RE: [Leica] Weight vs size - Nikon SP

[Simon Pulman-Jones <spulmanjones@lbs.ac.uk>]

My first Leica experience was with an M2 and 35 Summicron pre. asph. - the 
quintessential Leica combination in terms of weight, size and handling, and 
one to which my hands always seem to want to return.  If there is one flaw 
in the current development of the M it has to be the increasing size of the 
lenses.  The 35 Summilux Asph is a fantastic lens, and one that I always 
use when I am sure that I will need its wide open performance, but I hardly 
ever feel like taking it with me when the photography is going to be more 
opportunistic and unplanned - it's just too big.

This week I found, and bought, a Nikon SP.  I was very curious, and this 
one was just about affordable.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that 
with its 50/1.4 the SP is almost exactly the same size as an M2 with the 
old 35 Summicron and (on the kitchen scales) weighs an identical 720 
grammes.  The finder is a similar magnification to the M3 so this 
combination makes a very nice low light 50mm combination.  The Nikkor 
50/1.4 lens is positively tiny - I'm looking forward to seeing how it 
performs.  Does anybody have experience of the lens - in Nikon or Leica 
mount?

The M2/3/4/6 with old 35 'cron or 'lux is Leica's magic size and weight - 
it's no surprise that they choose to show the M6 with collapsed 50/2.8 
rather than any of the other lenses next to an egg in the new brochure.  If 
Erwin is correct in his view that the current lenses are more than a match 
for current film technology then maybe Leica could aim for greater 
compactness and ease of handling (not to mention less viewfinder intrusion) 
in the next generation of lenses.

Simon Pulman-Jones,
London.