Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/09/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sept 28, 2002 Greetings all from the damp town of Bonn, just miles away from Photokina in Köln. I thought I'd share a few impressions I have from my few days of fondling new gear ...impressions which you are all free to agree with or not. 1.) Canon D1s- this camera took the 'most visitors' award at this years Photokina. I don't remember getting so many elbows in the face last time as I did this time to get my grubby paws on this baby! The camera is the first full frame CCD 35mm SLR that uses CMOS chips to get higher resolution (11.1Megapixels) as well as the best speed I have seen on a digital camera. (they say 3 fps and I believe it.) The camera has a firewire port of course and some sort of low power consumption mode that lets it go at full tilt for 600+ images. This sucker is a heavy one though! It is about 3lbs. and feels it. That didn't stop the next guy from literally plucking it from my hands... 2.)The Leica R9- this camera is best described as an updated R8. It looks pretty much the same and is 100grams lighter. It has an LCD counter on the top deck, a few more functions on the rear LCD (backlighting & EV exposures by tenths)as well as a locking mode selector knob (thank God!) and of course the HSS flash modes for high speed synch as we saw in the M7. The anthracite finish is particularly nice on this...in fact I haven't seen this finish before on any camera. I took a good few wacks at one that was out for abuse and I think it probably wears better than even titanium or chrome finishes. Overall I would have called that camera an R8.2 I think...but still for a good workhorse SLR I think the R9 will be the perfection of the R8 line. I believe the R8 will be discontinued shortly, though no one admits this. 3.) The 90f2.0 APO ASPH M chrome - finally! 4.) The 90f2.0 APO ASPH R - finally! Well, more can be said about this one. The lens is only about 500 grams or so and around the size of the 50f1.4 Summilux R. Nice looking with a lens shade that locks when you extend and then turn it. I want that feature in ALL my lenses. This lens is supposed to surpass the 100 APO Macro in sharpness...and personally if it is on par with that lens I will want one in my camera arsenal. The combination of the focal length, speed, size and apparent optical progress will make this the winner of the show out of Leica's entries. BTW, Leica showed me a new hard cover handbook with all the new products that will be out this year. A really nice horizontal format book reminiscent of the books that watch companies send out. Very classy. 5.) Cosina-Voigtlander - As I sat across the table from the impressive Mr. Kobayashi and Mr. Kayto of Cosina and next to Tom & Tulukki Abrahamsson this morning I realized I didn't care if there was even one new product ...I was just glad to be in such good company. Well, with Cosina and the above mentioned company, there will be no show that you won't walk away amazed. First I was shown the two new additions to the Bessa R2 family...the Contax & Nikon mount Bessa R2-C and R2-S. Resplendent with some vintage lenses I noticed that both these cameras were able to focus better than my personal Nikon rangefinder as there focus wheels were new and smooth, while my (and everyone's) old Nikon and Contax rangefinders were do for an overhaul some time in the 70's and haven't made it there yet. This was quickly followed by a second wave of gear that included a literal suitcase full of gadgets! Finders, grips, caps, levels, shoes, cases, winders...no category left unturned. Somehow an 85mm APO lanthar found its way to the table with a Nikon mount on the back that looked very much like the 'real' thing. When I asked how they were able to produce this mount, everyone in the room just smiled. Tom is looking through his M7 viewfinder and declaring that he was getting 1/500 sec. in this dimly lit conference room. Just when I thought I was missing the joke, that is when they took out the big guns in a product I think is the most surprising of the show... Cosina has made a prototype of what might very well be the first 35f1.2 ASPH Leica M mount lens!!!!! That is not a typo! It is the 'noctilux' of 35mm lenses I guess you could say. It was explained to me that this lens has been in development for over two years and features 3 Aspheric elements. The feel of this lens is solid and the size not offensive either. Overall Tom and I guessed it was in the neighborhood of 400-450 grams and by my eye it was a bit less obtrusive in the viewfinder when compared with a Noctilux. Price is not determined yet, but it will indeed cost less than a Noctilux while delivering quite a punch. A metal finder similar to the recently released 28 metal finder is also in the works. This will be a boon to those who missed out on Leica SBLOO finders before they hit house-mortgaging prices. 6.) Hasselblad - another show stopper was this booth. The Hasselblad H1 auto focus 645 AF camera get nothing but praise from my brief encounter. Mr. Bob Nunn of Hasselblad was gracious enough to give a quick tour of this new marvel. The camera is stainless steel and feels and looks much better than any competitor on the market. The autofocus is fast and positive and the balance of the camera with grip is unmatched in this arena. The lenses are fuji as with the Xpan, however it was stressed that this is a Hassy system with the same (if not better) components that one would find in a 500-200 series camera. The LCD screen on the H1 tells you everything but the weather...including showing a histogram of the image just taken...something that will go well with the Phase 1 Back made for this camera. I think we are seeing the birth of a great new system!!! 7.) Imacon - The Imacon 646 is a nifty looking unit that replaces the Flextight III and steps it up a bit. It uses the same CCD as the 848 and thus achieves 40/Mb per sec. speeds at 6300 dpi (for 35mm.) I think the new ICE type software that will be included with this model with set a new standard for such software packages in the future...and as testimony to the ethics of this company they will offer it for free to older scanner owners who registered their machines. 8.) Wacom- in the 'I got to have one' booth is the new Cintique screens. These are tablets with LCD screens built in featuring 512 levels of pressure sensitivity. I used one for a brief moment atthe show and all I can say is ....SLAMMIN! signing off from Germany for the night, Rich www.photovillage.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html