stephen_jones4

On a previous thread, a 5x zeiss loupe was mentioned which

allegedly gave superior eye relief to the leica offering. Does

anyone know where I can purchase one? Preferably in the UK?

Do I have to move to New York to get access these interesting

bits and pieces...?!

I think you're right - if sharpness is your prime consideration,

there isn't much to choose between a Nikkor at f8 and a leica

lens at f8 (at least for a large proportion of the fixed lenses).

There is a big difference in sharpness at wide apertures

however (although maybe that's what you've got m's for?!) and

there is a huge difference in tonality and the way the lenses

perform in difficult light conditions (I know this from shooting

natural light dance/ballet photographs with both systems). The

only caveat is in the case of zooms - the f4 zooms, although

apparantly very sharp, do not seem to me to have the same

tonality as the primes/f2.8 zooms. In other words, my advice

would be that if you're really going to stick to the lenses you

mention go with R but if you're going to be seduced by zooms

maybe think again. BTW, although the 24 2.8 is considered a

relatively weak R lens, and the 242.8 afd a relatively strong

performer, having used the one and owned the other, I would

still say the R is far superior, especially if tonality and not just

sharpness are important to you. Finally, and for what it's worth, I

always felt the 35 1.4ais lens to be one of the very best of the

nikkors - I 've never used the f2 and even more finally, the 902.8's

are ALL wonderful - I used to own the old(est) 5 element version

and it made mincemeat of the 105 2.5 ais I owned (which

nikonians reckon to be one of their all time finest)

Please please forgive me if this is old news...After Lutz K's

advice re: using a cable tie, I have found that the plastic strap tie

for attaching a bicycle pump to a bike frame works as an

excellent upgrade. The things come in packs of 2 and have a

convenient "nipple" (that would attach to the pump) which gives

excellent purchase for focussing and can even be filed down into

the ergonomic shape of the real tabs. Because you tighten them

up with a screwdriver you can take them on and off if you wish (I

should counsel against tightening them too tight in case you

damage anything!). Zefal (a french (?)cycle manufacturer) do an

XL one which is big enough to accomodate my 90f2apo

although so far I have been defeated as far as the 751.4 is

concerned. In any case it has made a huge difference to my use

of the 90 and I would like to think that it might give others equal

delight.

I know you said you didn't need glasses, but for the information

of my compatriots in myopia I should point out that using my 35

with my 0.85 is a real strain, albeit just about possible. I like the

idea of the 35 external viewfinder by voigtlander...

Having just bought a beautiful new Mac, I am hoping to begin

using it to scan and print images taken with my leica m6's. I

wonder what scanner/printers people would recommend.

Specifically, the Piezography prints I have seen seem to be

genuinely "photographic" in their quality (although this system

has only just begun to make it over here to the UK and seems

quite a hassle to set up.) but much of the sample output from

e.g. Epson 1290 printers seems garish and fake in terms of its

colours even if the resolution is impressive. I have only just

"sealed" the tomb that was my darkroom and I'm beginning to

wonder if I'll ever get the lovely results that my Rodagon

enlarging lens gave me. There seems to be very little information

to be gleaned over here (in Brighton, England) so any comments

would be very much appreciated.