Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dear Luggers, As Tom says, "this is fun." It is clear that some of us are name and equipment obsessed and certainly that is okay - but I hope we will keep our sense of humor and be polite with each other. Those of us who have been on the LUG for some time know about Marc's opinion of Cosina's use of the Voiglander name and that is just fine but Marc, the repetition does get - well you know what I mean. :) :) (note smileys). Cosina bought the rights to the name legally, I presume, fair and square, and have used it to rebrand their LTM cameras. More power to them. We Who Know are not deceived and for myself, I don't really care, I am more interested in the equipment and how it performs. Through friend Joseph and the camera stores in Hong Kong I have had a complete inventory of VC equipment and frankly some of it I like and some of it I don't care for so much - preferring the Leica equivalent. But I am certainly grateful that Mr. Kobayashi has given us some choice and I am also grateful to Tom and Stephen for exposing this equipment to us in a timely fashion. I don't believe they have alterior motives and even if they did, I don't care. All of us are part photographer and part gear-head and with the CV equipment is doesn't cost an arm and a leg to experiment a bit. Examples: I bought one of the early Bessa L's and a 25 Skopar. Didn't really care for the lack of viewfinder and rangefinder and so sold the L and the Skopar - since it pretty much duplicated the focal length of my 24 Elmarit - which is a better lens but much bigger. OTH, I have kept the 15mm Heliar although I use it rarely, because it wasn't much money, compared to the rare, collectible Leica equivalent, and it doesn't take up much space in my camera bag. For the other CV lenses which I have, the 75 is a keeper - I don't have a 75 Summilux, the 35 pancake is great for compact travelling, but for the other 35 F1.7 and the 50 F1.5, I prefer my Leica glass - especially my old Summarit LTM from 1950. However, I prefer to use LTM lenses on my Bessa R, which for me is a great camera and much better than any LTM Leica body, except perhaps the G, which is too expensive as a rare collectible. Another thing about the Bessa, my particular obsession is rangefinder accuracy as Luggers know, and Joseph has showed me how to adjust the rangefinder on my Bessa (I tried three other bodies with rangefinder inaccuracies before getting to this one and learning how to adjust the finder) so I am happy with rangefinder accuracy and with the fact that I can adjust it. Some on the lug may recall that Leica finally replaced the rangefinder on my M6HM TTL when they couldn't adjust it to stay in trim - score one for Cosina. I like seeing information about Leica compatible equipment in the Viewfinder and I commend the editor for giving it to us - Viewfinder could be pretty dull without it - as there is a limit to what you can say fresh about old lenses and camera bodies which is new - if you have studied Leicas for many years as some of us have. Concerning comments about ethics, let he who is without sin cast the first stone! I have been doing business in Asia for two plus decades and friendship counts more than legality. I give my best Chinese customers Leica Miniluxes as presents, the second best ones get Nikons or Rollies (made by Samsung BTW) and those tokens "buy" me more cooperation than a 100 page legal contract! Is it ethical - I leave it to the lawyers - it gets the business done! Enough - I am going out to take pictures in the smoggy light - with my R6.2 (my Nikon F2 is better built) and a borrowed Vario Elmar zoom. May visual inspiration strike. z z z z o o o o o o o o m m m m. Howard.