gaijin

>>Bill Acito , Aug 19, 2008; 02:21 p.m.

 

You know it is pretty bad when your wife refers to it as that "large pile of stuff I am going to have to get rid of when you die". Seriously.<<

 

Perhaps I shouldn't but I can't help it... I have heard a similar quote from the wife. I can only say, LOL! "Deal with it because I won't be here to worry about it."

Your best investment would be, as previously mentioned, the 90 Colorplan lens for your P150. I have a P150 and upgraded to the 90 Colorplan from the Hektor and it made a significant difference in projected image quality.

Very enjoyable, very interesting, and light hearted. Thank you for posting the photos here and putting up the web site. I look forward to visiting again and again in the future to watch for updates.

Oddly I enjoy using the oldest LTM lenses I can find on my 1984 vintage Wetzlar made M6. A 1937 vintage 135 Hektor, 1946 and 1948 vintage pair of 35 f/3.5 Elmars, the latter in absolutely mint condition, a 1932 vintage 73 f/1.9 Hektor, and a pair of 35 f/3.5 Summarons, one A36 one E39 (all in LTM). I'd love to have a digital camera that would accept these lenses but an M8 isn't in my budget. I'm hoping the Olympus mFT (micro four thirds) camera comes into production soon, with a 20mm lens mount to sensor register it wouldn't be long before an adepter would come on the market to allow use of the LTM & M lenses on the mFT digital body.

 

If you're not aware of the Olympus/Panasonic mFT camera, it is a 4:3rds sensor digital camera Olympus is developing in conjunction with Panasonic with a 20mm lens mount to sensor register that will be sans penta prism i.e. live view compact digital camera that with the Olympus made adapter will accept Olympus/Leica/Panasonic 4:3rds lenses as well as accepting its own line of reduced size 4:3rds lenses. With a 20mm register it will be able to accept LTM & M lenses with an adapter. The only draw back will be the 2x crop factor but I can live with that to be able to use some truly vintage Leica glass on an affordable digital body.

While I do have more than one camera I so often enjoy my Leica R5 and 21 Super Angulon. Like your R4s, the R5 is smooth as silk, has a unique solid feel I appreciate every time I press the shutter button. I always feel comfortable with that camera.

 

That's a great photo, I love her facial expression. Thanks for sharing it.

There is no way this will ever be a digital rangefinder, not unless Leica chooses to make a variant of the basic m4:3 camera, and that is highly unlikely since they would have to make coupled lenses for a few new lenses, and that ain't gonna happen. This will simply be a small digital camera with a big LCD screen on the back that relies on auto focus and uses the 4:3 sensor. Get used to it.

I doubt you'll be disappointed with the 510, especially since the price right now is so nice (I love mine and see nothing compelling in the 520 to cause me to upgrade... if it is even an upgrade...speculatedable). In my opinion, a must have lens is the ZD 50/2 macro. Arguably the sharpest lens I have ever owned, and I've owned a lot of Leica and Zeiss glass over the years.

I like the shot as is.

>>Charles Hess , Jul 09, 2008; 03:21 p.m.

 

Looks like the article was written before the DP1 actually hit the market. Now that it's out, the consensus seems to be that, despite the fine image quality, it has a number of quirks, the most important being that it is slow, slow, slow. It is no longer is appealing to me, based on user reports.<<

 

But you can buy at least four DP1's for the price of one M8. So buy four and shoot till the buffer is full, grab the next DP1 and shoot until its buffer is full, grab the next... etc.

Not as hot as my Wetzlar 1984 vintage M6, 748th M6 to be produced. Now THAT is hot!

My personal guaranty to anyone who buys anything from me is I will refund their full price if they are not happy with what I sold them. But that's just me. Have I been abused by that policy? Yes. Just recently sold a couple of M42 lenses to a gent (a Chinon 28/2.8 and a Mamiya 35/2.8 in M42 mount). Both lenses were in mint minus condition and sold for $35 a piece shipped with both end caps. The buyer received them and claimed there was a flaw in the coating of the Mamiya and wanted to send them back, to that I agreed so said send them back. I was kind of caught off guard because I do my best to look lenses and cameras over very detailed before offering them for sale and recall no defects in either lens. I got them back yesterday and had to get a magnifying glass to see what the buyer was referring to in terms of flaws. The only thing I could see was a micro air-bubble in the front element of the Mamiya, not a surface flaw as he claimed. I could find no flaw at all in the Chinon. But I refunded his money because that's my policy. I subsequently sent him a not so nice message stating that I found his reason for rejection to be ridiculous but he got his money back.

 

Life's too short and my reputation too important to me to ignore another's dissatisfaction. I won't treat people like I have been treated on occasion. I want people pleased with what I sold them, and if it means biting the bullet on occasion, well so be it. But it all depends on the rules of the sale. I am up front that if someone is not happy with what I sold they get a full refund, to include their return shipping cost. But if you state it is sold "as is" then you have met your obligation.

 

My 2 cents... FWTW

But then again, I don't want to sell any of mine.

Absolutely nothing, don't buy one... unless you buy it from me.

Don at DAG is still adding third cams to R lenses. He added the third cam to a 2 cam lens for me last year. And it's still $100.

Paul,

 

I can only hope that this self portrait will finally replace the Hassy 500 self portrait. You look more distinguished in this shot, not to mention that's a beautiful Leica SL2 you found. I just feel better knowing this was shot with that fine SL2. LOL! I may be laughing but that is the truth.

 

Don

No.

Wow Paul, nice find! congratulations on such a beauty.

 

Don

Yes you can.

 

I have adapters for my 510 to fit Leica R, Nikon, Pentax M42, and Contax lenses. I bought them for about $25 each plus shipping from GoShot cameras here in the USA. The adapters are beautifully made, focus perfectly at infinity, and were shipped promptly.

>>Frank Uhlig, Feb 25, 2008; 10:32 a.m.<<

 

"OK: why another Leica? The best and now cheapest film SLR bodies are the Nikon F100, a steal at their current used prices, with prime lenses that are as good as they come for SLRs. They are the film SLR champs at tele, sports, and macro shots. So, why a Leica R?"

 

Have you ever actually used a Leica R camera and Leica R lenses? No doubt the Nikon F100 is a fine camera, same with its lenses, but it is not Leica R.

 

"Isn't this question in the wrong forum anyway? No rangefinder advice sought here, I think."

 

Before they tacked on "...and rangefinder" to this forum title it was simply known as the "Leica Forum" here on photo.net and there were plenty of R, M, and LTM messages swapped (try a search of the archives) so a Leica R question is appropriate here.

The new 35/1.4 Nokton is, I believe, actually known (according to CV) as the 35/1.4 Nokton "Classic." The 35/1.2 Nokton still reigns as the supreme Nokton. The ugly bokeh of the "classic" is just that. Fugly.

My E510 works for me. Spend the money on good glass rather than the body, unless you truly need the E3 body, which 8 out of 10 people actually don't. High quality glass makes far more difference in image quality than the difference between an E3 body and a 510 body (essentially no difference in image quality detectable).

No one else mentioned it so I will, the only noise you can shut off in the E410 is the "Beep" when the auto focus system locks. Everything else is purely mechanical noise and is certainly no louder than any other digital SLR that I have owned or own. But then again, owning a pair of Leica M6's I have a pretty good idea what you're used to with the Mamiya, well if you cut Mamiya's clack by half.

>>Robert Budding, Feb 15, 2008; 06:11 a.m.<<

 

"The biggest upgrade would come from shooting, and projecting, medium format."

 

Apparently it is simply expecting way too much from some that their response might actually stay on topic and be helpful to the person requesting advice.

 

Your post is, so far, the number ONE candidate for "DUH, but not relevant!" post of the month award.

 

Congratulations on your achievement...

What distances are you projecting at, that would seem to me to be the deciding factor?

 

On any screen size you will benefit from a change from the Hektor supplied with your 150 to the 90 Colorplan lens (to me it's like the difference between shooting with a vintage 50/3.5 Elmar wide open and a new (today's) 50/2 Summicron at f/4).

 

If you're projecting on a larger than 2 meter screen in a not fully dark room you could benefit from 250 watt.

 

Without stating your projection goals it is difficult to make a realistic suggestion, but you could probably assume that any increase in projector wattage and lens/condenser quality will increase quality of what you'll see on the screen, assuming good slide quality. But how much do you need?

 

I have a Leitz 200 watt projector dating to 1939 that does a fantastic job of projection. There isn't a person yet who has viewed slides projected through that vintage beauty who doesn't compliment it (matte white screen, screen size 2 meters, in a well darkened room).

Later, in the long life of the lovely 135/4.5 Hektor, there was a parallel focusing mount 135 Hektor made, not a lot of them as I recall, but they were nice because the front element no longer rotated when focusing. I have one of those but find I like the results from my vintage 1937 135 Hektor better, in fact better than any of the many 135 Hektors I have owned over the years. I've bought and sold a lot of Leitz/Leica screw and M mount lenses and the 1937 135 Hektor has stayed with me when everything else Leica has been sold or traded for something else Leica.