And here too:

http://www.cosina-voigtlander.com/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&func=view&id=286&catid=15#286

Er', Germany---the Photokina Photo Show? Anything to get really excited about?

Everything's kind of in preliminary stages for the show.
I think we've already seen most of the major announcements though.
Today, Fuji announced development of the S5, and Olympus is showing off an E1 successor, thing looks huge. I don't know what else to expect, some people are saying Canon has something hidden up their sleeve, but it's unknown if they'll reveal anything else other than the XTi and 30D at this show. As for Nikon, the D80 appears to be their stock car for this year's race, and Sony should have something else other than their a100 but nobody knows for sure if it'll be revealed at this event.
It seems like the new strategy among them all is to only show off the little things at gatherings, and then let everybody have their own time in the spotlight with the major announcements at their own events.

Is there a website showing what's new at the Photokina show?

DPreview's covering it (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0609/06092504dpreviewatphotokina.asp)

Thanks. And thanks for making it easy with the link.

I found a couple of other links.

http://www.imaginginfo.com/2006_photokina.jsp
http://www.photokina-show.com

Don't forget to get all your Leica lenses coded for the new digital M8. :-)

Photokina update!the post Photokina camera swap meet turned out to be quite a surprise to me. damn it was good.

imagine 200 plus tables packed full of rare collectible cameras, and attentendance so high that you could not walk down the aisle without bumping into someone every step of the way.

prices were high by American standards, but the real thing was that the goods were there, including lots and lots and lots of M Leicas, a motorized M2 with motor, black M2s, M3s, M4s, three olive M4´s, military wartime Leicas, the Erneman with 100/2, stereo Contax, two original Exakta, two Mecaflex, numerous Casca, black Nikon S3 half frame, Rollei 3000 EC half frame, and on and on. it was nice.

the funny thing was digital dealers were not even noticed.

seems the larger European camera shows are the place to buy collectible film cameras.

feel free to post this on other forums

Stephen Gandy

Read the reasons here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/wife.htm

Knowing that the chrome Leica lenses are different than the black Leica lenses---the chrome lenses have brass barrels, the black lenses have aluminum barrels---I wondered about the Zeiss lenses. So I e-mailed them.

"Dear Zeiss, these Teutonic beauts really look pretty in your pictures. I am interested in the 50mm F2, but I have questions. What is the metal used in the lens barrel? Is the finish chrome for the silver and enamel for the black? Thanks."

Zeiss answers: "thank you for your email. The metal in the lens barrel is made of aluminum. Both silver and black are coated, silver is silver coated and the black is black coated. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us again."

The metal in the lens barrel is made of aluminum. Both silver and black are coated, silver is silver coated and the black is black coated. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us again."

I have a question, since I've never seen Black on the periodic chart or any metallurgical chart...I'm assuming they mean silver(ag) and black (BS)...

It's for these reasons I rarely contact companies for information on their products...they never know, or they just don't understand English...

Their lenses are just painted, unlike the real chrome Leica M lenses. :-)

All my lenses are painted, by the way. I don't really care. :-)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=getpage&kw=ART-FastGlass&Q=newsLetter/digi_photo_FastGlasssept2006.jsp&O=2006newsletter.jsp

Of course there's no mention of CV glass (Cosina Voigtlander). Shame!

CV info: http://www.cameraquest.com

Note: This lens will work on all Leica screw-mount cameras, and M-mount cameras including the RD1 and M8 via a $50 Leica screw-mount to M-mount adaptor.

I bought a black one a few months back as a cheaper alternative to the Zeiss Planar 50mm f2. However, coupled with its reasonable cost was the necessary Leica M-mount to screw-mount adaptor, since the Bessa R3A is an M-mount camera. The lens feels like it's well-made despite it's light weight. The aperture and focusing ring are easy to operate though I would have preferred a bit more stiffness in the aperture---not that it is sloppy. However, this is a minor, personal preference. The Voigtlander lens adaptor is easy to screw in with the plastic mounting tool included with the adapter. Once mounted, the lens screws in snugly, but the alignment is slightly off. At first I was concerned but then I was reassured that this is normal with lens adapters.

The lens is large, as large as the Nikon E 100mm and with beautiful clear glass. It should feel heavier but due to its aluminum construction the "expected" weight is scaled back as with most of the Voigtlander line. I assume this is part of the philosophy: ergonomic and free from unnecessary weight, utilizing modern manufacturing materials and methods. With 6 lens elements, and the front element aspherical on both sides, makes this an interesting design. Standard 52mm threads make it easy to find Nikon SLR size filters and hood. F-stops are from 1.5 to 16 which "click" in half stops. Minimum focusing is 0.9 metres. Its 10-blade aperture provides plenty of bokeh, under the correct conditions.

Having shot 20 or so rolls of colour and B&W, my photos came out extremely sharp. However, sometimes background and edge detail was lost due to lens flaws such as vignetting, noise and flaring. Erwin Puts describes this in his review, "in backlightning and when recording specular highlights or small light-points." To somewhat minimize this flaring, I put on a longer lens hood from Hoya, and try to avoid these "small light-points" such as light reflections. This is less of a problem when shooting outdoors and especially when it's overcast---my favourite shooting condition. I found using F2 to F4 produces sharp, bokehful images; and the Nokton's peculiar personalty is something which grew on me. However, for that creamy B&W look for the lowlight/indoor stuff, I'm glad I have my Summicron-c 40 back. I use both lenses but for some reason I've been using the Nokton more, even indoors. I guess sharpness is my God!

http://diglloyd.com/diglloyd/free/Infrared/InfraredContamination/InfraredContamination.html

Interesting article.

I was unfamilar with this style of shooting until I came across this flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/cameratoss/

That's awesome. Not sure I have the fortitude to try that with an HVX but I love the results.

Frank, let's try that the next time I get my hands on one of your cameras.

No way. My cameras are expensive and pristine. :-)

http://www.filmlives.net/community/viewtopic.php?t=975&highlight=&sid=47565a118a8b22468fe6ec0d7fd2768c

She writes some interesting "how to" articles.

I guess this guy doesn't need an expensive camera to take great photos:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=686950&include=all

Or 10 megs vs 39 megs capture or Volkswagen Beetle vs Ferrari, by Erwin Puts. Excerpt: "many tests were done...compared a top grade 35mm SLR with a low grade Chinese medium format twin lens reflex and myself who compared Hasselblad/Zeiss with Leica M/Leica optics)." Read this shilling new Puts article here: http://imx.nl/photosite/leica/M8_6/m8_6.html .

http://www.grantfaint.com/

An excellent Vancouver photographer (I thing he uses a Nikon DSLR). Enjoy.

Typo, it's Grant Faint.

http://whattheduck.net/

Another make-fun-of-camera-people web site...via cartoons! Enjoy.

That is the funniest thing...

~Gabriel