Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/09/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 05:22 PM 9/28/96 -0400, you wrote: >"traditional" SLR but at a fraction of the price of the Leica. I just get >the feeling that Leica is having problems marketing the R series of cameras, >and is constantly tweeking the camera, hoping for a winner. You could only be getting that feeling from people who have an interest in promoting that position. The R system sells very well, is a good part of the Leica system. They wouldn't be producing such awesome lenses for it if it werent' selling. In fact, Leica is one of the few camearas that hasn't had a reduction in units sold over past years. The R7 was a significant improvement over the R5. It's digital (electronics as well as the display). The film advance, according to Don Goldberg of DAG fame, is the first Leica SLR since the SL2 to be built to professional standards. It also has better features in the flash area. The mirror mechanism is smoother and results in visibly sharper pictures at slow shutter speeds. I'm not knocking the R5, it's just the R7 is that much better. A man on Compuserve did a report on the R8. In fact, Bob Shell did too. The imipression by both of them is that the R8 is fantastic. It's much bigger, but it fits the hand very nicely. It has auto rewind, auto load, flash metering with studio flash units (i.e. flash meter built in). The motor is integrated into the body like the EOS1n's Power Booster. Lots of other goodies. You can get a brochure from Leica on it. I'm going to look more seriously into this. =========== Eric Welch Grants Pass, OR