[Leica] Field Report on the R8

["James R. Nelon" <JamesNelon@compuserve.com>]

   I just returned from a four month field trip/sabbatical photographing
and writing about the culture and ways of life of ethnic tribes of
Southeast Asia. The trips included forays into Indonesia, the Philippines=
,
Malaysia and Thailand. Most of the work was up rivers and in interior
jungles as far away from civilization (as the western world knows it) as
possible. I took two R8's and lenses from 19 to 250mm plus a 2x. I guess
you always worry about the effect of rain and rainforest  on equipment. T=
he
deep jungle can certainly play havoc on equipment, whether its just water=

damage or growing mold and algae. =

   I happy to report that the R8's performed brilliantly. The metering wa=
s
about as flawless as anything can get. The lenses were, of course, superb=
=2E
I can't imagine using anything less robust than this stuff. I never worri=
ed
(well, almost never) about using the equipment in any condition whether i=
t
was high humidity, high temps, dark jungle conditions, tropical rain
downpours or just plain deep mud. There are enough other things to deal
with not to have to think about the stamina of your equipment. Kudos to
Leica and that Leica-quality that can't be beat by any other manufacturer=
=2E
The price paid is more than worth it when dealing with these high quality=

tools of the trade.
   Now, if I can just find someone interested in publishing some (I think=
)
great pictures along with travel text of the experience. . .

Jim Nelon

And how about speeding up the availability of those motor drives?