Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In the very early days Leica's "marketing", or however that activity was called at the time, tried hard to convince photographers that 35mm is competitive in final image quality. Film economy, depth of field and portability were other arguments. Contax stepped-in as number two and tried hard to convince photographers with superior features which not always worked reliably from the start: metal shutter curtains, 1/1250s, "automatic" focus with the tiny wheel and longer rangefinder base, combined finder/rangefinder (contax II) and even built-in meter (Contax III). In addition, the fast Sonnar lenses (1.5/50, 2/85, 2,8/180) were spectacular at the time, albeit not really affordable to the average shooter. Hans-Peter