I have just bought a M6 TTL, 50m 'cron and a 90mm APO and now want to buy a 35mm 'cron. I was told that optics of the Contax T3 with 35 mm f2.8 Sonar is as good as the 'cron - just one stop slower. How about I buy a T3 so that I have the same quality optics of the 'cron and a second camera to have a difference film to load at the same time with the M6? Is this a good idea? Any opinion is appreciated.

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), November 02, 2001

Answers

Hi Tom,

I think you would be much happier with the Cron. A point & shoot Contax can't replace this legendary lens.

TG

-- Tom Gallagher (tgallagher10@yahoo.com), November 02, 2001.

I have some experience with using non-cross capable camera systems, using both Nikon and Leica M outfits, and I have arrived to the conclusion that there is something to be said for not doing this as a practice when speed of operation is desired.

I have used my Leica with the 35mm lens and my Nikon with a 105mm lens often in the past. All is well when both cameras are full of film, the problem comes when one is at the end of the roll, but the action has not stopped enough to allow changing the roll. Inevitably, the camera that still has film has the wrong lens for the situation, and since you can't swap a Nikon / Leica lens from body to body... shots are missed. The same situation could occur when using the P&S as your only 35mm lens... if it or your M6 runs out of film, there is no ability to change lenses and keep shooting. All shooting with the correct lens will stop until film changing is accomplished.

Today, I use two Leica M's or two Nikons, but everything has to offer the redundancy for the continuation of a series of shots. The addition of a really sharp P&S camera is great, (I use a Minox ML), but it is a supplement for, not a replacement for a real focal length that you want. I'd get the 'cron first, and then add the P&S later.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), November 02, 2001.

>>> I have some experience with using non-cross capable camera systems, using both Nikon and Leica M outfits, and I have arrived to the conclusion that there is something to be said for not doing this as a practice when speed of operation is desired. <<<

I agree ... I typically keep a 2nd body handy, loaded with the film-du-jour, so I can "reload" in a hurry. A 2nd system, incompatible with the first, would only complicate things.

-- Douglas Herr (telyt@earthlink.net), November 02, 2001.

When the only Leica I had was an M3 I tried this approach to get WA capability. I tried a Ricoh GR1 - a high quality P&S with a reasonably good 28mm lens. I abandoned the idea after a very short time. My reasons were:

- I always had to carry two cameras rather than one camera and two lenses

- The different systems prevented easy and fluid switching from one to the other between shots

- The film always ran out in the camera that had the lens I wanted to use

- And the big one - the GR1 was a P&S, and I realized I shoot with Leicas for the complete manual control they give me. Even a GR1 or a T3 can't give you that. Plus, after using a Leica M, a P&S just felt cheap and icky :-)

I realized that the lens is only one part of the shooting equation, and that there is no substitute for having the lens you want on the body you want to shoot with. I bit the bullet and bought a WA-capable M along with a 35 Summicron, and never looked back. It's more expensive in the short run, but it pays off in having a usable system.

-- Paul Chefurka (chefurka@home.com), November 02, 2001.

Wow! what a great forum! Thanks for all the quick and useful advices. I think I will bit the bullet and buy the 35mm 'cron.

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), November 02, 2001.

Tom,

stay with what you have when you're shooting. No doubt the T3 is a great little thing, but it is quite different in shooting. I thought the same as you did, just with a Contax SLR and the Yashica T4 when it came out. Right now I have also the 35/2.8 Distagon for the contax, the T4, a Summaron 2.8/35 for my M2 and so on - I gave up the Idea of switching cameras instead of lenses very fast and cannot imagine doing that again - the only exception may be the panoramic Hasselblad ... if I ever get one.

BTW: The 35 'cron can also be used on another Leica body if you happen to come across one ;-)

Kai

-- Kai Blanke (kai.blanke@iname.com), November 03, 2001.

Tom: Nothing is as convenient and efficient as using an identical or nearly identical pair of cameras. I can work very smoothly with my pair of FE2's, or then again with my M2 and M6 combination. But as Al, Doug, and Paul have pointed out, problems creep in when working with non-compatible cameras. I even found it limiting to shoot with my M2 and M3 combination, because I couldn't use the 35mm on the M3. If you keep identical films in both cameras, one of the films will run out. Maybe you don't want to reload. Maybe you don't want to blow two rolls for the amount you are going to shoot. Then again, if you use two different films, the right film will in the camera that doesn't accept the right lens. When the cameras have incompatible mounts, it's even worse, because the you can't swap any lenses at all.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), November 03, 2001.