Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/27
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Different strokes for different folks,
or the odd tendency of people to think that it's okay to
buy expensive lenses and bolt them onto a super-cheapo body.
Right. Anyone bitching about speculative qualities of a Hexar RF and waits
for a Voigtlander equivalent has not handled a Voigtlander Bessa-L. Feels
very plasticky. Just like an FM-10. Not particularly easy to hold onto. With
a winding lever that says "anonymous slave-labor subassembly." And feels like
one. This is from someone who thinks that the Voigtander is a great little
setup for wide-angle shots.
And so the solution is: let's glue a rangefinder onto a low-spec SLR
(actually, the lowest spec SLRs on the market). And, well... triple the price
(if and only if the predictions are true). This was what someone said about
the Hexar, but a fortiori, applies to a Voigtlander. Think of how much DOF
wide-angle those 15 and 25mm lenses have. How much precision is in those
bodies?
Frankly, if you have doubts about why you'd want to pay 75% of the lowest,
rebate-maxed, Leica-day M prices for a Konica because of "quality concerns"
and "lack of precision," I can't see why you'd want to bother with an
expensive little FM-10, at half that price and a quarter of the build
quality, with 35/50/75 lines only, especially one made by everybody's
off-brand favorite. The lenses are the most compelling thing about
Voigtlander, but even those are not that hard to make well. Look at the
Russians. It's a lot harder to build a precision body. That's why everyone is
a bigot about the M4-2 and M4-P. Good rangefinder assemblies are expensive to
make and are not volume items. Why does an M6 or an XPan cost $2K? Why were
CLs and CLEs so expensive? Even Canon RFs weren't that cheap when they came
out. So assume that a Voigtlander body has a really-high precision
rangefinder (some owners of Nikon 35-80 lenses, Konica TC-Xs, and Vivitar
zooms made by Cosina are allowed to snicker).
But wait - you won't be mounting your 35/2.8 Jupiter with that protruding
rear element (forget TTL metering) - and you'll really need a separate finder
for the 85/2 - and you'd better check to see if that collapsible Summicron
will collapse without crushing the RF housing. I know these problems are
associated with most, if not all Leica-SM mount cameras with metal shutters -
but these are the compelling reasons to get into SM cameras in the first
place - cheap, fun lenses. If you want new RF glass outside the Voigtlander
range - you might as well buy some kind of M. Or something with a brand name
in Cyrillic letters. Or something from a certain (C)amera maker in Tokyo.
If you understand the Voigtlander to be a camera with limitations, it might
be the right one for you. But I am one who would need to see a big
improvement in the way they are built before I would pay a penny more than
$249.99 for one. There are a lot of nice Canon and Russian rangefinders on
the used market, and most of them are a lot cheaper than this. Hell, you can
buy a large segment of the *real* Leica IIIc market for around $300 - with
variable diopter finders and a monster effective base length. Save your money
and buy a Zone VI spotmeter.
>>What is the update on "Voigtlander" coming out with a screwmount camera
with a
>built in range finder?? Presumably the older Leica screwmount lenses will
not
>couple with the anticipated rangefinder?!? Anyone seen any preliminary
>design concepts for this camera? Similar to the old IIIf series? Also,
does
>someone have a link where one can see the Konica Hexar up close?? Thanks
Latest report I saw, in last week's UK Amateur Photographer, stated the
launch date as being late Jan 2000. Who knows, but then again, they've been
on time with the lenses and the Bessa-L body.........
The Konica Hexar launch has had a mixed reception on this list, I think in
part because people are being asked to pay approaching Leica money for it. I
too will be very interested in the Voigtlander offering, especially if
predictions that it will cost around £400-£500 GBP, or about half the price
of the Konica, turn out to be accurate.
These debates are always mere speculation, but I would have doubted if the
Voigtlander will be similar to a Leica III, if only because the diameter of
some of the Voigtlander lens barrels obscures the viewfinder on these
cameras! Something much more M3/Canon7/Nikon SP - ish is on the cards, I
suspect.
Can't see why older Leica lenses wouldn't work- the Voigtlander lenses work
on screwmount Leicas........
Cheers
Ro
</XMP>
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From: "Rod Fleming" <rodfleming@sol.co.uk>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Subject: [Leica] voigtlander
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 10:44:24 -0000
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