[Leica] Misc-my-laneous

[Mike Johnston <70007.3477@compuserve.com>]

A few point brought up recently--

To Bert, the reg'lar M6 is being referred to as the M6 Standard or Standard M6.


To Dan C., Jeff Trilling, a Leica dealer here in Chicago, tells me the Leica
CD-ROM is very disappointing--he says it's superficially done, and that half
the stuff from the Leica Museum that any aficionado would want to know about
(he mentioned the Canadian K7-whatevers and the M2R) aren't even mentioned in
passing. He didn't even think it was worth showing to me.

To those wondering whether a modern shutter would "fit" in an M6 body: The
Leica M shutter is HUGE. It fills most of the body cavity. Have any of you shot
with an Olympus Stylus Epic yet? You're in for a shock. Very accurate metering
(even balances flash and ambient lighting pretty well!) a *nice* 35mm f/2.8
lens, a built-in flash, built-in motor advance and rewind, and the whole thing
is barely the size of a pack of cigarettes and weighs less than a 50mm f/2.8
Elmar _lens_. The *black* one, not the heavier silver chrome one! <g>

Okay, apples'n'oranges, but I think the best modern engineering could fit a
modern shutter (and maybe, oh, a pretty good Pentium computer too) into a Leica
M body. 

Don't think I'm being mean about this--I'm chuckling.

HCB has a home in Paris but spends most of his time in his country estate in
the South of France. Don't try to contact him yourself--do it through Magnum.

Please don't kill me, please, but I tried the M6HM again today and...I like the
regular M6 (sorry, standard...Classic?) better. Although I agree that for a
75mm or 90mm it is no choice--then the HM would be better, hands-down.

Also would like to say how much I enjoy the thoughtful and intelligent posts of
Erwin Puts and many others here. A pleasure!

That's my $0.02 for this evening (*splendid* dinner tonight, so I guess I am
feeling "smug as a dog with a pullet in its mouth").

- --Mike