[Leica] New Cosina Lenses and more 39mm screwmount Leica stuff (LONG) - PART 2

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

 I asked Mr. Kobayashi what his target market was and he admitted that it was 
both the Cosina Camera and also the Leica market. There is a resurgence in 
interest in the screwmount cameras in Japan, mainly because the M-cameras 
have become too expensive, while the older 3F's and 3C's are reasonably 
priced, and, lets not forget that both the Canon Rangefinder and the 
Nicca/Leotax cameras used 39mm thread and these are quite plentiful in Japan. 
Historically Japan has always produced a multitude of 39mm screwmount lenses 
and I always wonder what would have happened if the original Nikon 
rangefinder had been a screwmount camera (there exists several prototypes of 
the Nikon1 in screwmount). Cosina, Ricoh, Konica, Minolta and Kobalux are 
just doing what Canon and Nikon did in the 50's, provide a variety of lenses 
for a common lensmount.
 The name Voigtlander belonged to Ring-Foto in Germany (a large chain of 
camerastores) and Cosina has a 30 year long relationship with this chain, so 
the Voigtlander name was not that far out as a choice. It is also a name that 
carries a certain cache in optical circles. The Heliar, Skopar, APO-Lanthar 
and Ultron were always associated with quality optics. I asked why the 
Color-Heliar did not come out as an Apochromatic lens with the APO-Lanthar 
label, Mr. Kobayashi said that he is saving this name for something special! 
 We were also shown some smaller accessories that probably will appear later 
this year and I can't wait for one of them. Sorry, can't tell you what it is, 
sworn to secrecy and all that, but it is cute!
 My testing of the 50 and the 75 so far has only stretched to a couple of 
rolls of Astia in Tokyo, but I did shoot 20 rolls of Tri-X and the same 
amount of Neopan Presto 100 while there and this film is currently awaiting 
processing. I will post my impressions on the LUG as soon as I have done 
that. I have also made a 50/1,5 Nokton available to our own Erwin Puts for 
testing and he should have it in a couple of days, so he can give us the 
technical end of the performance.
 If you think that the meeting with Mr. Kobayashi was a stiff, formal 
meeting, think again! We all used blackboards, papers on the table, napkins 
trying out ideas, there was a lot of "What if" going on and the meeting went 
on for 6 hours! 
 For those of you who wonder, I did pay for the lenses fair and square and I 
would not have liked it any other way either. I did get a pricebreak, but 
they were no "freebies" and it takes more than ice-coffee to buy my opinion. 
It is true that I like what I have used of Cosina's products so far and I 
don't think that either the 50 or the 75 will disappoint me and the 
availability of reasonably priced quality screw to bayonet adapters and 
bright line finders certainly has not done so either. For those of you 
forever hunting the obscure, a small volume of 75/2,5 were mis-engraved with 
the close focus marked 5,3 feet rather than 3,5 feet and although most were 
recalled some had already been shipped. Good hunting! Another piece of Cosina 
trivia is that the 15/4,5 Heliar and the 35/1,7 Ultron were designed by the 
same designer and the 25/4, the50/1,5 and the75/2,5 came from another Cosina 
lensdesigner (do we see a 100/2,5 in the future for symmetry?).
 I also had the opportunity to spend several evenings with Ricoh's Chief 
Lensdesigner; Noriya Tanimoto and we talked about the 28 Asph and the 21 
Asph. Both lenses are out of production and were only made in volumes of 2000 
and 3000 respectively. There are still available in some stores in Tokyo, but 
the black version is scarce and brings a premium price now. There is 
obviously a chance that Ricoh will start developing a rangefinder camera too 
and also a 35/2 lens and maybe something longer!
 The elusive Konica Hexar-M is still around but no one admits to having seen 
the latest version, the bet is that it will be released at PMA in 2000 with 
four lenses.
 I did handle the Leica "countermove" to all this screw mount stuff, the 
50/1,4, the 50/2 and the 35/2 Asph in screwmount and chrome finish. This is a 
special order done for Lemon Camera CO in Tokyo and available from them. Not 
cheap mind you, the 50/1,4 is Yen 200,000 (about US$ 1900), the 50/2 Yen 
120,000 (US$ 1150) and the 35/2 Asph Yen 175,000 (US$ 1660). Lemon CO does 
not normally ship Leica Products overseas, but as these lenses are a special 
order item they are an exception to the rule. Lemon also stocks the full 
Cosina line of products and you can now use their web page for further 
information http://www.lemon-co.co.jp. The website should be up and running 
this week according to the people I talked to there.
 It is interesting to see the new vigour in the design and production of 
small, high quality rangefinders in Japan. There seems to be a niche 
developing between the current P/S cameras and the ever more complicated and 
heavy SLR's and there seems to be enough enthusiasts around to support this 
market. It of course bodes well for Leica, whatever new rangefinder that is 
coming out, it will not be a Leica and soon the users will gravitate towards 
the best one of them all, but also be able to do this without paying a 
penalty in the form of non-compatible lens-mounts or obsolete lenses. All of 
which will ultimately benefit Leica. 
 So I have the 75/2,5, but that does not mean I am selling my 75/1,4, there 
are situations that only that lens can handle, but I also thought about 
hauling that lens around in Tokyo in 33+C/85% humidity and I was ever so 
grateful for the 230 grams weight of the 75/2,5.
Slightly jetlagged still,
Tom A

Tom Abrahamsson
www.rapidwinder.com