kenray

<p>I am fortunate that I have never been able to see the 'Leica Look'. Therefore I can mount any good quality lense on my M8's and be extremely happy. I have always liked the Leica bodies for the feel size and quality of workmanship. I began using Leica bodies back in 1956 and down thru the years have continued to along with some Canon IVS2's and a couple of Towers. I currently have 2 M8 bodies and my old original purchase M3 film body. I like them all but only have one Leica Lense. My M8's both wear VC lenses that I am emminently happy with and find them more than adequate for my use.My M3 wears it's original 50mm F2 Leitz Summitar. I consider myself lucky in this respect as I am rarely disappointed with results. I have only seen one case where Film characteristics have been duplicated by Digital. That was Using the Fuji badged and modified Nikon D bodies. The Fuji's actually had a mode you could select that duplicated Fuji film characteristics very satisfactorily. It's a shame they didn't carry on that Pro line or I would probably still be a DSLR user.I went to the D2X's and they took me back to the digital Leica's as the DSLR's just got overly complex for me. To me photography has always been a pleasurable hobby only. When you have to work at it it loses it's appeal.</p>

<p>I am fortunate not to be able to visualize this great difference Leitz optics are supposed to have over others. I never have been able to see it so have been well pleased with almost all quality glass by any manufacturer. Today I have a 40mm f1.4 V-C on one of my M8's and a 21mm f4 V-C on the other M8 and am supremely pleased with both performances. I have an old 50mm Summitar on my M3 and it also is good to go.</p>

<p>I have been a Leica user since 1956 and a Canon/Nikon since the same period. I have owned every Leica from the IIIc thru the 2 M8's and M3 I currently own - and use regularly. During this period I have also owned most of the Canon III series an L, a P, and a 7 with lenses from 1.8 Serenar to 50mm 1.2 with total satisfaction. My favorite being a 7 with 1.2. Second choice would be a P with 1.4 lense. I have owned a Nikon S,S2,Sp all with the 1.4 Nikkor lense. Favorite of the Nikon's was the S2. In the 50's you should look for a Sears Tower as they offered some outstanding bodies at the time which if memory serves were made by Nicca with LTM lenses.My very first Rangefinder interchangeable lense 35mm was a Nicca and it was everybit as good as the Leica it was copied from at the time. By the end of the 50's Niccas were history as were Leotards and several other Leica copies. Along the way I had a couple of Contax II's that I liked very much also though I preferred the Nikon that was copied from them. I have always worn glasses and found the Leica viewfinders to be tough to use and almost all Canon's,and Nikon's to have friendlier finders to me. I would definitely get one with a combined finder no matter what it was. Almost any of the all black Canon Lenses are good ones as they are the latest. Ebay has some good buys but mostly camera and lense separate. I have no problem with that as I find it mostly the cheaper way to go from the studies I've done.</p>