[Leica] S3 war

[Gary Klein <leicaman_99@yahoo.com>]

Having examined an S3 very carefully and have compared it with my Leica M42 
system, Nikon did not evolve the bodies as Leica did with their M 
series.  When I looked at the example I was lent, I thought it was not up 
to the finish and feel of my Leica without question.  The lens for this 
camera that I looked at was the  50mm f1.4.  It seemed to be a nice lens 
with good qualities, but it didn't give me confidence as my Leica M 
does.  This coming from a guy who has a lot of Nikon F manual focus stuff.

I think Nixon concentrated their efforts on the SLR line as they did create 
a great product in their F series.  Now they weren't perfect and have 
produced some real bonehead gear (how about the uncoated 43~86 original 
zoom, the original mush master and the Nikkormats before the FT2 which had 
among the hardest ever to set ISO dials.  The back coming off stuff for 
loading never bothered me from the F.  The Leica IIIf was a slightly harder 
outfit to load and that never seemed to phase me.

Look at their rangefinder gear, they even produced a half frame machine in 
the S series later than Leica even tried in the middle fifties.  They too 
realized that 1/2 frame was not popular enough to support production.  I 
think the only company that did 1/2 frame right was Olympus with their pen 
f series of cameras.  A professional friend of mine had me scan a ton of 
his negatives and slides made on the Pen F he had and it was remarkable how 
nice the stuff scans.  Of course it was slightly grainier, but the 
definition was good.

gck

I do think it is interesting that Nixon is reproducing the S3, of which 
will no doubt be produced in a hand made fashion much as the originals 
were.  But lets be realistic, if you wanted to use a rangefinder camera for 
professional photography, I think the Leica M6 would be the logical choice 
as they have a system.  Most excellent up to date lenses and 
accessories.  My M gets weekly if not nearly daily usage.  In my view its 
really the only viable modern rangefinder system extant.