Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/14

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Subject: RE: [Leica] 50 1.4 Test Results
From: "Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <peterk@lucent.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 13:39:55 -0800

>Eric wrote: 

>
><snip> "They always have to make a big deal out of the price of Leica. "A
camera and lens worth >what your car is?" Give me a break.

The truth is the Leica is a very pricey camera and when you add a couple of
lenses you are at the price of a good used car, perhaps the one you own.
But that's true for the Hasselblad, Rolleiflex 6008i, and other cameras.
All Pop Photo is saying is true. 

>For example, when they tested Leica lenses a couple years ago, they didn't
use the best versions of >the lenses, and they came out in their tests to be
very mediocre performers. That is the 35 >Summilux (old, not ASPH when it
was out) and 50 Summicron, and I forget what long lens they tested. >But it
flew in the face of the European publications in that instance. 

PUBLICATIONS DO NOT ALWAYS AGREE WITH EACH OTHER.  TESTS ARE NOT ALL THE
SAME.  COLORFOTO seems to place all German made lenses in the top spot!!!
Chasseur D'Image seems to do the same with Nikon, and the list goes on.  You
appear to be more annoyed at Pop Photo because they told the truth, saying
that those particular Leica lenses were not very good.  Personally I like
knowing the truth.  Hey, Nothing is perfect and Leica is not the end all to
photography (oh my god...what did I say...blasphemy!). 

>Maybe they're more friendly to Leica now, because we see occasional Leica
>ads in magazines these days. Lets hope we see more in the future.

NONSENSE. Their readers are a consumer oriented market and that's what they
are writing for.  People are price conscious and many cannot afford the
luxury of an M or R camera so they sepak to them about price.  Its all
personal perspective.  

Peter K.

PS Are you or someone close to you employed by Leica?