Hi, On 22 Jul 2002 at 19:07, Chris Niesmertelny wrote: > No, it's not a test between the two. I've essentially whittled down my > collection to 6 cameras, on the Pentax side the LX, ZX-5n, and an SV > screwmount (additionally, a Chinon CE-4), and a Bessa R and L.
Only 6 cameras? ;-) I have the Pentax LX, K2, SuperA, MX and SFXn (3 of them should be enough), a Kiev88, a Certo Six, a Kiev 4 (Contax III) set, a Revue 400SE, a Ricoh 500GX (note that the latter 4 are RFs); and an Espio 928 and a Canon Pima Mini II as "family cameras". > I'd be interested in knowing if any of you in the PDML have a similar set up > and how you feel about using your equipment. If we consider only the Pentax and Kiev4 part, the setup is similar. > I have to say, and I don't > want to sound sacriligious, but my CV equipment has been used far more > regularly (save for a recent vacation to Nova Scotia - only Pentax equipment > used). Most of the time I carry only one of my major systems, and possibly one additional camera in addition. On my recent vacation (Monte Bianco (Italian side) and Cote 'd Azur (France)) I carried an LX based Pentax setup loaded with slides and the Certo Six with BW for some landscapes. The SLR and RF work is so different to me, that I cannot combine them effectively. There are SLR days and RF days. (The Certo is set to infinity most of the time.) > One area where there is, from my perspective, more opportunity for the > Voigtlander is in people photography. I agree. My main reason to have the Kiev4 is the Sonnar 2/85 and the portraits it makes. > the ZX-5n which I brought to a street fair a month or so ago and people > where actually running to get out of view. A black MX with a small lens (M series 2/35, 1.4/50, 2/85, 2.8/100, ...) doesn't seem to have this effect. I don't know why, but a chrome body acts definitely worse at this. > I've been very impressed with the glass on the CV, owning the very nice 35mm > f2.5 Classic, the great (TINY!) little 15mm and the 25mm I bought with the > Bessa L. I use a Russian 50mm that serves it's purpose, and a Russian 85mm > that is more than serviceable. My RF lenses are a 2.8/35, a 2/50, a 2/85 and a 4/135. The 85 is an original Sonnar, the others are original russian copies. ;-) I like them all, great optics. The 35 is a bit hard to use at it isn't a retrofocus design. I'd like to add an extra wide (21mm?) as well, but unfortunately these are extremely rare and expensive for this system. This camera has the built-in finder framed only for 50mm, so I have to use an accessory finder for the other FLs. It's a so called "turret finder", with 5 focal lengths and parallax correction capability. A bit tricky to learn, but works very well if one is used to it. Also, it makes the camera that weird, that people forget to pose or complain... >The LX meter is something beyond the capabilities of most > cameras ever made, but then I don't use the Bessas in the same way, when > critical exposures are necessary. I use an external meter (Svedlovsk 4) for the Kiev4. The built-in selenium one is more of a decoration than a reliable instrument. > I guess for me I've found the perfect companion set up to the LX etc. Both > kits seem to complement each other, and there's sometimes clearly a "Bessa" > opportunity and a "Pentax" opportunity. Agreed. Gabor - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
