Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> > Not sure about the speed advantage of bayonet lenses in a news photog > situation; it just doesn't seem like that much of a savings. > > --Andrew > NO ARCHIVE Andrew - There the speed advantage is quite genuine - not just news, but any situation where events are moving around you and you need a different lens. HOWEVER - First, for someone who wants the new Bessa as a second or third body, there's the perfectly reasonable solution of basically dedicating it to a given lens - say a Noctilux, or Nocton 50, or a 75 1.4...or even a wide with a finder. Second, there's the idea of having the Bessa as an inexpensive backup body. I have to say I am bemused, saddened, nay, maybe appalled, by much of the negative garbage that has been posted here about this new camera over the past day or so: it really goes a long way toward confirming what some from time to time have said is serious blind Red Dot worship on the LUG. No, this new camera isn't built or sold by Leica - and of course we've yet to see and hold it to know how well it is built. But assuming it's build as well as the Bessa R...It seems to me that, as described, this is a modern G Leica. Okay, it may only last 10 years - 10 years of having a slightly nosier shutter with a top speed of 1/2000th, a flash sync of a 125th, a built in meter, modern film loading and advance, and a price tag of under $500? So what if it only lasts 10 years at that price, with those features? As to the having to use finders - okay, it has the same draw back there as the LTMs - which, I know had the 50 finder ... but as someone noted, it's pretty easy to use the rangefinder and gestimate for the 50 - and as someone else has noted, there are any number of multiple focal length finders around. Is this a Leica M? Of course not. Is it built as solidly as a G? I assume not. But I would wager that if this camera was stamped Leica, many of the same people who are instantly knocking it would be salivating, heralding the arrival of the "entry level Leica," which will revive Leica's long term prospects, revive interest in and use of rangefinders, give modern options to those who can only afford older LTM lenses or Cosina lenses, etc. etc. etc. All of this is, of course, just my none to HO, but, damn, folks, read some of what you write, substitute the name Leica for Bessa, and think about what you'd write then. With all due respect to those concerned... B. D.