[LRflex] Re: LEICA R4 AND R8 (with a request for Doug).
- From: David Young <telyt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 08:27:55 -0800
At 06/12/2006, you wrote:
>Dear Leica friends;
>
>Let me introduce myself a little bit (sorry for my english not too
>good) , my complete name and surname is
>Jose Angel Bermell, 41 years old, living and born in Valencia, Spain.
>Main hobby : Keep in good conditions many photo cameras that I have,
>amongst them one black Leica R8
>in mint condition with a Vario Elmar 28-70 and a Vario Elmar 80-200.
>Not far away I have decided to purchase a Leica R4s not received yet
>with serial number 1654409 made in
>1984 or may be 1985, I paid for these camera 250 Euro plus 20 of
>shipping to Valencia, the camera
>was purchased on ebay.
>With regard to Leica R8, I've bought it during year 2,000 with the
>Vario Elmar 28-70 and I have paid
>near about 3,000 Euro, now with the digital trends in the market,
>(and despite of the possibility to
>use digital back) in the second hand market could be possibly find
>one Leica R8 at good price
>1,200-1500 Euro.
>
>1) Someone can help me where can I find a good report of these
>cameras inside internet ?
>What is your opinion about the Vario Elmar 28-70 and 80-800 may be
>manufactured by
>Kyocera or Sigma ????? in Japan
>2) Is there any significant quality between Leica R4s made in
>Wetzlar or these R4 which
>were made in Portugal ????
>3) The quality of ROM lenses is better than not ROM lenses ???
Good Morning, Jose!
Welcome to the zoo! You'll find this a great group. We are a polite,
friendly lot. And if you have any questions, you'll find a lot of
experience and expertise here, as well as a great willingness to help.
As for your questions...
One of our members, Doug Herr (www.wildlifephoto.com) is a marvellous
photographer. He also keeps a superb compilation of Leica
specifications and reviews.
Doug: Will you be so kind as to email Jose, privately, with your
site address and a password? Thanks.
1) The 80~200/f4 Vario Elmar is one of the best zoom lenses,
anywhere, and will rival the best fixed focal length lenses for
optical quality. I have one, and it is my most used lens (on an R8
with DMR). It is built, as you say, by Kyocera, but was 100%
designed by Leica, and I cannot tell it apart from any other Leica
lens I have, whether built in Germany or Canada.
I understand that the 28~80 Vario was designed and built by Sigma,
but at least some of the mechanical parts are not the same as those
in their Sigma-branded version. The Leica-branded versions were 100%
quality checked by Leica, in Germany, prior to shipment. Some people
say they are as good as any Leica lens... others say not. I have not
used (or even seen) one, so I will ask others on the list to chime in
- especially if they own or owned one. Owners?
2) In terms of quality of manufacture... no. However, the R4 was
based on a Minolta design and it suffered some problems with its
electronics. The R4S was a simplified version and has proved to be
very reliable. You've most likely made a very good choice.
3) There is no difference between the ROM and non-ROM lenses, in
either mechanical or optical quality. Most 2 cam or 3 cam lenses can
have the ROM added. Curiously, one of the very few lenses which
Leica maintain cannot be retrofitted with a ROM is the 80~200/4
Vario. Yet, one of our members, Doug Herr, did it himself!
Lastly:
As I said, the R4s was a simplified version of the R4 having only the
Manual and Aperture Priority settings. However, it proved to be a
more reliable camera than the original R4. Produced from 1983 to
1985, in included all the features of the R4 except the 'P' and 'T'
modes, and was available only in Black Chrome. While I do not have an
instruction book specifically for the R4S, an instruction book for
the R4 can be downloaded, for free, from my site. See:
http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/ and then click on Leica Instruction Books.
Once again... Welcome!
Cheers!
The Zookeeper.
---
David Young,
Logan Lake, CANADA
Wildlife Photographs: http://www.telyt.com/
Personal Web-pages: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt
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