Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/10/11

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Subject: Re: 28mm/20mm
From: TTAbrahams@aol.com
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 13:50:26 -0400 (EDT)

 Henning and Marvin,
 I have tried several of the various 28's available. Current inventory
includes a 28/2,8 Elmarit 3rd version and a 4th version, as well as the Orion
28/6 and my latest toy, the Ricoh GR 28/2,8. The Orion is a great little
"pancake lens", the aperture ring is difficult to see and operate ( communism
did not include ergonomical design parameters), it is very sharp and makes a
great point and shoot lens for the M2. The 28/2,8 Elmarits are really good,
particularly the latest version. Extremely sharp across the neg and
contrasty. The Ricoh 28/2,8 is very much like the Summaron 28/2,8 in size and
although I haven't had a chance to print from it yet, the negs look good.
Today the weather seems to co-operate and I will shoot some Tech-Pan with it
and really try it out. It has 2 Aspherical surfaces and is very well made. It
feels like a Leica lens, brass barrels and hood. The finder is OK ( also
brass and weighs a lot) but could have better bright lines in it. I got this
lens from a friend in Tokyo, it is available there for yen 98000 in chrome
and yen 105 000 in black ( limited supply of this version), complete with
finder/hood etc. The only reason for using it over the Leica lenses is the
physical size, the 28 Elmarits are fairly large and cumbersome lenses.
  The Orion has a fairly high contrast and suffers  from that Russian malaise
of using aluminum barrels, they tend to become sticky if they are not relubed
regularly and used frequently! Somewhat dramatic fall-off at the corners wide
open but a fully usable lens.
 As for availability of Roussar 20's in Chech republic. I was there in May
and could not find a single one and the result was the same in Warsaw a
couple of weeks later Tom A