Trius - the Helios is a nice surprise. This one came from Kiev USA and cost around US$60. You can probably find one for much less, but I generally like the idea of dealing with a brick and morter shop and I had purchased a Kiev 66 from these folks in a former life. And what you say is true -- the shots are very different . . . and in fact, made an hour apart (coming and going from burrito and espresso consumption on Church Street) with variably cloudy skies. I'm sort of shoe-horning photography in between other activities these days and it makes rigorous testing an impossibility.
Inspired by Sean Reid, I actually have sitting on my hard-drive a comparison that I did for myself of eight of my 50's at their four widest apertures, but it is a massive amount of data and impractical (or impossible) to post here. The results were interesting, but if I have an hour a week to make pictures, I'd rather try to take a memorable picture of my kids than test glass that, overall, is excellent. Suffice it to say that whether the glass was a Soviet Sonnar copy, a modern Zeiss design, or Leica glass, you can take a good picture with any of them. They all have different flavors, though . . . kind of like different flavors of ice cream - IMHO, there are differences, but none of them is actually bad.
John - to put the lie to the statement I just made, I bought the adapter from a fellow on e-boy whose handle is johnluk63. He is based in Hong Kong. My item # was 7615694559 if you want to check it out. Looking at his feedback, he seems to post one of these every couple of weeks. The transaction was smooth, despite his being half-way 'round the world from me. At US$244 I probably overpaid for this too, but I had searched all my favorite Leica spots and they either had no adapter, or the much-sought-after Orion model for around $1,800. I have to say that the adapter does not seem to work with the CV 35 or 28. Not really an issue for me, as I have those focal lengths in bayonet-mount lenses, but it would have been nice. I have no connection to the seller, etc.
Attached is another Sonnar shot at f11. Stopped down, I think there is less difference between lenses . . . and the shot is not exactly inspired. But it shows how the lens renders a street scene at ordinary shooting apertures. I would like to do some nighttime picture making to see how these two lenses (and the Nikon 1.4 handle flare) . . . of course you don't need the R-D1 for any of this, but the instant feedback sure is nice.
Ben
