If any of you are interested, here is the summary and narrative from the Leica chat on the R system. The are in PDF format.

http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/md/content/pdf/chat/3.pdf

http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/md/content/pdf/chat/2.pdf

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), April 05, 2001

Answers

21-35 f3.5 - f4, new portrait lens (maybe 90 APO Summicron, smaller R8, new 15mm: all sound good to me. I wasn't particularly impressed by the quality of the questions. Some amusing Leica answers too viz. (to paraphrase): "What are the unused ROM contacts for?" "They are contacts currently with no function"...(great!).

Why would someone want a new 50mm Summicron, or another 19mm when both are excellent lenses? Dumb questions if you ask me. They were a bit cagey about the portrait lens too - makes me wonder how long that will take to arrive. Focus confirmation in the viewfinder -- is that really useful? I am encouraged that more people buy the R8 than most of us thought though.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), April 05, 2001.

Robin,

I use Nikon autofocus cameras with manual focus lenses all of the time. The focus confirmation is very useful, some call it an electronic rangefinder. I have gotten good at using my peripheral vision, looking at the lower display, to get the image in focus while concentrating on the subject. The plastic Nikon AF lenses are a big disappointment to me, (I broke three of them), but a good solid manual focus metal lens, on a camera with focus confirmation is a great match. No racking back and forth, no guessing, just a single rotation to proper focus and shoot. This really works good with wider lenses in low light... better than just using my aging eye on a split image in the center of the screen.

I think Leica users would embrace this feature, and since every major camera company has had this technology for over a dozen years, it should only take Leica another decade or so to offer it.

On other sites, many people reported being kicked off of the chat when they asked certain questions. That might be one reason for the lack of tough ones.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), April 05, 2001.

Such as....?

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), April 05, 2001.

In answer to Bill's request for what specifically was the cause of people being kicked off of the chat, it would be improper for me to quote exact unsubstantiated narrative from a separate source in this forum. My sole reason for mentioning people being excluded from the chat was to maybe shed some light on Robin's point on the quality of the questions that were asked and answered.

Generally, the subject of "quality control" was brought up several times as something that made the people submitting the questions get kicked off of the chat. Again, as I said this is simply something read on another site. I can't say it did or didn't happen.

If anyone has any interest, you can go to the LUG archives and scroll down to the many threads about the Chat, and decide if those people are credible.

I hope my point was not offensive to anyone. After some thought, I should not have mentioned something I couldn't confirm.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), April 05, 2001.

Maybe Leica wanted to discuss the future, not the past?

Ray Moth

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), April 05, 2001.