Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/10
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> But for Adrian Bradshaw, the word Heritage does not mean age. It means:
Hi Jim
I know what the word means. I understand your point of view. My point of
view is that Konica is a respected (though perhaps not by yrself) and very
old member of the photographic world. It is precisely the features that
Konica brings to the Leica M experience that are not part of the heritage of
Solms that I bought it for: compact, built in motor, faster shutter and AE
facility. These are all part of the Konica heritage if you will. They have
produced a number of decent products dating back from before even Eastman
Kodak was founded and as such can be trusted to produce a relatively basic
camera like the RF which is not going to be a flagrant liability to a
working pro as you suggested. Konica has heritage and so does Leica. They
are of course different. Your ignorance of the heritage of Konica does not
mean it does not exist. OTOH it has no relevance whatever to the making of
pictures except from the sensual or even snobbish side of things. None of us
on this list can claim to be dispassionate about the latter issues.
Leica can no more be depended to produce a 100% perfect and dependable
camera out of the box than any other brand I have used: if anything less so.
The only cameras I have ever had fail me utterly whilst on jobs have been
Leicas: two new R8s, an M4P and an M6 have all seized up on me during
shoots. All the noble heritage in the world is not going to get the picture
in these cases. That is why pros test their equipment, carry backups and
don't trust myths and fables about reliability.
Now I do not like my Hexar RF as much as any of my Leicas: I find it ugly
and has a few annoying design quirks. It does however have a number of
features that are useful to me and work as advertised. To suggest that
Konica has not the heritage to back this up is IMHO inflammatory.
FWIW I have left the lens and flash that came with the Hexar I bought
wrapped in the box, after duly checking them out since they do not add
anything for me. Having successfully used more than a dozen M lenses on the
RF to shoot several hundred rolls of film in deserts, from helicopters, on
boats, in steel mills and dozens of other locations I am confident that it
works fine. I have dropped it several times and had it fixed by a service
centre that puts Leica's to shame. I have even used Konica film in it and
got good published results.
And for Marc - Leitz may be the older company by two or three decades but
Konica was, as I stated, in the photo business first predating Eastman Kodak
by a few years. Leitz only came to it later from a background in microscopes
and other scientific equipment, as I understand it.
YMMV
Bests
Adrian
- --
Adrian Bradshaw
Corporate and Editorial Photography
Beijing, China
tel/fax +86 10 6532 5112
mobile +86 139 108 22292
e-mail apbbeijing@yahoo.com
OR adrianpeterbradshaw@compuserve.com
website: http://www.apbphoto.com
http://www.liaisonintl.com/bradshaw.htm
http://www.liaisonintl.com/bradshaw_e.htm
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