[Leica] Killing two myths in one post!

[imx <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

The filter myth.
degradation by a filter: good quality--> 2%, not good quality-->10%.
degradation by handholding below 1/125: 50%
degradation by (slight) defocus: 30 - 80%


The serial number myth. (read it all in my book!)
The dates that are given in ALL lists of batches of serial numbers  per year
are dates that numbers are allocated! Actual production may be off by three
years, not as an exception but quite often. Lately a leica user from
Argentine emailed me with a question: he had one of the really earliest
Summicrons from 1954 and wondered why the serail number list gave 1951 as a
date. 
Simply because the correlation between allocation dates and production dates
is not a tightly coupled one. And in fact it is not an important topic.
Within the Leica community the difference between date of serail number
allocation, date of production and date of sales have been mixed up to
become an intangible cluster. Maybe the classical Alexander of Macedonia may
slize this Gordian knot.

May we all follow Ted's prime directive:
To take a split second picture with a Leica camera is worth a hundred hours
of talking about Leicas
Or Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #131: to make a profit with a Leica camera
has precedence above all other topics relating to Leica products
FRoA #132: talking about Leicas without generating a bar of latinum is a
waste of time.


Erwin