Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:03 AM 5/9/2001 -0700, Stephen Gandy wrote: >IF this was Konica's intention to make the Hexar RF incompatible with the Leica >M lenses, why wouldn't Konica advertise it in order to promote Konica M lens >sales ?? -- sales which I'm told are pretty dismal. > >Konica wouldn't be the 1st big company to make a major screw up, nor the last. > >While a number of people on the LUG have questioned the Hexar M's compatibility >with M lenses, I don't recall any posting of problems of Konica M lenses with >Leica M bodies. At this point, I don't know of an evidence which suggests the >Konica M back focus specs are not the same as Leica's. > >Without further data on individual Hexar bodies and lenses, or an official >Konica tech release on the subject, it seems to me that the issue remains in >doubt. Stephen No one, save you, has mentioned anything about Konica's motives in making the back-focus of their cameras different than the Leica M norm. But the Leica M standard has been known since 1953, and it would be surprising if Konica fell afoul of the problems which haunted Canon and others in the LTM realm, where manufacturers were unwilling to acknowledge that the pitch of the LTM is in inches while the width is metric. But the problem does exist, as well documented on the LUG and elsewhere. I have great trouble believing Konica is using sloppy standards far lower than the rest of the Japanese camera industry, as you have suggested. But I don't have an alternate explanation as to why the disparity exists. But, if Erwin says it is there, it is there. He is too careful a researcher, and too cautious a human being, to have posted his findings unless he was certain of them. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!