Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/01/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark Rabiner wrote: > The M6 system I have consists of in a large part technology which came about > currently, recently, yesterday. > MY new 135 APO and 24 ASPH and 35 Summicron ASPH are all freshly pulled out of > Leicas sleeve. > But it does take a magician who is not ten feet under(and dead). :) > Had Leica died 3 years ago (3 years after I bought my first M6 body) most of my > current system would be a fig newton of someone elses imagination. > Some of us are talking as if Leica has not come up with a new trick in decades. > Lets not forget about this recent not overly priced glass glut which more than > ever makes me glad I went M system only 6 or 7 years ago. > Do we think Leica has run out of tricks just cause a big ASPH smash has not hit > us in 12 months? > They of course have a few more rabbits to pull out but have to be breathing to > do so. (so do the rabbits!:) > If Leica dies I will be one unhappy camper and so will most of us. (Unless we > are into that charming "soft look" of daze gone by) > I'm personally happy with just advances in glass as I'm happy with the camera > but Leica is a camera company capable of coming out with some new ideas in a camera. > Mark Rabiner > Always wondering what they could have come up with. > They move slow on things but they do move. This is a classic system. > A smaller winder. > A 28 Summicron ASPH. > A compact 2.8 75. > Mark, Your point (as well as B. D.'s and Steve Alexander's) is well taken. But once again it depends on the type of photography you want to do with a Leica M. For the vast majority of my personal work I could get by with an M2/M4/M4-2/M4-P/M5 and a '70's vintage 35 Summicron (though I prefer the immediate pre-ASPH). So if Leica had turned up its toes back in the 70's when it planned to can the M4 and get out of the RF market (at least that's the story I heard), I could, and would, still be able to get a used camera and lens to suit my needs. Now, I'm delighted they have survived long enough to make the M6 and the 75 Summilux. I love these tools and now that I have 'em, I wouldn't be without 'em. I don't have any ASPH lenses, but I know they are glorious and I'm glad they're around. Some day I may even spring for a 35 'lux ASPH and/or a 21 ASPH. I would love a smaller, quieter M Winder (with a vertical release), though an Abrahamsson Rapidwinder is pretty slick. But if none of this stuff existed, I would still own an M and a 35 Summicron and I would be happy. The possibility of not being able to get b&w film? Now that's troubling indeed! Rob Schneider