Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/15

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Subject: Re: [Leica] 28 mm alternatives
From: Jeff Moore <jbm@instinet.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 12:59:30 -0500

At Thu, 15 Jan 1998 23:55:14 +0900, pcb@iac.co.jp (Paul C. Brodek) wrote:=

> I'm still thinking about getting a 28mm lens, trying to decide between
> a current 28mm/2.8 Elmarit-M (best available, but pricey and big) and
> the 28mm/2.8 Ricoh GR-1 (decent performance, compact and almost half
> the price of the Elmarit).

Are you thinking about getting the whole GR-1, or just the lens to bolt o=
n =

your Leica?  I have the camera, and am still getting used to it.  As a =

point-and-shoot package, the GR-1 is quite appealing, and I've seen some =

entirely acceptable photographs which were laid down by that lens;  but s=
o =

far, not one has had the visceral appeal of a decent example of imaging b=
y =

modern Leica glass.  This is as anecdotal and unscientific as it gets, of=
 =

course, and could just be the luck of the snapshooter's draw.

Question: is performance at f/2.8 of any particular interest?  The newest=
 M =

28mm is unusually, improbably, impossibly good wide open.  The GR-1's exp=
osure =

program, interestingly, jumps immediately from f/2.8 to f/4 at =

still-difficult-to-handhold shutter speeds, stays there until the shutter=
 =

speeds get more sensible, then starts stopping down some more.  This may =
tell =

us something about what the GR-1's designers know about the lens...

 -Jeff