Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/22

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To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: The Leica Forte
From: "Charles E. Love, Jr." <cel14@cornell.edu>
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 01:47:50 -0400 (EDT)

At 04:58 PM 7/22/96 -0400, you wrote:

>If quality is going to be characteristic of Leicas,
>there's little reason to augment the M line. No one competes with Leica for
>the fastest of all 50mm lenses. [Unfortunately, I could never afford one.]  
>

Sorry, but I just cannot resist.  Canon makes a 50 mm. f1.0 SLR lens today.
I've never seen a test comparing it with the Noctilux, but its price is
comparable.


>The SLR version of the Leica M series is the Nikon FM. A Leica similar to the
>FM should have been the foundation model for Leica's reflex line. Now Nikon
>has perfected the manual FM to the point where it has no competitors of equal
>stature.  
>

Well, I've used a Nikon FM2.  It's a nice camera but lacks a great many of
the features of the R6.  Among other things, it has no spotmeter (just the
awkward Nikon centerweighted thing), no mirror lifter, and no TTL flash.  I
guess I'd argue that the R6 is of much more than equal "stature" with the
FM--though not much greater in size!   I don't know if you've used an R6 but
my guess is that it would appeal to you greatly.

>
>As for Leica point and shoot cameras, I still can't figure that out beyond
>the obvious exploitation of Leica name prestige for the consumers market.

Right, and (except for the Minilux) it's too bad.  But it may be financially
necessary.

>Bob   
>
Charles E. Love, Jr.
517 Warren Place
Ithaca, New York
14850
607-272-7338
CEL14@CORNELL.EDU


Replies: Reply from ms fokkema <michiel.fokkema@tip.nl> (Re: The Leica Forte)