Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Here's my impression of the Zeiss Ikon camera: 1. Very well finished with good build. I find it quite light, thus the perceived quality to many may be less, compared to, say, a Leica M. 2. Excellent finder - extremely bright, very clear and contrasty, even better than that of the current M7/P, IMHO. I have to say it has the best finder I have come across. Built-in frame lines: 35mm, 50mm, 28/85mm. Thus when shooting with 35 and 50mm lenses, you only have one set of framelines at a time, not as distracting as Leica's dual frame lines in the case of the M4-P/6/7/P. 3. Shutter not as quiet as Leica M, but less noisy than that of the Bessa R2A/R3A, and appears better damped too. 4. Very large eyepiece/exit pupil. The standard eyepiece is a screw-in design and has a tendency to unscrew itself. 5. Film advance very smooth. 6. There is a separate AE lock button on the back of the camera, ala Bessa R2A/R3A, but unlike the CV design, you do not have to keep the button pressed to lock the EV. 7. Very straight forward exposure compensation control by the shutter speed dial ala CLE, Hexar RF, Bessa R2A/R3A, Contax G2. Personally I have always found the M7 control a touch clumsy. 8. Bottom rewind crank ala M5/CL/CLE. This takes getting used to. 9. Off set tripod socket (like Leica M) but it is raised, this the base plate will not be marred by the tripod. 10. No provision for Rapidwinder/Trigger Winder/Leicavit-like device. 11. Hinge back design with a release mechanism like most SLRs from the '70s. 12. The limited edition cameras being delivered at present come with a leather pouch and has 'Limited Edition Nr.xxxx' engraved on the top plate. I have enjoyed using my ZI camera for the past few days and I like it a lot, especially its finder. It is still no Leica M7, but it is some $2,000 cheaper than the M7! Joseph On 4/11/05 2:36 pm, "feli" <feli2@earthlink.net> wrote: > What do you think, Joseph? > > feli > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Joseph Yao <joseph@yao.com> > > Jeffery, > > The Zeiss Ikon camera arrived earlier this week. > > Cheers, > > Joseph