Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Gabe, There are several good alternatives in the 28 focal length. The Orion 28/6 is an excellent lens, light and sharp, but the aluminum barrel tends to be a bit sticky and the aperture ring is inside the lens front. Good lens though. The Nikon 28 and Canon 25 or 28 are competent performers although they tend to be a bit flary. Best bet right now is the Ricoh 28/2,8 Asph. very sharp and contrasty and built as well as a Leica Lens ( any company that turns the lenshood in brass deserves praise, no more cracked plastic hoods!!). The Kobalux 28/2,8 is O.K. The later version is better ( the black anodized version), the earlier chrome one is soft wide open and somewhat prone to flare. The Roussar 20/5,6 is a good performer and the finder is quite a nice one, but the quality control at the manufacturing end is erratic. I have had some really good 20/5,6's and also some useless ones. The latest one I have is truly a dud,either someone at the factory forgot to put the centre elements in or the past owner removed them, in any case it does not work at all, a diffuse small circle is all you get. On the other hand, I paid less than $100 for the lens and the finder and I bought it mainly for the finder. Does anyone have a spare set of centre elements for a Roussar laying around? The other alternatives is to get a Nikon to M adapter and pick up a Nikon 20 or 24 mm lens ( or even the old 28/2,8) and mount it on the M. You can get away with the uncoupled rangefinder with the wide angles. Good luck at the swap meet, Tom A