[Leica] Leica 35-70 f4 update

["James Burris" <jabu@direct.ca>]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Leica 35-70 f4 ASPH lens and I'm sorry to report
after shooting three rolls of film with it and my Leica 100mm f4 macro
prime, I returned it.  The images bothered me in two respects.  The first is
that the zoom was not near as sharp as my 100mm macro at infinity.  Second,
the lens' contrast was marginally lower than the prime as well.  Overall it
is not a lens I would recommend,  in fact I don't see any improvement at
infinity between this lens and the original 35-70 f3.5.  I'm the first to
admit that I am very picky about my images, but when I pay well in excess of
$1,000 the lens had better perform.  If one needs a zoom that badly, I would
suggest a tamron 35-105 and live without the contrast.  The sharpness is
about the same.

So next question:

Is there anything to choose between the 50 and 60mm lenses optically
speaking?  I'm leaning towards the 50mm, but I've heard the 60mm is the one
to get.  I don't really need the macro, but I do need the optically better
lens.


Thanks,

James Burris