RE: [Leica] Ricoh 28mm lens for M6

[jeremy.kime@bbc.co.uk]

I managed to do a deal to acquire one of these lenses at the tail end of   
last year, I was then the mug who lent it to AP for what turned out to be   
months for them to test it. I'd say it's a very good lens, maybe not a   
lens of Leica quality though.
It was not released in M mount, (Keith Wilson the editor of AP who wrote   
that article is not a man of detail sadly...) it's available in screw   
mount and then you apply an adapter to it for M use, the finder is large   
and less translucent than Leitz finders though not needed on several M   
finders of course.
My largest disappointment with it was flare shooting into the light,   
though I gather that some Leitz lenses are not completely free from this   
problem either. It's sharp enough and perhaps it greatest strength is the   
size. It's maybe half the size of a Leitz m-lens and meters on the M6   
unlike the earliest 28 M-Elmarit.

Price wise it's around œ750 new from Rare Camera Co./ Camera Fair in   
London or the Leica dealer in Croydon. They offer the more common chrome   
versions, the black version was only a 1000 piece availability, if you'd   
like mine it's yours for œ550. (I've seen a reasonable 50/1.4-M for   
sale).
I can mail you seprately the whole review that AP (and myself) wrote,   
including performannce figures if you send me your name and e-mail (I   
can't see who you are on Windows messaging). Erwin also mentions it in   
passing in his new 50/1.4 review.

Jem Kime
jeremy.kime@bbc.co.uk
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From:  'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'
Sent:  21 August 1998 00:18
To:  KIMEJ44; 'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'
Subject:  RE: [Leica] Ricoh 28mm lens for M6

UK Amateur Photographer magazine dated 22 August, 1998 has a test report
by its editor on the Ricoh GR1 compact camera which says inter alia: "The
28mm F2.8 GR lens is one of the best wideangle lenses for the 35mm format
ever produced. That it's stuck on a compact does not make it inferior,   
just
unnoticed."  And also: "...earlier this year Ricoh released the GR1's   
lens
as a separate unit in Leica M bayonet fitting."

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REPLY:

So what do LUGers know from experience about this lens, and where can one
purchase it, and at what cost? And how does it compare to the Leitz 28?