Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/03

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Subject: [Leica] Wide Alternatives
From: Jeff Moore <jbm@instinet.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 12:48:39 -0500

Okay, we've heard glowing (sorry) reports of that apparently-quite-remarkable 
19/2.8 R lens;  but as we know all too well, it's damned expensive.  If you'll 
permit me a touch of blasphemy, I'm wondering just how it compares to another 
exceedingly-well-respected (among the friends of *its* marque) exercise in
optical design: the Canon EF 17-35/2.8L.

The reason for my interest is not hard to fathom:

    Cost to Me of 19/2.8        Cost to Me of 17-35/2.8
    --------------------        -----------------------
       Lens    $3.0K                 Lens   $1.5K
       R8      $2.4K
       -------------                 ------------
       Total   $5.4K                 Total  $1.5K

(all before tax, of course... just a long way of saying I already have an EOS 
lying about).

There may be places I could find information like resolution-test results and 
the like, but I assume that one thing I have in common with most readers of 
this list is an interest in the visual/emotional impact of photos taken with 
particular glass, rather than a column of numbers representing some subset of 
the lens's characteristics whose effect on the whole image as taken in by the 
eye isn't always obvious.

Does anyone here own both lenses?  If so, comments would be welcome;  but if I 
were to wish the world, I'd love to see some of the same photos taken with the 
R lens and the Canon lens at 19mm.  If anyone's interested enough to take on 
this project and doesn't have web-space, I could put up the images for all to 
see;  or if anyone in the New York area has the R lens and feels like a 
weekend project, I could probably rent the EOS lens from Lens & Repro and we 
could try this...

...or am I the only one who's interested in this particular comparison?

 -Jeff