Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/23

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Subject: Re: [Leica]Hexar Smexhar....not worth the money!
From: Gaifana@aol.com
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 21:33:59 EST

I think that in the absence of more information about the build, calling 
something a "low-spec SLR with a rangefinder glued on top" is more 
appropriately aimed at the Voigtlander offering. As far as I know, Konica 
never made any camera with the same chassis as the Hexar RF. Lots of people 
pay for Minolta CLEs which are basically Minolta SLRs with rangefinders glued 
on top. And let's not get to Leica, which has been selling 1950s-spec cameras 
(low-spec since about 1959) for fifty years and never reducing the price. 
After that long, you should realize some economies of scale or just go out of 
business.

Too many people associate the Leica name with some magic talisman making you 
a better photographer while ignoring the realities of enjoyable picture 
taking - that's why there was a Nikon F. Technology does move forward. The 
littany of famous photographers who used M3s back in the day did so because 
those M3s were the new thing, something pretty radical. Same thing with F2s. 
For some purposes, cameras like that are relics. For some people they are a 
lifestyle.

I don't know how I feel about a $2000 camera of any make. It's just a camera. 
I have the income to buy anything on the market, but I still hesitate with a 
Leica body that expensive. It's not my manhood or something that *makes* me 
take better pictures. It's there. Lenses hook onto it. Find the lens you want 
and the body that takes it. For some people it will be the Konica, which at 
its highest price level will still come in well below the next Leica.



In a message dated 12/23/99 6:01:37 PM, dstate1@hotmail.com writes:

<< I quite agree.. I am suprised at the price levels Konica is hoping to get 
for these cameras.  I would certainly "put up" with autofocus and go to the 
excellent Zeiss lenses considering the lower price of the
G2/whatever lens combo....

You would also get TTL and a higher shutter speed, and just about every 
other thing in the techno world I can think of...

The Hexar would make a great extra body, at HALF the price they are asking.  
Otherwise it is a low spec SLR with a rangefinder glued on top!

Dan



>
>
>Perhaps I'm missing something, but I see no point in paying Leica prices 
>for
>a Konica.  If it had a similar price to a Contax G2, that would be one
>thing.  But if I am going to drop $2,000 for an extra manual focus
>rangefinder body I will just buy an M6TTL.
>

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From: "Dan S" <dstate1@hotmail.com>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica]Hexar Smexhar....not worth the money!
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 22:42:49 GMT
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