Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/06/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Thu, 20 Jun 1996, J. Redfern wrote: > > The difference is that version III > >produces marginally less shadow detail. > > Before I junk my darkroom and turn my back on everything that took me half > a life time to learn, I wonder if you would care to elaborate on this > statement? > > To my knowledge, there is one thing and one thing only that is > responsible for shadow detail and that is exposure. In no way does a lens' > inherent contrast "increase shadow detail". There was an interesting discussion on this topic on one of the rec.photo groups a while ago. I don't think that anyone came to any definite conclusions, but a point was raised that just might be relevent here. It does seem possible for flare to produce an effect similar to flashing the film, which can have the effect of boosting shadow detail a little without effecting the higher values as much. Given that the earlier Summicrons have 7 instead of 6 elements, it is possible that they might suffer from more flare and produce a little more of this effect than later lenses. Interestingly, other people on the group argued that there was reason to think that increasing constrast could also increase shadow detail. I wouldn't sell your darkroom if I turn out to be right, though! :) Gary Toop