Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I would like to thank everybody for answering my question. Decision made, I will buy the SF-20. Light and small that's my new mantra. I've been using Nikon gear for years; my current system is Nikon F100, SB-28 and a whole bunch of pro f2.8 zoom lenses and couple of special purpose prime lenses. I never allowed myself to buy one of those 28-2000mm lenses, I like to enlarge my slides and you can definitely see the difference. Couple of weeks ago I came back from a three week trip to Malaysia where a carried my Nikon gear in a Domke F2 bag. Towards the end of the trip I had to get a good one-hour massage because my back couldn't take it anymore (I'm not getting any younger you know). Also, in tropical climate you really don't feel like carrying anything. I actually lost couple of good shots because I was too lazy to carry my equipment. Now don't get me wrong, Nikon gear is great and I got some really good results with it but for an amateur photographer the level of commitment needed is... how shell I put it?... Burdensome! I came back to the States determined to look for another solution. I looked at many different systems and had pretty clear list of requirements. I couldn't find any system to fulfill all the requirements I listed; not even the Leica. The terrible Mistake... Part of the research was to go to stores and play with different cameras. I touched the Leica for the first time and got bitten; I could feel the venom spreading! I bought it! From a camera that has the computing power that the Apollo 13 engineers could only dream of to a camera with a design that didn't change much in the last 50 years... go figure. I have to hold myself not to sell the F100 system (which I love dearly) and to buy two more Leica lenses (yes! The whole shebang for 2 lenses!). I decided to wait and see if it's real love or just lust. I'm not really sure what I'm doing here but I guess the last blurb is about LUG. I've been riding motorcycles for years and one of the things that every biker will tell you is that there is this code between bikers. When you ride and you see anther biker you'll wave hello, if another biker is in trouble you'll stop and help. I'm not sure it's the same here to the same extent, but, call me mushy; I like is when a stupid piece of metal and plastic brings people together. Yaniv