Digital BW, The Print

>heck, even a Canon Rebel with a good prime lens will shoot terrific 
>b&w...

That Canon EF 1.8 II is an amazingly good and cheap lens.  And for medium
telephoto, my old manual focus Tamron 90 macro beat my Canon 85 1.2 L (from
2.8 on, of course -- the 1.2 L at 1.2 had a central sharpness that was
amazingly good).  

The wide angle lenses are where I notice the main optical advantages with
rangefinders.  The SLR retro-focus designs are still not as good as the
symmetrical rangefinder ones, in part because they are sensitive to being
used at their optimum focus distance.  Ironically, the digital cameras may
not be able to use these symmetrical designs.  As such, I wonder if we'll
ever have a digital wide angle that can compare to the film rangefinders in
that respect.

> all this talk of niche rangefinder cameras is just about what 
>some people like shooting for one reason or another... not getting 
>better photos.

One reason I shoot medium format rangefinders is the leaf shutters.
According to my testing, even the best focal plane shutters will vibrate
more on a light tripod.  


Paul
www.PaulRoark.com