jsbc

This is odd. I just found out about the magazine last week. It's a bimonthly and the current issue is no 37.

 

The latest copy featured a Leica photographer Yamaguchi. Issue 36 was about HCB.

 

http://www.socym.co.jp/pages/naturalglow.html

The color settings may have changed - or you may be saving it to a different color space.

 

Finally, is your monitor calibrated?

Yes They Cheat.

 

I have a Nikon D70, and using the settings on my Sekonic incident meter, the photos are always a little bit darker. ie I basically have to add +0.5 EV to get a proper exposure. OK, this is easy to do since all my printed photos go through photoshop anyway.

 

I think this is motivated by (1) the desire to avoid blown highlights, (2) the pissing contest on noise levels at high ISO.

 

This is NOT related to what you are claiming though.

Just to keep the record straight, the Cosina Bessaflex built quality is quite OK. The FM3 is of course more solid (it also costs more), but the Bessaflex' built quality is much better than the FM10 iteration (which Galen Rowell loved).

 

Of course the meter is more reliable, and you can get accessories for it like the rapid winder. Anyhow, it is only slightly more expensive than the Canon Rebel, which is all plastic.

 

Then again, it is also more expensive than the Spotmatic, but I think it is absurd to say a new piece of equipment costs much more than a 40-yr old Pentax. The difference is even more marked when you compare a beatup M6 with a Leica M7. I don't blame Cosina for making a profit. It is not an obscene amount of profit they are making, after all, the camera costs as only the price of a CV reflectance meter plus a 50mm Viewfinder.In fact, the Bessaflex is 50% the price of a Bessa R2-C that I am contemplating.

 

Whether the buyer wants / cannot justify the premium is a matter for the buyer to decide. Not the manufacturer's fault. This is the reason why I stick with 2nd hand M42 lenses.

 

I think Cosina erred, however, when they left out a hot shot for looks.

Cool! I did not know the lowly Bessaflex has such a pedigree! The Exakta, no less.

 

No wonder Kobayashi-san wants to make a Topcon. I think he should have offered an Exakta-M42 adapter for owners of orphaned Exakta/Topcon mount lenses.

Even the D70 -w hich does not meter with the AI/AIS lenses, have an in-focus indicator. However, it does not have arrow signs to tell you which direction to turn your lens to focus.

Ed:

 

I don't know whether you already have the lens in question.

 

If not, maybe the appropriate thing would be to the the P6 version and then get a P5-M42 adapter so that you can use it on your 35mm. I do this wiht the CZJ 300 F4.

Great links Vic.

 

I think I have pretty up made up my mind. Now I have to go hunt one down.

 

Why another PnS instead of using my CV lens? Well, just for the more rigourous trips where I may not have the hands to change lens (happened to me at Harbin where it was -25C); and also for the business trips where I can put a GR21 in one pocket and a T3 in the other.

 

Thanks guys.

Thanks guys:

 

The other mysterious 5% is 75mm or 90mm.

 

I am simplifying my kit to a T3 (for the flash pictures), a Tri-Elmar, a 35mm Lux (this is one great lens) and a 21mm (either the CV or the GR21).

 

If the GR21 works as advertised, and the pictures are sharp (the vignetting until F5.6 is slightly disturbing, but how serious is it if one uses negatives?), then I can drop the Tri-Elmar eventually.

 

Someone also email me and suggest the Ricoh R1 which has 24mm Panorama mode. It is also much cheaper.

 

As for the CL recommendation, I actually have another M6TTL and Barnack cameras, but they are heavy or they have no metering.

Does anyone own a Ricoh GR-21? I own a GR-1v and I am quite

impressed with it. However, it is hardly used now that I have bought

a Tri-Elmar and a T3 (whose 35mm lens is more versatile).

 

My question is: would a GR21 make a great pairing with my M7? I

usually travel with the following lenses: a C/V 21mm F4, a Tri-

Elmar, a 35 Lux, and a 90mm. I find that I use the 28mm-50mm for 75%

of the shots, and a 21mm for the remaining 20%. However, it does

seem a pain to constantly switch lenses, and put-on / take-off the

viewfinder. So I am thinking, would a 21mm PnS make life a lot

easier for me? I don't want to carry another Leica body while

travelling.

 

P.S. It also seems to be that the 21mm would be a natural pairing

for the T3, or other digital PnS that I carry around, most of which

start with a 35mm angle of view. I don't mind a digital PnS, if the

quality is good and it covers 21mm.

Well, the funny thing is that with all these APS - sized sensors, no-one is making superfast primes, at least in the wide-normal range.

 

We are used to 35mm F1.4 for the 135 frame - someone ought to be making a 24mm F1.4, or even F1.0 (which should be easier to do since it caters to a smaller sensor). Sigma is launching a 30F1.4, but face it, their brand lacks prestige/ build quality / image quality.

 

Finally, I think Leica should build a NEW APS-sized senor rangefinder cam that with a smaller flange-sensor distance, and throat,, but more importantly, AF contacts. OK, it can utiize M-lenses, but only if you buy a cheap US$200 adapter (this will be easier to make since there are no contacts or auto-diaphragm. This will permit the intorduction of newer, even faster wide-angles, ie a 14mm F2.0 etc. After all, just selling the camera will not generate sufficient business flow, you need people to buy new lenses too.

 

There will be a kit lens that is a 18-24-35 F2.0 Tri-elmar, which will be small and light due to the APS-sensor.

 

Finally, unlike the RD-1, which is positioned as a retro-camera, I would make sure that the back LCD can be switch on for framing to ensure the new digicam crowds would support it.

 

I think this machine, even if it sells for US$3,000 with the kit lens, would generate a lot of business. Of course I'll keep on innovating, with a new model in 1 year time that will incorporate a movie mode, a cleaner high-ISO sensor etc.

 

The third iteration would be a system that beats dSLR on their own grounds. I will get one with optical LCD VF (technology should progress so that small LCDs have 1 million plus pixels by that time), and by buying from Konica, an image-stabilization sensor system. That way, hook up with the right adapter, I can use my old Telyt or even a beat up 300mm F4 Nikon AIS lens.

 

Simultaneously, I will introduce some AF zooms, or wide AF primes. Then I'll have a complete system that will do everything.

 

No, there are no plans to introduce a MP3 version.

For the 15mm, as long as something is in front of you, just point and shoot, you don't even have to aim, even if it's one meter away. I save the coldshoe for a level.

 

However, maybe I need to inscribe on the Leica topplate:

"15mm --> Tuck in Tummy!"

 

 

But Huw, you are ingenious and very innovative.

The really funny thing is - Hermes' investment did not help Leica's financial position at all.

 

When Hermes made their investment (back in 2001, I think) they bought old shares at market price. At that time, I thought it was the last chance the smart insiders could sell their stock at a good price.

As you said you want a wide angle, rather than a wider substitute for your normal lenses, a 35mm is just too similar.

 

But really, there are cheap (but good wide angles available that you can have your cake and eat it.

The 28mm Contax is cheap (compared with a 28mm Summicron). Just get it. Then, if you can swing it, you can get the new Zeiss 24mm F2.8 or the 21mm F2.8. If not the CV25mm F4 or the 21mm F4. Both are cheap.

 

There is a world of difference between 21mm and 28mm. Who knows, maybe you'll adapt to ultra-wides better. For the Leica 28mm Summicron, there is no doubt it is a very good lens, but if you have the use an attached VF, you might as well undergo the hassle for a wider perspective.

Mind you Vuk if you get them get the ones for dedicated K-mount. The screw mount ones would be useless for you since there are no A/M switches on the CV lenses.

Correction: there ARE new M42 lenses - produced by Cosina/Voigtlander. Check out the 40mm Ultron and the 55mm Topcon lenses. These were produced in the last two years.

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Eliot wrote:

 

"No Bill, I think he objects to paying Zeiss prices for s product made by Cosina. If you are paying made in Germany prices you should get a product that is made in Germany, at least, in part. It is not a matter of German vs Japanese quality. The Cosina products may be very very good. I just don't like the games they play with the names, like the game Cosina plays with the Voigtlander names, the Japanese using a German name (Contax) for sales purposes"

 

Well, who said made in Germany prices have to be higher than made-in-Japan prices. Last time I check, with the CIA Factbook, Japan actually has a higher GDP per capita than Germany. Now that this has come to light, would Eliot pay more for CV products than for more than Leica?

 

Furthermore, the odd thing is Eliot got this wrong. This trend is not the case of Japanese using an European product names to sell their products, but rather European manufacturers are selling Japanese products disingenuously. Hasselblad is repackaging Fuji products, and Rollei repackages Fuji Klasse and Bessa R2.

 

I just don't like the game these Europeans play ;o)

 

 

Personally, I think there is no one can comment whether a company should or shouldn't (in the moral sense) price its product at a particular level. A company can charge damn well whatever its marketing department advises. It just has to live and fail by the consequences.

By the way, I got my adapters from www.rugift.com, where the adapters actually have a ledge that stop the lens down. This does not matter for your Takumar lenses, which have a A/M switch, but it does matter the lenses (adaptall screw mounts, the new CV lenses) which lack such switches. Price is reasonable too.

With Kodachrome I think you need to turn the ICE off.

 

I get a lot of grain (an incredible amount) on my 400 negative scans (even with GEM). Slides are clean as a whistle without GEM. In fact, for negatives, my 8 year old Minolta Dimage Dualscan (the original) does a much better job. Go figure.

 

I think it must be the LED light source and the fact whether you position the scanner next to an electromagnetic source.

Galen Rowell used a FM-10, which is even worse than a F50. What give?

The Canon SD300 takes alright pictures, but I have bought 2 because the movie clips are fantastic!

I am too young to remember this, but how large were the original disc formats? Even smaller than 110?

I have both cameras, and I find the T3 lens to be extremely contrasty - too much so really.

 

However, I still like the minilux lens more because of its resolution, the color fidelity etc.

The new Bessaflex... It has a nice VF. Plus, metering is a lot easier. You don't have to focus stopped down either.

 

Wouldn't a Nikon adapter require a glass element to provide infinity focus?

 

 

That said, for a really wacky suggestion, an AX will turn your camera into auto-focus.