Hello!

I put a question a few month whether to change my SLR outfit with a M-type rangefinder camera. Many of you told me I should not switch completely to a RF.

Well, I have finally purchased a RF camera, but I think I have to disappoint you since it is not a M6-ttl ... ;) I purchased the Hexar-RF (Summicron 35/2 Asph) instead. Jeff Spirer and a few other people told me that the camera works fine with the Summicron 35/2 Asph., and I am not going to buy soon another lens, perhaps the Voigtlander 21/4. I have been performing a few tests and the camera is impressive. I am going to test it more extensively soon. (I still keep my SLR with a couple of lenses ...).

Btw I put more stuff on my web site, so please take a look. Opinions are welcome.

Thanks a lot and greetings! Claudiu

-- Claudiu Falub Photography http://www.iri.tudelft.nl/~cfalub http://iriaxp.iri.tudelft.nl/~cfalub

-- Claudiu Falub (c.falub@iri.tudelft.nl), December 20, 2001

Answers

Claudiu:

Congratulation. In a recent reading, in "Chasseur d'Image" the Hexanon was rated as good as the leica previous generation.

So it's a good bargain overall.

Enjoy. X.

-- Xavier d'Alfort (hot_billexf@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.

I have the Leica Summicron 35/2 Aspheric.

-- Claudiu Falub (c.falub@iri.tudelft.nl), December 20, 2001.

excellent b+w work, cladiu. you gracefully capture the interaction between humans and the "non-human" elements surrounding them.

p.s. you'll love the 35 summicron.

jeremyT blue,Ink.

-- jeremyT (jerthomas@earthlink.net), December 20, 2001.

I don't know much (to coin a phrase) but I know I love my 35 asph summicron - I hope it gives you the pleasure I get from mine - reliably beautiful. As for your pictures - I can't get at them - I get -ERROR-(403): Access to object is _ruled_ out. mac os 9.2. Shame...

-- steve (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), December 20, 2001.

please disregard that last remark - I tried to enter both addresses as the website address - doh!

-- steve (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), December 20, 2001.

My web page is at: http://www.iri.tudelft.nl/~cfalub

This also should work: http://iriaxp.iri.tudelft.nl/~cfalub

I hope to make something easier (*.com) in the near future ...

About the Hexar RF. I still have one question: I have been hearing some rumors about possible "incompatibilities" with some Leica lenses at wide apertures (2 or wider). Is the 35/2 Summicron one of them ? Or maybe I should not bother too much since 35/2 Summicron has a DOF wide enough (even at f2) ...

Claudiu

-- Claudiu Falub (c.falub@iri.tudelft.nl), December 20, 2001.

Hi Claudiu,

I realy liked your photographs. What colors and the composition. Congratulation.

Johannes

-- Johannes Fleischhauer (j.fleischhauer@vsao.ch), December 20, 2001.

About the Hexar RF. I still have one question: I have been hearing some rumors about possible "incompatibilities" with some Leica lenses at wide apertures (2 or wider).

It looks like this was a measuring error, which, because some people publicized it without knowing much about it, caused some people to spend a lot of money to "correct" the "problem." This is from an excerpt of a writeup on why there was a perceived problem:

Apparently in the Hexar the film rides on inner rails that are set lower than the outer rails on which the pressure plate rests, by about a film's thickness. In contrast the Leica has a single set of rails - the film rides on them, and the pressure plate rests on the film - meaning that when there is film in the camera the Leica's pressure plate is moved back from its original position by the thickness of the film.

This probably explains why no-one ever saw a difference in their photos.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), December 20, 2001.

Jeff, that is very funny. And a good poke in the ear for the Leica snobs who ran around like the sky was falling "The lenses won't work! Must have Leica! The lenses won't work! Must have Leica!"

-- Josh Root (rootj@att.net), December 20, 2001.

I think what Claudiu is refering to (measuring error) is due to the fact that the Hexar has a slightly shorter rangefinder base than the M, making it slightly less accurate (as was the CL) at wide apertures. From what I understand though, we're taking about the F1.4 and faster lenses only.......

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), December 20, 2001.

My impression is that most Hexar RF purchasers either already have Leica lenses or other Leica bodies, so although some Leica owners no doubt are snobbish, many Leica owners have embraced the camera too. The pain from my perspective is that if you cannot buy the camera body on its own - so you get saddled with a 50mm lens that you probably already have. If you need a 50mm lens too then it is a good option. Still, I am not sure it is selling to people who do not already have a Leica connection. Also now the new Leicawinder is here this removes one of the attractions of the RF. Also although the 1/125th flash sync is nicer than the M, there is no TTL flash, so it is two steps forward and then two steps back.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.

I also like my Hexar-RF particularly with 35/asph. Comparing with m6 0.72 view finder the Hexar-RF one shows more image area outside the framelines which reminds me more of compositions. With Hexar-RF I can load my film much faster and without worring of film advancing, exposure (more or less) and focus on composition/focusing. M6 is just a little bit quieter than Hexar-RF and has more view finder magnification choices. More than 90% of time the Hexar-RF is my choice of use with my Leica lenses. The Hexar-RF does have self timer and shutter/meter lock and film-peek window, auto/manual DX and much more to offer over Leica M6.

-- kenny chiu (amchiu@worldnet.att.net), December 20, 2001.

Also the view finder of Hexar RF seems a little bit darker(less flare) than that on a Leica M6. Hexar RF has a built-in hand grip. More important everything is integral together in about the same of a Leica M6. It would be doubly painful to change film using a Leica M6 with an auto winder on and not to metion of its added weight when using.

-- kenny chiu (amchiu@worldnet.att.net), December 20, 2001.