[Leica] Leica Lenses on Canon DSLRS

[cummer at netvigator.com (Howard Cummer)]

On Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004, at 11:55 Asia/Hong_Kong, 
lug-request@leica-users.org wrote:

> From: Nathan Wajsman <n.wajsman@chello.nl>
> Subject: [Leica] Leica lenses on Canon DSLRs
> This weekend I had the opportunity to try out someone's Canon digital
> Rebel (300) and I must say that it was not an unpleasant experience. 
> The
> things that I dislike about the Digilux 2 and other P&S
> digicams--electronic viewfinder or poor optical one, shutter lag, 
> clunky
> manual operation--were largely absent here.
> Now, I know that Tina uses her Leica R lenses on a digital Canon body,
> and I suspect there are others here who do likewise. I would like to
> hear how well this works, in particular, how much the stop-down 
> metering
> detracts from the whole experience (the loss of other auto functions
> would not bother me). Is this a realistic option, or something just for
> those who find the Visoflex handy?
> Nathan

Hi Nathan,
First, I enjoy your pictures and the commentary about them on the LUG 
very much. Please keep it up.
Second, watch out!! The ability to see a picture as soon as it is 
taken, and to keep or reject it, and the ability to switch white 
balance without filters or changing film and to change film speed with 
the touch of a button and the twist of a dial - these digital 
advantages are addictive!! Watch out!!
I have been using R lenses on the following Canon digital bodies, a 
D60, a 10D, a Rebel (300D) and most recently a D1 MKII. Except for the 
D1, focusing can be a problem, because the focusing screens in all the 
other cameras are not interchangeable and the auto focus screens are 
not very good for critical focus if your eyes are not 100%. Stop down 
metering works quite well on most of the bodies (except you have the 
least control with the Rebel) but at the end of the day I wonder if 
Leica glass produces an image that is really "better" than Canon glass 
where you have the advantages of auto focusing and exposure. Of course 
Leica colour rendition and bokah can be seen and appreciated. So, I 
think you have to experiment a bit and see what pleases you. if you 
haven't already done so, you should check out Andrew Nemeth's site 
where there is a lot of good info on using Leica R lenses on Canon 
bodies.
http://www.nemeng.com/leica/002f.shtml

Cheers
Howard