[Leica] Visoflex on MP (II or III, bellows or....)

[marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)]

At 06:44 PM 10/17/2006, B. D. Colen wrote:
>Beyond that - the Visoflex may be a marvel of optical engineering - or
>enginoptics, but what has that got to do with its use for real photography
>in the real world? (And yes, I did own one many years ago, and thought it
>was a nifty gimmick.) It doesn't turn an M camera into a useful reflex
>camera, it turns an M camera into a rangefinder camera with a whopping tumor
>at the end of its nose. As many a photojournalist found in the 60s and into
>the early 70s, if one was a rangefinder shooter, there was no need to invest
>in a reflex system - Nikon F body, 105 2.5, 200 f4, and you were good to go
>- along with your M2, M3, and range of lenses from 21 to 50 mm. ;-)

With respect, BD, you are missing the point.

If you are heavily invested in Leica RF gear and 
have no SLR at hand, then spending $300 or so for 
a Visoflex rig makes sense.  If you already have 
a Nikon F or Canon F1 set on hand, that changes 
the equation quite a bit.  It is just a matter of 
convenience.  If you already have the Leica RF 
gear but no SLR, why spend thousands of dollars 
to invest in another system, an SLR, which is 
marginal to your interests?  eBay has made Viso gear REALLY cheap.

Marc



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