Re: [Leica] Re: Leica & Contax test

["m.mori" <arbos@silva.net>]

At 2:01 pm +0000 28/3/99, Bruce Feldman wrote:

>>There are many reasons why there are so many G2s in dealers' shelves but I
>>do not think the camera is traded in due to major malfunction or
>>unreliability.
>
>Yes, this appears to be true.  In my original post, I didn't mean to suggest
>that there were mechanical problems with this camera.  Sorry if I left that
>impression.  To the contrary, I have heard good reports concerning
>reliability.  My point was as follows:  In Japan, from talking to others in
>my camera club, reading the photographic press (I can read Hirigana and
>Katakana, and a little Kanji), talking to shop owners, etc., I came to
>understand that many purchasers were led to think that it would be an
>inexpensive Leica-M.  Indeed, despite one very dubious claim to the
>contrary, it was marketed as such, treated as such by the press (anyone can
>verify both of *those* facts), and therefore understandably expected to be
>such by many purchasers.  That is why they started to pop up on the
>used-equipment shelves.

Hi, Bruce.
I have a different impression.  I got one of those used G1's on the shelves
and used it for two years in Tokyo (along with two M6).  I for one got a G
because I wanted a small camera with which I can use small "Zeiss" lenses.
It was not a substitute for an M.  I know at least five professional
photographers that use both M's and G's.  They told me personally or wrote
in journal articles that they use them for different purposes.  The first is
need for AF.  Even professionals feel better with G2's AF than M's
rangefinder at least in some situations.  The second is choice of image
characters that the Leica and Zeiss glasses give.  They admit that their
choice is often more emotional than rational, but anyway, they find
differences and properly use their different lenses. I understand and agree
with them.  I do not think that we are a minority.

IMO, there are more G's than M's on used camera shop shelves partly because
by far the larger number of G's are sold in Japan that is, nevertheless, the
world's largest market for M6.  In my favourite shops in Tokyo, the shelves
are full of Leicas and fewer G's (That is why they are my favourites.  :-))


>
>>I have many friends who have bought the G2 thinking that they now have a
>>Leica M "substitute" in their hands.  Many were soon disillusioned because
>>the M and the G2 are different cameras with differing strengths and
>>weaknesses.  Many have traded in their G2s because the Leica was what they
>>should have bought in the first place.

I sold my G because I now need only Leica glass and manual rangefinder and
not because I found it is not a substitute for an M.

Mikiro
Strasbourg, France