Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/11/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Bob, I disagree with your rating of the Minox 35 and the Olympus XA. > The Minox GT and Olympus XA are with me when I'm not doing photography > exclusively. Both these models turn in excellent negatives when used with > imagination and skill. The Minox has a 35mm lens equal to that of Leica > lenses for all practical purposes. My experiences with the Minox 35MB and with the Olympus XA are a little bit different. Both cameras flare easily with backlight and in comparison with pictures taken with my SLRs they are truly inferior. Sharpness and contrast are visibly better with my SLR shots in direct comparison (slides through Colorplan). Both give you decent results "when used with imagination and skill" but I strongly hope that M-lenses are way better because I'm seriously considering a used M4P for my theater and people photography and don't want to step back in optical quality (I certainly won't I think). What I can tell is that the Minox 35MB (same as ML without Program mode) and the Olympus XA are optically inferior to a Minolta 2.8/28mm MD or a Nikkor 2/35mm AIS (to mention just the lenses that I recently compared and that have about the same focal length). Not to forget that over the last eight years shutter, exposure-meter and film advance (twice) had to be repaired or replaced on the Minox (but repair prices were rather low). So maybe if a M-Leica is still to big for you a Minolta CLE or Leica CL could be at least a nice "M-lense holder". - -- Stefan Kahlert, Medizinische Poliklnik der Universitaet Bonn uzs13b@uni-bonn.de