Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/21

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Amateur Photographer testing the R8
From: D Khong <dkhong@pacific.net.sg>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 22:23:51 +0000

>hi,
>
>Amateur Photographer [a UK magazine] did a group test of 'top end manual
>cameras' in the current issue: R8, RTSIII and OM3TI and despite finding that
>the first Contax model failed, and the second one didn't handle 'difficult'
>lighting very well, and that the OM's shadow spot meter resulted in a
>completely underexposed slide, where as the R8 handled all exposures
>perfectly - guess what, first place the Olympus, second the Contax and third
>the R8! What was wrong with the R8? didn't like the strap lug positions and
>the manual rewind/wind on -- what did they like about the OM, all manual
>including wind on and rewind!!! They also criticised the Summicron 50 1.4
>for only focusing to .5 meter and therefore being no good for 'frame filling
>small objects'. In all of this no mention of comparative lens line up,
>except that there are many second hand Zukio lenses, which I'm sure there
>are since there are precious few new ones! I really do despair of the so
>called standard of these magazines. In the conclusions there was also a side
>swipe at 'Leica purists' 'who will have made up their minds as to the winner
>before reading the article'.
>
>This is the same magazine that last year did a rangefinder test and placed
>the M6 a distant third behind the G2 and the XPAN. I suppose the range and
>quality of lenses really don't matter in these tests. I don't know why it
>irritates so much, maybe because there aren't any decent magazines published
>here in the UK.
>
>Leopold
>

Obviously the findings cannot be taken seriously......

Why don't you subscribe to the nice magazines that come out of other
countries? I am subscribing to no less than 4 mags from the US, one from
Germany and no longer even bother to look at Amateur Photographer for years
now.  AP used to run lots of pics of semi-nudes and one really had to send
the kids out of the room sometimes.   

Dan K.
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