Speaking of Super Ikontas, check out eBay 120311364490. Rob -----Original Message----- From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Knoppow Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 7:34 AM To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [rollei_list] Re: [off-topic] The new Fuji will be sold ... and affordable ? The Super-Ikonta and its predecessor the Super-Ikomat are interesting designs. Because the lens is front element focusing the camera bed can be made quite rigid. The rangefinder is also of an excellent design and relatively proof against damage. The shortcoming, of course, is the front element focusing. I suspect that a modern front element focuser could be made where the corrections would be optimised along with the change in focal length but this is not the case in the older types. In fact, the lens is a sort of rudementary zoom lens but where a zoom lens is designed to say in focus for a given object and image distance the FEF lens simply changes focal length. A curious byproduct of this is that the field of view stays the same with distance so that a simple frame finder will be accurate at all distances (except for parallax). Zeiss evidently knew how to get the best compromise for FEF lenses because the Super-Ikonta has a very good reputation for sharpness but this certainly is in part due to the rigid platform and excellent rangefinder. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx --- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list --- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list