photography an aspiration  for
everyone.  Are Leica  sufficiently  worried about everything?  

Yours submissively, especially to the Old Codgers.

JH. >


Now come on Guys, Fellas, Chaps,  Blokes, etc., surely you can do better. 
There are some very witty, literate  and poetic people out there.

Best wishes, in anticipation.

JH