S2

<p>I was in my Leica dealers today, where they had an S2. Actually it was a pre-production version but it looked pretty finished to me.</p>

<p>Wow, that viewfinder! It's like settling down into a top price seat at a luxury cinema, and looking at the world on a wide, wide screen!</p>

<p>Did you get to try the auto focus?</p>

<p>Did they have many lenses for it? I've heard from some colleagues that the lenses are lagging behind the body production.</p>

<p>I tried it out few days ago. I think the AF is a bit slow. I only managed to tried out one lens. (70mm I think, cant really recall). But the green display was really cool.</p>

<p>"Did you get to try the auto focus?"</p>

<p>Using the 70mm lens the auto focus was able to accurately track pedestrians walking outside the shop, it snapped into focus almost instantly when swung from one subject to another, and focusing on low contrast objects in the darker recesses of the shop there was no hunting. Best of all was the manual focus "feel", there was none of the usual AF/Manual Focus compromise, the manual focusing felt as silky smooth and precise as any Leica manual focus lens. </p>

<p>Interestingly I was recently in my Phase One dealers picking up my back after a repair, they had the new Phase One/Mamiya 645 with a hugely improved AF system, so I was able to compare the two. The new Phase One/Mamiya system will certainly give the S2 a run for its money, but it can't compete with the S2 in terms of ultra smooth manual focusing.</p>

<p>Gary,<br>

the Mamiya cannot compete with the S2 in terms of ultra smooth manual focusing, but it will with its price level! What counts more?</p>

<p>Cheers</p>