[Leica] re: other than Leicas

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

Gads, so much discussion of the Contax G, Konica Hexar RF, Voigtlander 
Bessa-L and the Yasuhara rangefinder cameras. 

- - Voigtlander Bessa-L
It may well be a sibling of the Nikon/Olympus/Yashica SLR body, but it 
should be noted that it's a more expensive body than any of them, even 
minus the reflex viewfinder system, and is not plastic. It's aluminum, 
nicely finished, and has a very accurate shutter and TTL meter. In 
essence, it's a modern Leica I series camera. It doesn't quite have the 
kind of feel that a Leica M does, but it works well for its intended 
purpose. I took some pictures with one using the Skopar 25 and Heliar 15 
lenses: they're both quite good, particularly for the money, and make a 
good complement to this body. 

- - Konica Hexar RF
There are things to like and things to dislike. It's too early to say how 
good or bad this camera is in my opinion. Let them get here, use one for 
a while, then make a decision. There are reasons to own one, most likely, 
and other reasons not to. 

Same goes for the Yasuhara. A modestly priced, LTM rangefinder with good 
value for money. What's wrong with that?

- - Contax G
I owned a G2 with 16, 28, 45 and 90mm lenses for a year and a half. In 
that time, I never once got anything but a beautifully exposed, perfectly 
focused picture with it. The price point is very reasonable compared to 
Leica prices and it's a well made camera with lots of excellent features. 

So why did I sell it and return to a Leica M6? 

Because I found that the Leica suits *me* better than the Contax. I am 
very particular about how a camera works ... it has to fit my notion of 
the right way to use it as well as do its job to best advantage. I'm much 
more comfortable with a manual camera where I make settings that don't 
change than I am with an automatic camera, it suits how I work better. 
All of the features on the G2 were quite nice, well integrated, sensibly 
designed, but taken together the camera didn't handle the way I wanted a 
camera to. The price had little to do with it, far as I'm concerned.

Whether the Contax G system has taken away Leica sales I cannot say .. 
for those who want automation features, who work well with it, it's a 
fine camera indeed. However, most of the Contax Gs I see for sale are 
traded in on MF equipment or Leica RF equipment, so I suspect the flow of 
users is in the other direction.

Godfrey