stealth marketing no more

[pgs@thillana.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick Sobalvarro)]

Anybody else see the back cover of this month's Scientific American?
It's one of those R8 ads.  Very impressive evidence that Leica intends
to actively market those cameras, because I would guess that the back
cover of Scientific American is not cheap.  Also, I think the
selection of Scientific American shows some good market research at
work.

I just got a Jupiter 50/1.5 from Mark Chaney for $90.  It appears to
be in excellent condition, although the construction is aluminum and
does not appear particularly robust.  The impressions for the numerals
on the aperture ring appear to have been stamped with a die rather
than engraved, and the aperture ring is ever so slightly warped at
each impression.  But I won't argue if it produces good images for
$90.  One thing I noticed about the lens is that the number of
aperture blades is quite high, like in an older Leica lens.  I would
have thought this would be an area in which the factory might have
tried to cut costs, but the number of blades is high enough that the
aperture appears nearly circular.

Mark Chaney was very pleasant to deal with and prompt in sending me
the lens.  It came with both caps.  He seems like a good person from
whom to buy ex-Soviet equipment.  He does this more as a hobby than a
business -- he works in a university library.

I'll do some shooting over the weekend and report back on my
impressions of the lens.

- -Patrick