first Slides from 35mm Asph Summilux

[Richard Clompus <rclompus@voicenet.com>]

Dear Fellow LUGnuts,

I just got back my first two rolls of Ekatachrome 100SW slides with my new
35mm Summilux Aspheric lens.  

Its a keeper!!

The interesting part of using f 1.4 is that the image upon initial
inspection looks soft until you find the plane of focus.  Then you are
reminded how sharp this Leica wonder can be.  Colors with this film are
wonderful - slightly on the warm side.  This film does very well outdoors
and in subdued lighting.  It doesn't work as well with indoor available
lighting when you have an abundance of tungstun lights.  The color cast
becomes too warm.  This lens handles contrast very well. Images seem to
have a lot of "snap" to them.  

I did a few shots at dusk this past weekend at the Delaware shore of a
field that had a few hundred fireflies in it.  I put the M6 on a fence
post, opened up the 35mm Asph Summilux to f 1.4 and took a couple exposures
of between 2-4 seconds.  The slides show the scene as if lit by daylight
with the tiny arcs of the firefly trails coming up dayglow green.
Interesting effect since it looks like a daytime photo.  Next time I'll
stop down a bit and see if the sky will darken keeping the fire fly trails
intact.  

I don't feel bad I traded in my mint 35 Summicron lens.  The new lens is
heavier, has an unusual front concave lens element but takes great pictures.  

Richard
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Richard Clompus, OD
West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA