Hi guys
so, I'm back here and this is what I could find out.
Overall, the classic "coup de foudre", or "spark" there hasn't been, I mean that kind of feeling that makes you able to forget every cons you find, but I have also to explain what happened.
Today was a wonderful day to go out and stroll, both for weather, lighting and sun. Modena was FULL of handsome girls strolling down the historical center. But this comes after, you know!
When I arrived to the photo center, the man showed me the Ikon and the 35 mm and boy, I would have purchased it immediately ! What a beautifully crafted camera it is! And the 35 mm was really a joy to handle. silvered metal... Handling it, I discovered two important things:
1) The viewfinder is effectively large and bright as you couldn't imagine and the lens I immediately saw on it was exactly the 35 mm. I looked also, by turning the front lever, the 28 and the 50 mm but with the 28 I lost all the space around the lines (keep in mind I wear glasses, so frame lines looked REALLY close to the side of the frame) while the 35mm fit my taste much better. So, if I'd ever take one, I know which lens I have to choose.
2) Focusing patch. Well.. Aside the different way compared to my F6 where there are also microprisms, split lines etc, it was a bit cumbersome for me matching the two images, because the patch looked quite little (and this is only the beginning) and rather (see later) more transparent that I would have expected.
The other "cons" I found (comparing it with my SLR way to shoot) was the fact that if I want to focus on a certain point which is not the center, I'm forced to focus in the middle and then recompose, which means losing time. This, again, will be discussed later.
On the positive side, the Zeiss ZM 35 mm was really a joy to focus, nothing to complain, here.
If you allow me such comparison, it looks like a metal brick, much sturdier and solid looking even than my F6, and heavier than expected.
So here we comes, when I asked the man if i could borrow for the afternoon, he denied, but I expected this answer. Of course, serious collectors would have checked such Ikon thouroughsly if they want to get one, and much deeper than me that - I told him at once - I just wanted to see how rf cameras were and if rangefinder could fit my shooting style. However, he was kind and borrowed me a Hexar RF with (!) a Summicron 35 F/2, extremely compact, much more than the Zeiss counterpart. I thanked him more for the lens than for the camera which however was quite easy to use.
Due to the beautiful weather, I "risked" and loaded a Velvia 50 roll to scrutinize it deeply under the lens, after.
So with my friend Giorgio we started strolling along the historical center of Modena and now and then I stopped and shot.
What I noticed again, from the beginning, were two things:
1) the Leica lens, despite excellent optically and with a great build, was SO compact that turning the small focusing ring (encased between two larger rings) was not so good as Zeiss, and this despite the finger tool Leica put on it. I would have preferred to grab it more securely on two points on the dial than just using the fingertip.
2) Again, the focus and recompose thing. If you're used to SLR which can focus on different points, it's really slowing down things, especially if you have also to mind about frame lines. Probably, with the Zeiss lens, I'd have gained half second for each shot, but it's just speculation.
This is also important because if on one hand I felt to be for sure more "stealthy" at once, on the other and, I lost too much time before shooting and this is not good because you lose your camouflage just after a few seconds you're standing in front of people. Using the 28 mm (assumed he had one) would have put me in a SLR-like environment, but I was there to test the RF one (with space outside the framelines)
I have to add that Hexar had a larger and more contrasty focusing patch, but it was probably misaligned since some lines didn't match at infinity.
However, we visited the Dome, had an ice cream and strolled again... It was a long time I didn't see so many beautiful girls all together... Modena wasn't loved by Goethe for nothing, I'd say!
When we came back to the shop, it was quite unfortunate I hadn't enough time to borrow also a ZF lens and "redo" the trip with my F6 which remained in the shop as "guarantee deposit" while the Hexar was out.
Bottom line, kudos to Zeiss for the build quality of their lenses. Actually, I have to think quite a lot about getting one, but at least know I discovered which its (or mine) limits were.
