Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/11/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Friends, first, many thanks to those who helped with suggestions for our visit to Sydney. My wife Pat and I were in Sydney from 15 to 20 October. We were struck by how warm and friendly Australians are, even in a big city like Sydney. My own schedule was a little tight as I had to juggle between a conference and holidaying, but we really did enjoy ourselves. To keep things on topic, I will describe how things went with my Leicas :-) I carried 2 bodies, M6 and M3, along with a 35 Summilux (pre-ASPH), 50 Summicron DR, 90 Summicron and a Russar 20/5.6 (sob...can't afford a 21 Elmarit ASPH). Walking around with the camera round my neck seemed pretty safe and I didn't feel that someone was likely to snatch the camera. (That said, my colleague had her bag and wallet stolen in a restaurant). I only managed to take 2 rolls of Ektachrome 100, 2 rolls of Kodachrome 64 and only 1 roll of Delta 100. The Ektachrome turned out quite nicely while the Kodachrome is still being processed (mailed to the Kodachrome lab in NSW!). The Delta 100 has been processed and awaits printing. I found that I used the 35 and 50 most of the time, the 90 on 2 occasions while visiting the Blue Mountains and the Russar once when we were having lunch at the Summit revolving restaurant. One problem I had was that after spending a really windy afternoon walking about in town, I returned to the hotel room and was curious to find that there were black spots between the elements of the 35 Summilux. I hadn't done anything to the lens and it had been on the M6 body all afternoon. It was, however, subjected to really gusty winds. The spots looked like paint flecks and there was one particular fleck that was sitting on the edge of one of the aperture blades. Needless to say, I have sent it for CLA, in case the spots damage the optical coating. The other lenses were okay. We enjoyed a cruise on the Bounty which was a ship built like the original Bounty on which the famous mutiny occurred. We managed to see the Blue Mountains and some kangaroos up close at the National Park which was a first for us! Unfortunately we did not get to see events of the Paralympics which opened while we were there. There were lots of tourists and visitors in Sydney and many were toting SLRs and compacts. The only other person I clearly saw using an M was rather hurried gentleman with an M4+meter+collapsible 90 Elmar. Didn't get to ask him anything before he rushed down the street, though, I suppose trying to catch the decisive moment. Our holiday was rather more laid back I'm glad to report. One thing we Singaporeans enjoy is good eating, and we found plenty of that in Sydney too. Our most memorable meal was when we were invited to lunch at a restaurant called Tetsuya's, where the celebrity chef prepares a really imaginative and excellent menu of Japanese-Australian fusion cuisine. We had to rely on a taxi to get us to the restaurant. When we got there, we thought we got the address wrong as the shop was all shuttered up and there was no sign of business activity at all! We knocked on the side door and we were admitted into the place after we made our reservations known. Apparently reservations need to be made a month in advance! During one of the lectures, I ventured to take a photograph of the lecturer using the 35 Summilux wide open and hand-held at 1/8 bracing myself against a seat-back. Flare-city!! Now I'm hankering for one of the ASPH jobs.... Nevertheless, the 35 Summilux which I use is a second version lens which already somewhat better that the chrome first version wide-open. When closed to f2 it is very usable and gives excellent results at f2.8. It's really compact even compared to the 35/2 and definitely slimmer that the 35/2 ASPH. I feel a little nervous using it without a filter when conditions are bad, but otherwise, it goes everywhere with me, even to Australia. Terence Tan Singapore