Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 07:25 PM 1/17/98 +0100, you wrote: >Is there an optical quality difference between the two of them? Is the >"current" one listed above still the latest version? How about its >qualities? How does this lens behave in practical use? Any >particularities? Does anyone have experience with this lens? >Thanks for any info! It is a fabulous lens. It's optically much better than the older version (only two versions). It has four filters. X1 (neutral for no effect) Orange, Yellow/Green and Blue (for incandescent light). Leica will change them if you can supply them with substitutes. Some day I'll have Rosco make me new filters for it (green for flourescent light for one) and have Leica put them in. It's one of the best wide angles Leica makes, according to BAS. And I can concur. You see vignetting when it's wide open in the very extreme corners. Nothing you can't correct with Photoshop or printing. It's so small, though, that for all practical purposes it's a non-issue. The sharpness is phenomenal. I shot some abandoned buildings last week with it in bright sun with slow film and was blown away by the sharpness right to the corners. I shot at f/4 to f/8 for these pictures. It's got the Leica three-dimensional look in spades. I can't rave enough about this lens. It's rather large, but on the R8 feels just fine. Solid as a rock. The lens hood is massive and gives good protection. And the lens cap is a major slab that fits in the hood while on the lens, so you never have to remove the hood at all. It's a great available light lens, for getting in the middle of things, even when shooting wide open. Depth of field is phenomenal. But the perspective of such a lens in tight is hard to control. People's heads get stretched quite a bit in the corners when you are in there close. And don't confuse that with distortion. It's basic optical principles. If you look from that same perspective, you see the stretching heads with your eyes too. So it's a thinking person's lens. You have to watch what it does. But if you know how to use it, you will really love it. I've used the 21mm f/4 lens, and it's pretty darn good, but it doesn't hold a candle to this lens. Nothing different about this lens than any other great lens of this focal length and speed. Except the optical performance is on the highest order. Distortion is nil. You can do architecture with it no problem. (Use a bubble level). ========== Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Photography can light-up darkness and expose ignorance. Lewis Hine 1904