Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 2/13/04 12:25 PM, "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> wrote: > That one is incredibly simple to answer - Cosina is not a company mired > in history and tradition, that appears to take years to make decisions > about when to go to lunch or the bathroom, and that has absolutely no > concept of how times have changed and of how to market. Or, to put it > another way, it appears to be a sleek, trim company that can turn on a > dime, and that is driven by one man, who can decide in an instant what > he wants to do, and then put his engineers to work doing it. > > Also - Don't forget that we don't know anything about the sensor or > sensor size. What Leica has essentially been saying is not that a > digital M couldn't be built, but rather, than an M couldn't be turned > into a digital - because of the distance from the rear element of the > lens to the film plane. But if the "film" isn't 35 mm, but is smaller - > what then? > Then it's a much easier to make camera! The digital thing has gotten people leaning on their wides to extra wides and they end going wide crazy ending up with a wider fields of shooting then they have before after they've gotten their amazing ultra wides. Wides are the specialty of the Leica M system. Because they don¹t have to be built retrofocal the main reason. The ASPH thing we've got that others have not is another. So if it's the standard 1.5 magnification that the majority of the digital world is attuned to your exquisite unparalleled 28 Summicron becomes a within one degree of true normal (43) 42mm f2 lens. I've been loving shooting with that focal length on my DSLR. I have two 28's to use with it a super fast and a compact cheap non D. The 28 Summicron ASPH is one of the main aces up the Leica M users sleeves but I'd get even more use out of it with the edges cropped off for me making it into a normal for all practical purposes. Your 24 Elmirit becomes the most popular and useful 35, it's 36 but round it off. And your 21 be it a Super Angulon, Cosina, or ASPH or non ASPH even becomes a 31.5. Which is not 28 but seems great to me. Yet Not wide enough for the habits of many. So the Cosina Voigtländer Heliars: 15 makes for a 22.5 12 makes for an 18 And with the outer crust shaved off these optics are extra tender. With just the meat in use. I think its a plan! Maybe Leica will come out with them it digital versions with the smaller image circle making for a compact less expensive more efficient lens. Like nikon is doing. Maybe canon. Personally I'm fond of what you get on film when you use the digital lenses. Really cool vignetting. Mark Rabiner Photography Portland, Oregon http://rabinergroup.com/Catagorypages/PersonalWork.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html