Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/12/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Is the SF20 worth whatever it costs? Only if you want a flash that will sit quietly in your bag slamming against some lens until you need it, the batteries won't rot and the exposure will be good. I bought the flash for the C11(?) which is an aperture priority version for next to nothing and it just works. But that is what quality is all about. Quality products do the job they were designed for, and do it for a long time: in the case of wine not very long once out of the bottle. That design/build compromise costs. For those on the list who use the darkroom making the perfect print is an example. A pretty good print might take two or three attempts. A "perfect" print might never happen, we look at the latest best effort and wonder if we should burn/dodge here or what about some bleaching there and what would happen if we split toned... Leica has done a good job over the last twenty years walking the fine line between great/expensive but not perfect/exorbitant. For the most part their products while conservative in features are at least as good as anybody else's and usually better both in build and in performance. My two cents is that the R8 will come to be valued as highly as the SL2 in twenty years or so. We complain on the list about cost but many also have Hasselblad, F5's, 1V's and other like quality products. These don't cost? Anybody price a 180 Sonnar lately, or a 17-35 lens? Quality costs and the only way around that is to find the proverbial pissed spouse who wants to sell you their significant others NIB M6 TTL for $2 and you can have the lens at no charge, too bad the poor SOB only had a Noct to use. Don Dory dorysrus@mindspring.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html