charlesphoto

Not sure where you're getting this from. Leica did make a compact camera in conjunction with Minolta called the CL, and two lenses for that (a 40 and a 90). They may have supplied some electronics for the SLR's, but in general were all German designed and built (and consequently the electronics were always the weak link). Leica did have a few lenses made in Canada in the '70's and '80's to exacting German standards. I doubt Leica or Zeiss lenses were ever bested by Nikkor's and Canons. Maybe on a unique lens to lens basis (and Nikon/Canon made a lot more lenses at the extremes than Leica, (they also had huge aerospace etc contracts to do r&d)), but not as a whole. A 28 Elmarit M will blow a Nikkor 28/2.8 AIS out of the water (also a very good lens). Keep in mind also that Leica M lenses were designed to be their best wide open or near so. The Japanese did make some very fine glass though. In the darkroom I always used Fujinon enlarging lenses which at the time were cheap and considered even better than Rodenstock APO's by many. When I got out of the darkroom I sold mine to my local lab - the owner grabbed them up as quickly as he could.

You need to use a Cisco (or third party Cisco coded) SFP in a Cisco switch. The Cisco SFP will work in non-Cisco devices, but not the other way around. Also, you may need to go into the switch to manage the uplink to get it to work. Mine will link, but not pass on ethernet, so I gave up and went FMC/oM to oM route (and happy I did).

I've tried with the two Cisco switches I have here with that transceiver and couldn't get it to work. The SFP module works fine in the TP Link or opticalModule so it's not that. I think you may have to console into the switch and manage the uplink.

I would be curious if a Supra MD-06 mains power strip would do any better in my audio server closet vs the heavy duty Stanley tool power strip I have now. One reason I ask is the distributor is down the street and has them for $69, which is actually less than the bare bones Wiremold I have for my Naim gear.

If you have an extra Gigabit FMC lying around like I ended up with (unfortunately box thrown away so non-returnable) and an RJ45 SFB transceiver then you may want to try this: I added mine with just the stock wall wart between the Cat 6 ethernet run (35-50 ft, much of it just extra) from the Airport (which only has a modem preceding it) to the MC220L, and then a short RJ45 patch from there to the switch. I'm not making any pronouncements other than it's staying, and when I do the power supply shuffle it'll end up with an iFi on it. If you have two and access to separate circuits to plug them into, this might be a spot to do another full optical bridge. Isolate that noisy router and modem. My Asus modem and Airport extreme are separate and plugged into a different circuit from everything else, audio or server. It's the middle of the day, kid home from school, etc so it's hard to make any real judgements as to the change in sound. It's small and subtle small, but like a lot of these network changes mostly in the bass region. No extra detail or clarity, just more relaxation but with control, all that closer to analog for lack of a better way to describe it. And still more decibels, or at least it seems I can turn it down a notch or two more still. The optical modules have made for better low volume listening imo, which I do a lot of (really can't stand headphones except for plane rides and movies when family is in bed).

Also keep in mind silver gelatin paper has a pretty weak dynamic range which entailed lost of dodging and burning of high and low exposure areas to even the print out. With my Imacon scanner, negatives scan much more evenly in regards to DR than I could ever do with a base exposure in the darkroom. The negative itself may have a larger DR than an equivalent digital file, but getting it to paper in an analog means did take some talent few could muster (I have one image that took over 20 dodges and burns). Digital of course is much easier (just lasso's and curve layers in PS) but it also means that it's easier for EVERYONE, so in order to rise above the fray (something like half a million images uploaded to the internet every minute) means one must be very very good and/or unique.

Think of film as a tube amp - a tube amp where one needs to roll the tubes every 36 songs at great time and expense. Digital is like solid state - plug it in, maybe clean the connections (sensor) every now and then. The lens, along with the sensor, could also be thought of as the 'source.' The better the lens, the better the clarity, contrast, and dynamic range. Shoot a $7k Leica M10 with a $3K Leica lens, and just like the difference between a DCS Bridge and Sonos connect, it will be night and day compared to the consumer cameras mentioned above. Film will have a 'different' look, but imo there's no 'better' between the two. If you like the look, and enjoy the workflow and don't mind the expense (and the post work) then shoot film if that floats your boat. If shooting commercially, then better gear will always be better, but if creating for art, then gear is only an adjunct to creating a vision, and it really doesn't matter as much to the final outcome - unless poor gear holds one back from the realization of their vision.

Just for proof of concept I did run my now left over TP Link MC220L with ethernet into the SFP RJ45 transceiver, and out to my Unitiqute in the office. It sounded good, but bit hard and fatiguing. I preferred the sound of the full MC100CM optical bridge I've had, though I'm sure a final oM would be better but not ready to go more than two at this point!

Yep, and it was a bust. Couldn't get it to link up with internet. Doesn't mean there isn't a module mismatch, or something going on with my network, but tried in a couple of places with different cables and no go no matter what I tried. So that SFP goes back to Amazon, no big deal. A couple of other observations: I actually had the oMafter the switch powered with a 9V iFi thinking it was a 5v, and it got really pretty hot. Switched to a 5V iFi and it runs a lot cooler. No idea if it changes the sound. With the addition of oM to oM, the overall volume seems louder, or at least my perception of the music is louder. Which is great considering my amp is 35W so won't have to work as hard - or my poor ears!

OpticalModule to opticalModule quick take vs TP Link to oM quick take: one oM brings it, two refine it. I wouldn't say there's any more clarity or detail, but it sounds more natural still, bass is more controlled, sibilance all but vanished. I would say if on a budget one oM and budget FMC or switch is amazing, two is icing, or oM to oR. First oM powered by ground shunted 5v iFi in the server closet, second before the microRendu with a ground shunted HDPLEX at 5v.

Keep in mind they take a LONG time to boot compared to instant start consumer switches.

Yep, makes most sense. Looks like the other oM is arriving today, not Monday.

If Amazon delivers today what they were supposed to yesterday, I can test what it sounds like going straight ethernet into and out of the opticalModule. Also the difference between having oM>oM vs cheap FMC>oM. So hang in there.

I’m probably at about 72 hours but I don’t really keep track of these things. Probably a bit more relaxed but it might also be a matter of my ears/mind getting used to more detail as well. Like I said, I don’t really see it as having any ‘signature’ at all, and more like a sharpening filter in Photoshop vs a color or density change. More sharpness will also make the image appear punchier despite not doing anything to the contrast. Once it gets here, it’ll also be interesting to see what a dc cable change does, as well as a second upstream opticalModule.

I'll have one here by end of the day and will let you know my thoughts - could have some potential, esp with my office set up, and if it doesn't, easy to return. My second optical module will be here Monday, so won't be able to compare oM to oM quite yet.