Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/02/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hello Luggers I have been back from Bangkok for a few days - didn't make it to Laos (although wife Esther did with my Contax T3) as my first night in Bangkok I came down with Thai Tummy and three days later was at the BumRunGrad Hospital on Ciprobay plus Electrolytes plus Buscopan plus charcoal pills. By Friday I was more or less stabilized but not fit for the eight hour bus trip to Vientiane from Bangkok so I came home and Esther went off into the wilds. She will be home to Hong Kong on Saturday (today). I only shot three rolls of film in Bangkok and don't have much except "happy snaps" to show for it. I took the Hexar RF with the 3E and my M6HM TTL with the 90 Summicron. On the first day out we went to the Sunday market and I had the M6 on the floor of the taxi and the jarring was enough to put out the horizontal aspect of the rangefinder. I took the camera yesterday into Schmidt and they promised me an estimate in 2 to 3 weeks - minimum HK$250. Compare that with Konica where I have had the viewfinder of the RF adjusted, three times, I think, while I wait and at no charge. Have bought some more Canon equipment, an EOS3 with an ECb rangefinder focusing screen (so I can focus Leica R lenses on the rangefinder spot) an EF 28 - 135 IS zoom and I replaced my 420EX flash with the 550 EX (now that it is in stock again). Using the EOS3 with the Canon lenses really shows up how crappy the auto focus of the D60 really is! No wonder they have already discontinued it. Hopefully the replacement will be based on the EOS3 focus module and not be any more expensive than the D60. What Leica really needs to do to get into digital quickly without a decade of R&D is to take over the D60 from Canon, replace the matt focusing screen with a rangefinder one, and go on from there using aperture preferred / stop down metering. Focus confirmation would also be a nice addition. Oh yes, about what Leica R lenses will fit on the EOS3. I can confirm that the 19 Elmarit R will not fit. I put it, via the R - EOS adapter, on the EOS3 with the shutter on bulb and the mirror fouls the lens cowling as it tries to return causing the "bc error" signal to appear. However, the good news is that the latest Leica 50 Summilux R does work on the EOS 3 without fouling the mirror and so I have added a very useful lens to my EOS - R use list. As reported previously both the 19 Elmarit R and the 50 Summilux R work nicely on the D60 (due to its smaller mirror) except for the uncertainty of checking focus in the laser matt focusing screen. A pity it can't be replaced with a rangefinder screen like can be done on the EOS3. Nice to be back Howard Cummer Hong Kong. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html