Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The Contax 645 came to Portland Oregon and I went downtown to check it out. A beautiful camera with impressive mirror dampening and autofocus backed up by a full set Leitz made in Japan Optics which I'm sure would be hard to beat except: they looked like cheap Vivitar Lenses of the '70s. This made the price feel to be a decimal point on the high side. I had gotten the impression that they might be priced 1/3 to 1/2 comparable Hasselblad or Rollei/Zeiss but the rep read me off a list which sounded like the same. All the same they would have to be in the hundreds not thousands of dollars as no matter how pristine the glass if the whole package looks like junk I don't want any part if it. It is inexcusable. Am I a vain guy? A bummer experience, I'm ready to check out a comparable Pentex or the Fuji Texas autofocus Leica. I think autofocus is perfect for MF film and could get me shooting more of it. Especially 645 (vest pocket size). Mark Rabiner