Re:f1.4 80mm Summilux Kennebunkport Seminar

[ted grant <75501.3002@compuserve.com>]

Eric Welch wrote:

<<<A lot of people have said this lens was special. And that the 75mm 1.4
Summilux M is very similar. I'm getting one of those soon, so I'm looking
forward to the possibilities. Enjoy! >>>>>

g'day Eric:

I'm assuming you're speaking of Tom's enthusisam of the 1.4 Summilux 80mm
that he ran with in Kennebumkport. I saw what he knocked off and it was
remarkable for the amount of light he worked with, fine images.

I have had one since before 1986, I remeber that date as that is the time I
jumped out of a Van in Edinburgh and landed a little low and bounced the
lens (first) and camera off the concrete due to the strap being longer than
necessary hanging on my shoulder.. OUCH! Did I have tears in my eyes?  Damn
right! and nearly went into cardiac arrest!

It didn't do any damage to the glass, but did require Reinhold Mueller in
Toronto to fix/straighten the front ring assembly, he did a champion job as
he is a "master at fixing things Leica!"  It still works as it is built
like a Tiger tank!

I use it wide open shooting Kodachrome in the wildest low light situations
you can imagine and it is one super fine lens, even after the beating and
banging.  It just glows with brilliance on the R8 screen.

On the R8 it is pure magic since, I like Tom had the standard screen
changed to full matt. Quite frankly a very wise move for any R8 owners. The
matt screen because of the f 1.4 brilliance increases eas of focusing in
low light and it takes away the distraction of the swiggley/wiggley
standard screen centre spot.

It physically balances well with the R8, so you'll enjoy it very much for
easy of handling and the extremely fine images it cuts on film.

ted