Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I visited the UK exhibition "Focus" yesterday, and thought I'd pass on a few Leica-related comments. For a start, I met up with fellow LUGger Jem Kime, and it was a pleasure to meet him - his enthusiasm is infectious. We scoured the secondhand dealers together for Leica and other interesting equipment, and I came away with a Russar 20mm and a Pasoptik viewfinder among other things. It's a bit of an odd combination - the viewfinder's bigger than the lens! I also replaced the Viso 3 I had been having problems with, and the replacement is in perfect working order and much better condition than the old one. I still don't fully understand what was wrong with the old one, but the dealer was happy to take it back for a full refund. I was going to get rid of the Viso and the 65 Elmar I'd bought for it, but this new Viso is so much better than the old one, I'm going to give it a reprieve for a while. The Leica stand was a disappointment. After visiting the Canon stand where they had every EOS lens in current production mounted on cameras and available for anybody to play with (including the 1200/5.6), the small Leica stand with everything behind glass was a bit of an anticlimax. They did have a few S1's there, but I'm not overly interested in digital so I didn't take a lot of notice. They didn't have a Tri-Elmar on the stand, and hadn't heard anything about a new ASPH 90 Summicron or any other new equipment. There was an M6 0.85, but it was behind glass so I didn't get the serial number (sorry Frank!). I asked the Konica people about a new Hexar with interchangeable lenses, and the reply was that "It won't be available in the UK - it's probably for the Japanese market only." I take that to mean that there *is* going to be a new Hexar, and there's a possibility it might use the Leica-M mount. I've asked them to find out what they can about it for me - we'll see... The Ricoh stand had the 28mm GR lens for Leica mount, and it is certainly a nicely made piece. Whether it's worth paying twice as much for it as for the GR-1 itself is debatable - the lens is optically identical. I guess it's still cheaper than the Leica 28 but I think I'd rather have a "free" camera with it and pay half the amount. I had a play with a Contax G2 - both the chrome and black versions. This was the first time I'd tried them, and whilst they are indeed nicely made cameras, there is absolutely no comparison with the M6 in my opinion. Someone recently said on the LUG that the G2 is what an M6E would be if Leica made one. I can't imagine Leica ever producing anything like a G2 - it's so totally different from the whole concept of the M6. Needles to say, I won't be buying one... Simon.