Any thoughts on Leica R?

David H. Bebbington said:

Another question to Leica R users - my R3 seems to have led an easy life - it looks almost new and operates very smoothly. There seems to be a consensus that it's a good idea to have the door seals changed, maybe I should have the shutter tested at the same time. The question is, do I say that a 30-year-old camera is bound to need servicing, and have this done, or do I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

Regards,

David

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My experience with the shutters of my R3's are that they work still fine and didn't need any adjustment. I asked the Leica service people to check that either when the seals have been replaced. So don't worry...

Thanks to all contributors to this thread - on the basis of the advice given, I sent off my R3 to have the door seals replaced, they looked OK but were probably past their best. I shot off a test film, will not have any other repair work done unless the test film indicates exposure-related or other problems. That is the thing about Leica - there do seem to be quite a few around which have been very lightly used.

Another point - one contributor was advocating original Leica glass. Good advice but hard to follow - I notice many adapters available on e-bay to fit Leica R lenses to Canon and Olympus digital cameras, I also notice that there are very few Leica R lens of 24, 28 and 35 mm focal length on offer. Have they all been snapped up for digicams? Meantime I have my Tamrons!

Regards to all,

David

Heresy! Its a cardinal sin to put a Tamron lens on a Leica!

... I must admit to occationally putting a 24mm Tamron lens on my R7 as I can't justify the cost of a Leica 24mm at the moment.

www.ffordes.com in the UK have plenty of s/h Leica glass.

Whilst the price of second hand R cameras has fallen over the past few years, R lenses seem to be holding their prices. I blame the digital brigade and their lens converters.

petebown said:

Heresy! Its a cardinal sin to put a Tamron lens on a Leica!

... I must admit to occationally putting a 24mm Tamron lens on my R7 as I can't justify the cost of a Leica 24mm at the moment.

www.ffordes.com in the UK have plenty of s/h Leica glass.

Whilst the price of second hand R cameras has fallen over the past few years, R lenses seem to be holding their prices. I blame the digital brigade and their lens converters.

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Hi Pete,

Speaking from experience, my 24mm Elmarit is a great performer, one of my favorite and one of the most used lenses in my Leica R system.

Rich

petebown said:

Heresy! Its a cardinal sin to put a Tamron lens on a Leica!

... I must admit to occationally putting a 24mm Tamron lens on my R7 as I can't justify the cost of a Leica 24mm at the moment.

www.ffordes.com in the UK have plenty of s/h Leica glass.

Whilst the price of second hand R cameras has fallen over the past few years, R lenses seem to be holding their prices. I blame the digital brigade and their lens converters.

Click to expand...

Ffordes do indeed have plenty of lenses, but a 35 Summicron R from them seems to be £450 in Exc++ condition. I got an example via e-bay from a shop in Berlin in allegedly Mint- condition for £260 - this is on its way right now, if the seller proves trustworthy I might lash out on a 135 Elmarit.

I have been reading up in the Leica R Compendium and getting some interesting insights into the question of Leica DNA. For example, it turns out that an R3 is a lightly re-engineered Minolta, which is fine by me but explains its lowly status among equipment snobs and hard-core Leica collectors, also some R lenses were produced to Leica specifications by Minolta and Sigma - again, I have no problem with this, I judge by results. One of my all-time favorite extreme lenses is a 400 f5.6 Sigma APO in a Pentax mount, it really is sharp, and it makes me wonder whether some of the same glass went out the door in a Leica Telyt mount!

Tamron of course have made lenses in numerous price classes, I have just bought a 35 - 70 zoom for £10, I think I will be taking the Adaptall mount off this and using the lens as a paperweight, on the other hand anything from the Tamron SP series is more than respectable. I very rarely use a zoom, but when I need one, my Tamron 70 - 210 f3.5 SP (manual focus) is a great performer, and because I need it so rarely, it is a big plus being able to switch it between 3 systems.

Regards,

David

Hi David,

I am not sure if Sigma made any lenses in the Leica R series lenses. I do not believe so, but I may be incorrect. In fact, Sigma got there wrists slapped for producing their own lenses in the Leica R mount without permission. The only independant lens maker from Japan that I am aware of to be given permission for making their own lenses in a Leica R mount was Tamron. Besides Leica, Minolta, Schneider, Zeiss, Kyocera, and Angeneau made lenses in the Leica R series, but all of these lenses were made to Leica specs and tolerances to within as I understand it 1/6 of a stop (the equivalent Minolta lens as an example was to within 1/3 stop). Minolta made the 800mm Mirror Leica as well as many of the zoom lenses including the f4.0 70-210mm (1 touch- I have a fine performing version), and I believe some of the 35mm-70mm. Angeneau made several of the earlier Leica zoom lenses. Schneider made the 21mm f3.4 (not for usage with the R3-R7, R8 & R9 ????) and 21mm f4.0 Super Angulons in the R line as well as the 21mm Super Angulon in the M line as well as the 2 Leica R PC lenses. Zeiss made the 15mm lens in the R series. Kyocera has made at least some of the later zooms in the series including the f4 80-200mm (as I recall) 2 touch that replaced the 70-210mm (1 touch).

Rich

"my Tamron 70 - 210 f3.5 SP (manual focus) is a great performer"

Yes I confess it, I use one on my Leica too.

David.