[Leica] 45/2.8 pancake

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

Mark Rabiner: >>>If I got the Contax I would go with the 45 2.8 Pancake.
I'm even slow when it comes to groundglasses<<<

Mark,
Nice lens (Tessar, similar in cross-section to the Leica Elmars, Nikkor
GN, Pentax 40mm pancake, etc.), but the mount (barrel construction) is
sub-par for Kyocera--old ones get loosey-goosey almost universally. If
you get a new one, take care to be gentle and not to crank it hard. And,
the lens is tough to focus on many of the new "bright" screens. I
haven't tried it on an Aria, but, interestingly, the Aria has a "real"
groundglass screen as opposed to a "bright" screen, for ease of focus
with slower lenses. The Aria screen "snaps" nicely with the 35/2.8. I
used the new 28-70 slow zoom on the Aria without focusing problems, but
I found the 45/2.8 on an RX was almost impossible for me to focus.

Killer lenses in the Contax line include the 25/2.8, 85/1.4, and
35-70/3.4 zoom; the 85mm in particular is almost worth buying a body
for. It's a really lovely lens.

- --Mike

P.S. For those who will point out that this is a Leica list and I should
be talking about Leica cameras, etc., I will: Aria + 85/1.4 = approx.
$1,500; R8 + 80/1.4 = approx. $5,200, making the Aria/85mm combo a
viable budget alternative for someobody looking for a portrait lens.