Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It is now almost three months I am using my new R8 and took it to a recent vacation trip to the Swiss Alpin mountains. Used lenses: Summicron-R 50mm f/2.0, Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 and Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4. Used films (slides only): Fuji Velvia 50 ASA, Fuji Provia 100 ASA, Fuji Sensia II 100 ASA. The results were stunning. The R8 is a real winner. Apart from equipment trouble I wrote about in a previous message (everything, except the standard lens, went back to Leica Solms for replacement/repair), all gear produced excellent slides. I can't wait to get my gear back from Leica. Many shots were taken in extremely tricky lightning conditions: dark clouded parts, mountains, high snow reflections, direct sunlight etc. I had set the R8 on matrix metering in order to test it thoroughly: ALL slides were correctly exposured, even those where you would expect the meter to go wrong! The only bloopers were where I had deliberately switched off the matrix metering and activated the spot meter (I had forgotten -not read the manual- about the way its memory function worked: I had simply not pushed the release button hard enough for the exposure to be put in memory, so the result was most of the time underexposure of a person against a very light background). All three lenses produced nice results. Handling them proved quite easy: although the combination of Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4 and R8 body is not a light one, it handles smoothly and easily. You just have the right "grip" on the R8. This camera handles extremely well in my (rather large) hands. About the films: the one which comes out head and shoulders above the others is undoubtedly the Velvia 50 ASA: fantastic colors, extremely sharp. Great results but only when there is enough light. The Provia 100 ASA is a good backup. I would say this film is maybe a bit less sharp than the Velvia, but it produces nice saturated colors, in line with the Velvia. You can mix up both films without problem. The new Sensia II 100 ASA was a bit of a (small) disappointment, somehow. I have the impression (although I know its predecessor -Sensia- quite well) that it is less sharp than both others. The colors are not so "vivid" anymore as its predecessor (or is it just coincidence? Maybe I will have to do more tests to be sure). All in all, I am VERY satisfied about the results. It is a pleasure to see the slides with my Leica projector and Colorplan-CF lens. Pascal Belgium - --------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was created with Claris Em@iler on a Macintosh PowerBook - --------------------------------------------------------------------- <<<PGP public key available on request>>>