[Leica] KSP "Photo-Mini_Kina"

[Mark <mark@steinberg.net>]

i wanted to express my thanks to Keeble & Shuchat for organizing their
excellent photo "festival". if you missed it this year, i suggest that
you try to travel there next.

it was a wonderful opportunity to speak with some real Leica experts
and i very much appreciated that (1) my brand new M6 was declared
"well withing operating specifications" and (2) Tom Brichta exhibited
incredible patience as i repeatedly considered a Noctilux (unpacking
and packing it up again at least 3 times !). Tom's dedication of
attention to me under the arduous circumstances of a *very* busy 
venue, as a user and a prospective purchaser, was very impressive
indeed. i commend Leica for employing such an astute and honest man.

Leica was situated next to Contax, and it was interesting to compare the
brands side by side. a friend has purchased a Contax outfit, having
become dissatisfied with his Pentax equipment and finding Leica's
range to be lacking on the automation side of things.

i will loan him my M6/35asp and we'll see whether his resolve remains
firm. the Contax lenses appear to be, by and large, half the price of
their Leica equivalents. the "what glass goes into a Leica lens ?" is
interesting in that context. are the two companies using identical
stock ? are there differences in the assembly process ? milling ?

in passing, i'll comment that i find the derision of other photo
equpiment manufacturers to be defensive in nature. i find the 
comparisons of the R8 and the f5/eos1n to be pretty off the
wall. one system offers autofocus and the other doesn't, case
closed. people are trying to compare apples and oranges.

thanks for a great list,

m