Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/07/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>>I was looking at KEH, which has almost no lenses at all, and ebay, which has only a few, and nothing low priced.<< Good deals come up from time to time. You just need to keep an eye out. I bought my 50/2 Summicron from KEH. I wasn't really in the market for one. But the price was too good to pass up. The condition was even better than advertised. I really wanted a 50/1.4. The last 50/2 R I had -- which I sold with the rest of my R system -- was prone to flare. I tested the 50/2 I purchased from KEH and it wasn't prone. Can't explain why my former one was flare prone. I thought maybe all 50/2 R's were. I'm glad I got the Summicron. It's lighter than the Summilux. My current setup -- D700 with 28/2.8, 50/2 and 90/2.8 R lenses -- is pretty compact. I find I'm using the 50/2 most of the time. There's no crop factor, which is nice. I often take just the body and 50. I also keep a small Kodak neutral gray card in my back pocket or camera bag. I use that to set the WB. On the D700 I hold the WB button down for a second until "Pre" blinks on the LCD screen. Then I shoot the card. That sets a user defined WB (doesn't save a photo of the card). That WB setting remains the default until I either do it again or I change to a common setting. I find that this method results in extremely accurate colors, which is great since I'm trying to avoid post processing. Probably sounds like more of a PITA than it is. If I'm feelin' lazy I can use auto WB, but taking a moment in different lighting is worth it to get very accurate color. If I want a warming filter there are several ways I can quickly accomplish that with WB settings. Of course, I can shoot RAW and not worry about any of this. But right now I'm going for the optimum JPEG. DSLRs have come a long way in terms of how they handle WB. I always considered myself a BW person, but that may change! Good deals, I notice, don't last long on KEH. When I was shopping for a 28 I saw one last about a minute. I snoozed and missed out. I jumped at the (relatively) inexpensive 50/2 when I saw it. Dave R