Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/04/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 4/23/00 11:30:45 AM Pacific Daylight Time, jbcollier@home.com writes: << Tom could you please post part 1 in two parts so it gets through? If I may be so bold, how about 1a and 1b. John Collier >> John, Here goes: Part 1b) Subj: Bessa-R to Bilbao (Part 1 - Long) Date: 4/21/00 8:02:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time From: TTAbrahams@aol.com Reply-to: leica@topica.com To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us CC: leica@topica.com On Saturday it was typical NHS/LHSA convention stuff, orchestrated by Robert Rotoloni, Peter Lownds and Toni Hurst (who could teach LHSA a lot about slide-projection and presentation! I wonder if he could be bribed to switch allegiance!). The NHS is far less formal in their presentation, primarily because it is a smaller group so you get to meet everybody and have a chance to exchange useful information and equally useful gossip. The hot topic was the freshly announced "replica" Nikon S-3 and there was a lot of speculation if this is the precursor to a new and updated Nikon SP rangefinder. Sunday morning dawned and we all took off to the huge Swap meet in Houten (close to Utrecht). The NHS had their own tables and had arranged for the members attending the NHS-Com to bypass the long line-up and gain free entry. Very nicely done by Peter and Robert. Of course once inside, all semblances of civil behaviour disappear and "Swap-Meet Mania" grips everybody. You cruise aisles after aisles looking for elusive objects, sighing over prices and wishing you had not sold that object so cheap, at least when the guy who has one is quoting a price 3-4 times higher than you got! As usual I was looking for M2's, not many there and way too pricey. Best deal I found was a very late 21/3,4 Super-Angulon in good user condition (serial number over 2 917 000) with hood, back-cap and finder for US$800. Glass is mint and barrel slightly scuffed, but it is so nice and sharp. I have always liked the 21/3,4 and the 21/2,8 Asph, is sharper in the corners and probably a better lens overall, but the 21/3,4 is smaller and it has a wonderful quality for black/white shooting. Well, the deal was good, so I bought it! In the afternoon we were picked up by Erwin Puts and continued on to Utrecht where we spent 2 days with Erwin, Els (his wife), and Ishy and Wooster. Ishy is a white, silky-haired terrier and Wooster is Erwin's cat. Dutch houses are mostly built in several levels, the Puts household is no exception, but according to Wooster, there is no house built big enough to house him and Ishy! As long as Ishy never attempts to ascend the stairs he is OK, but anything above step 3-4 going up will result in a very sore nose. Wooster is a cat who knows that the papers he is sitting on are documents any LUGger would dearly like to get their hands on and he is convinced that Ishy is not smart enough to appreciate these documents. I saw some of the galleys from Erwin's book on the Leica lenses and it will become a required reading for any LUGger once it is out. We went out and ate the first night in Utrecht, an African restaurant, in the old loading bay along a canal, and it was most likely one of the best meals we had during the whole trip. This is the New Europe, all the borders are erased and the countries seem to be accepting ideas and tastes from not only the other EU countries, but also they are also opening up to areas outside Europe. So the transition from a multitude of smaller countries to a large, powerful economic entity might not be entirely smooth, but there is vitality there and I think it will be a driving force in the coming century. Erwin and I went to Odin N/Y, the Dutch Leica distributor where Erwin has access to the testing equipment and we did run some test on the 35/2,5 Color-Heliar from Voigtlander, the 90/2,8 from Konica in the M-mount and we used my 90/2 APO-Asph as reference. The 35/2,5 was, according to Erwin "not spectacular", but for its price it is more than adequate, the Hexar 90/2,8 is extremely good, as good as the 90/2,8 Elmarit-M. (to be continued in part 2) Tom A