Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jeff - if it was that mail, which said at first that the 1.4/35 asph Summilux makes double contours in the unsharp area, I remember your letter very good. It made me looking have of the night for double contours in my pictures :) I agree to you in several aspects. The in-focus (= sharp) area of the 1.4/35 asph Summilux is really impressing, and I have never seen something like this before in any other 35 mm lens, specially at f 1.4. The out-of-focus (=unsharp) area is $@%&$& - not always, but too often. From Ferdinands prints (daylight pix) I see, that the 2/35 asph Summicron is almost as sharp (in the corresponding f-stops) as the Summilux, but has a far more pleasant out-of-focus performance. At f 5.6 and above it should be better (but that's a guessing). The comment "almost as sharp" from above results from the fact, that I have slides of the Summilux, and prints from Ferdinand. The prints are a less sharp than the slides (of course), or a very little less sharp than cibachromes from my slides. From (lots of) own experience I see, that the old non-asph Summicron _is_ better (than the Summilux) at f 5.6 and above and above 30 feet (at all f-stops): More sharp, more pleasant. The out-of-focus performance of the 2/35 asph Summicron is very pleasant in my perception also, and comparable to the non-asph Summicron (though more contrasty). Alf - ----------------------------------------------- At 11:12 20.02.1998 -0500, you wrote: >Yep. As you may recall, some months ago I mentioned having borrowed a >friend's ASPH Summilux at a party for a few snaps. I ended up taking a >picture with it which I like, but which I wish I'd taken with my pre-ASPH >Summicron, the lens I'd come with. It's a head-and-shoulders shot at >f/1.4 or f/2, with some green leaves in the near background; it was a >gently overcast day, so the color saturation is appealing. But there's a >hard-edged look (your word "blocky" describes it well) to the out-of-focus >leaves, and the subject's shirt, a pattern of black-and-white squares, is >rendered in a disturbing fashion as it goes out of focus. That picture >was enough to keep me from continuing to consider saving my pennies for >an ASPH Summilux.