Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The Mamiya 7 II saga continues: Robert White didn't respond to two emails over the course of two and a half days, following a fax that put in an order for the M7 + 65 lens to be shipped via my FedEx account, overnight priority. My second email told RW that if I didn't hear from him by Wednesday noon, London time, that I HAD to cancel the order and seek the gear from another UK supplier. The deadline came and went, no word from Robert. After +1 hour, I emailed to cancel the order and sent a faxed order to Teamworkphoto. One more hour, and an RW minion calls, "Oh, your order was just shipped." And, in fact, they'd sent an email to me at 10:30 am London time confirming that. The email arrived about two hours too late. Meanwhile, Teamworkphoto was really on the ball and shipped out the camera + lens almost instantly on getting my fax (lower price than RW, too). The Teamworkphoto gear arrived this afternoon. The RW shipment is now being held by US Customs because RW didn't fill out the customs declaration properly. Needless to say, I'm peeved at RW, but don't intend to return the second set of camera gear because I think, to be fair, there was a series of accidents involved, and while RW is mainly to blame, I was too impatient and expected the internet to work at 100% (I should know better). But neither do I want to fuss with an exchange, paying three freight and two customs tickets, which would almost wipe out any savings from buying in the UK. Anyhow, first impressions: This is a big chunk of camera. But not so big as my Wista, which I was hauling around downtown DC this afternoon. And although it's plastic, it's good plastic. The camera has a solidish feel about it, good balance, good ergonomics generally. I thought the film speed wheel was a bit cheezy, but that's my biggest complaint. As to picture quality: I shot a roll of 120 Tri-X @ 200 late this afternoon, and just got done developing it. The negs are still drying but from what I could tell they came out pretty sharp and nicely detailed. Though others have reported M7 rangefinders out of focus right out of the box, that's not the case here. I have a feeling that people who don't mind sticking with a single lens would be much happier with a Rolleiflex TLR, which is lighter and, depending on the lens, potentially a much better picture taking machine. But this thing seems to fill an important niche, and fills it very, very well. I don't think my Leicas will mind sharing camera bag space... Thanks again to all for suggestions and comments, on and off list. G.