[Leica] So beautiful that.....

[Jim at hemenway.com (Jim Hemenway)]

Douglas:

Both of my R8s are so beautiful that no artist could ever have made them 
more so... and no poet could have given greater praise.

The black R8 is "Deidre" and the chrome is "Bridget".

I don't take them to bed though... well, not yet.

:-)

When will this thread end?     Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha

Jim - http://www.hemenway.com




Douglas M. Sharp wrote:
> Greg,
> I agree with you on the feel of the R8/9, I found that my fingers just 
> fall into place to turn twist or press whatever they should,
> BUT  , after using  Leicas from IIIG through M2, M6 , all the SLs and 
> all the Rs except the R4, for ME  it is the ugliest brute of a camera 
> I've ever laid eyes on.
> The SLs looked and felt as like really  serious bits of engineering, The 
> R3 was ok and the rest of the Rs were light, compact, quite 
> ergonomically built and a dream to use whilst retaining  the combination 
> of precise workmanship, stability and all the other factors contributing 
> to what the Germans call "Wertigkeit"
> 
> If you look at the basic shape of the R8 it seems to be a retro-design 
> harking back to the body shape of the Exaktas, and when you put the 
> motor-drive
> on it's shaped like an army water canteen. (I think the people from 
> Leicas binocular design group must have been  in on the design process 
> too.)
> A camera doesn't  NEED to be the size of the R8,  with the advances in 
> micromotors and micro-electronics available at the time Leica could have 
> reduced its size and weight by a third without any loss of  stability or 
> function. Contax started going in the right direction with the 137MD - 
> compact, motorised and  running
> on AA batteries, but unfortunately didn't follow up on this design trend.
> I was on a tour of the factory in Solms a couple of years ago, just 
> after the R8 came out. From what the users had to say about its bugs 
> Leica should
> have waited a bit longer before releasing it :  flash 
> problems,electronics, scratched films, a weak tripod bush and various 
> other teething troubles. To me it was a confession on the part of the 
> constructors that the R9 was released,considering a typical Leica 
> timeframe, such a relatively short time after the R8.
> 
> Don't  get me wrong, I love my Leicas and wouldn't do without them, I 
> only wish they could have packed the new stuff into an R7 body.
> 
> My real complaint about Leica is that for pretty basic repairs,CLA or 
> whatever you pay nearly the price of a mid-range SLR of any other marque 
> you'd
> like to name. (example : general service and adjustments plus a little 
> bit of electronics on an R4mot electronic would have cost me over 600 
> euros,
> 100 euros more than the price I had intended to pay for it s/h)
> 
> Douglas
> 
> BTW to those of us out there who took the plunge and bought the R8 or 9 
> -- what real advantages did you get from it ? how often do you use its
> extra functions ? do you feel that it's helping you to record better 
> images ?
> 
> GREG LORENZO schrieb:
> 
>> I don't know any R8 users who don't like the feel, layout and features 
>> of the R8. I believe some people on the list who purchased an early R8 
>> had some electronic gremlins which Leica seems to have dealt 
>> effectively with. (I've never had a single problem with mine.)
>>