Rob:
I don't see much sense in having SLRs from two different manufacturers unless
there is a compelling reason; JMHO.
I owned Leica (M3 with 50, 21 and 90) for awhile, along with my OMs, medium
format (Rollei SL66) and 4x5. There was a specific purpose for each as I was a
working pro at the time. I admit that getting the Leica, even though bought
used, was a bit of a prestige thing for me at the time. However, the ability
to better anticipate the "grab" shots with a rangefinder, especially with
wide-angle, was enormously helpful. As far as portraits went, I used the 50
quite a bit for casual portraitsas well as the 90. The 90 was a joy, having a
special Leica magic. But when it came time to downsize for economic reasons (I
was no longer working as a professional and needed the money for other
purposes), it was not a real hard decision to sell the Leica and Rollei gear.
It would have been MUCH harder to sell the Leica stuff though, if I had not
acquired the Zuiko 21mm f2. When I saw how that lens performed vs. the 21mm
f3.5 Super Angulon, I was very surprised and pleased. No, I didn'
t do formal testing and I'll bet someone could point to some characteristic of
the Leica 21 that is superior. But in real-world use, the Zuiko rocked/rocks.
I am now back into rangefinders (XA, Olympus Auto, Oly 35sp, Minolta HiMatic 7s
and a Konica C35) because of their special handling qualities and the "stealth"
aspect. If I could afford Leica would I re-acquire it? Probably. Would I use
it a lot? Maybe. But honestly, I think the OMs are so beautiful and useful,
that I would be better off spending the dough on more Zuikos, a kick-butt
scanner and printer, and film/processing. Or, take the trip with my OMs, SP
and C35. Oh, and a few cases of Hillebrand 2002 cab sauvignon. It's going to
be marvey.
Earl
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 2/24/2004 at 7:16 PM Rob Harrison wrote:
>I find myself in a bit of a quandary. Please be gentle. I feel like a
>wanker to even be asking these questions to this august forum, but here
>goes. Skip has already heard some of this.
<snip>
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