Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I think for B&W printers the real excitement at PMA was Jon Cone's adaptation of his system to the Canon 9000(9001) printer. You now can have one printer that does Piezography for only $200 over and above acquisition cost that can be switched easily back to color. Plus 8X prints in about 90 seconds. For all the people who have held back from Piezography due to high cost and expensive conversion you should take a look again. Leica MP. For people who really get along with magnificently crafted machines then the MP works well. Very tight build, great, great viewfinder. Manual advance, motor advance, leicavit advance, or rapidwinder, all work seamlessly. The new rewind gadget works for those who don't get along with knobs and it has a nylon bushing on the bottom to avoid scoring the top plate. No stupid red dot, I may have to sell stock in black tape manufacturers. Erwin and the others aren't shilling for Leica, the camera is outstanding for what it is. If you don't want or desire such a beast then there is the M7, the R9, or literally hundreds of thousands of previous M mount cameras to float your boat. For the near future the only way to get the new viewfinder in your other M is the transplant option. Who knows, maybe that collector will never know that the LN in box with all papers MP has an M7 viewfinder in it. The new Fuji Astia is incredible. Fuji had a 60" enlargement from I think 645(maybe 67). No grain at all, and the image was mostly light midtones like a sky would have. It will be available in May, 35mm, 120, and 4X5: 8X10 will follow. The new Velvia will show some grain on the same enlargement scale with all the things that Velvia is known for; extremely high color saturation, very high acutance, extremely high perceived sharpness, with none of the downfalls. These would include magenta tinged whites and blues, unbelievable skin tones. When I get the test rolls we will see if the production is as good as the samples. Finally, as to comments about film, film was there at the show, techs were there to answer questions. It is just that almost no one was asking. The reps on the counter were rotated off the digital counters to the film counters for the biggest companies for R&R. Don dorysrus@mindspring.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html