Stephen F. Bauserman wrote:
Stephen:
Thanks for all of you patience. The camera arrived Friday afternoon. Everything appears to be working fine. After reading all the stuff about the viewfinder alignment, the latch and finish, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It has a very solid feel and gives all every indication of being well made. It is lighter than my M2, but that is not a bad thing, just different. Compared to the M2, the balance is also different with the Planar lens on the camera, again not bad, just different.
I don’t see the latch as a problem. I can’t see how you would accidentally open the back and it doesn’t appear cheap. Actually, if anything I could see the latch as being difficult for someone with big hands or stubby fingers.
I don’t see the finish as being an issue. It looks fine and I plan on buying a half case. The only reason I haven’t ordered one yet is I haven’t decided on the color. The leatherette cover has a much different feel than vulcanite, but again this is not bad, just different.
The other thing I have read about is the film advance. I see it again as being different. I kind of thought it a little stiff compared to the M2, but then one camera is new and the other is 50 years old. I think the bottom line is if you want a camera to act like a Leica, buy a Leica.
Last comment on the body is about the view finder. It is great. I had no problem with the patch disappearing. I am left eyed and wear bifocals but even with my nose against the back of the camera had no problems with the frame lines. The lens info in the bottom frame line is a nice touch. The only adjustment I am working on is looking to the left for the meter readout. I also noticed with bright backgrounds it does fade somewhat. This may be true for other cameras with this type of readout, I just don’t own one.
I see the camera as a keeper. It will probably become my main camera after I get a feel for it.
The 50 planar lens is wonderful. I shot two rolls of Kodak 800 Max Saturday one through the Zeiss with the Planar and one through the M2 with the restored Summarit to compare the two lenses. The results were very interesting. I have attached a Microsoft Word document with two shots. The Leica image is on the left and the Zeiss image is one the right. Both were taken at 1/500th of a second and f16. The lenses were at minimum focal distance and I have cropped the Leica by 10% more to match size this accounts for the grain. The Zeiss is noticeably sharper and the color resolution is better across the whole roll.
Sorry for the long email, but I just wanted to share my thoughts. Thanks again for you patience. You may consider me a happy customer.
Steve Bauserman
copyright 2006 by Steve Bauserman, all rights reserved
Stephen:
Thanks for all of you patience. The camera arrived Friday afternoon. Everything appears to be working fine. After reading all the stuff about the viewfinder alignment, the latch and finish, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It has a very solid feel and gives all every indication of being well made. It is lighter than my M2, but that is not a bad thing, just different. Compared to the M2, the balance is also different with the Planar lens on the camera, again not bad, just different.
I don’t see the latch as a problem. I can’t see how you would accidentally open the back and it doesn’t appear cheap. Actually, if anything I could see the latch as being difficult for someone with big hands or stubby fingers.
I don’t see the finish as being an issue. It looks fine and I plan on buying a half case. The only reason I haven’t ordered one yet is I haven’t decided on the color. The leatherette cover has a much different feel than vulcanite, but again this is not bad, just different.
The other thing I have read about is the film advance. I see it again as being different. I kind of thought it a little stiff compared to the M2, but then one camera is new and the other is 50 years old. I think the bottom line is if you want a camera to act like a Leica, buy a Leica.
Last comment on the body is about the view finder. It is great. I had no problem with the patch disappearing. I am left eyed and wear bifocals but even with my nose against the back of the camera had no problems with the frame lines. The lens info in the bottom frame line is a nice touch. The only adjustment I am working on is looking to the left for the meter readout. I also noticed with bright backgrounds it does fade somewhat. This may be true for other cameras with this type of readout, I just don’t own one.
I see the camera as a keeper. It will probably become my main camera after I get a feel for it.
The 50 planar lens is wonderful. I shot two rolls of Kodak 800 Max Saturday one through the Zeiss with the Planar and one through the M2 with the restored Summarit to compare the two lenses. The results were very interesting. I have attached a Microsoft Word document with two shots. The Leica image is on the left and the Zeiss image is one the right. Both were taken at 1/500th of a second and f16. The lenses were at minimum focal distance and I have cropped the Leica by 10% more to match size this accounts for the grain. The Zeiss is noticeably sharper and the color resolution is better across the whole roll.
Sorry for the long email, but I just wanted to share my thoughts. Thanks again for you patience. You may consider me a happy customer.
Steve Bauserman
copyright 2006 by Steve Bauserman, all rights reserved
whitecat
Lone Range(find)er
I second everything he said. If only it had a frame line for my 75!