Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The only thing you can tell from a print is the quality of the printing. Leica lenses are magnificent. As a Leica and Nikon user, I do not believe that Nikon lenses uniformly look "flat". But, I have picked and chosen my Nikon lenses *carefully* from amongst the lot, something I don't need to do with Leica--they're *all* superb; and perhaps I have *unconsciously* selected only those Nikkors that closely mimic the Leicas' rendition, having been influenced to use the latter as a standard. I do know that the images I get from *my* Nikon lenses are too similar to the Leicas for me to identify one from the other once I've forgotten which was shot with which. I also think it is impossible to make a statement comparing two manufacturers' lenses based on samples from different photographers, using different techniques, different emulsions, different processing, etc. Regards, Nigel On Mon, 23 Nov 1998 14:26:22 -0800 Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net> writes: >I think it is contrast of the lenses. Nikon lenses look flat by >comparison. The images I saw the other night by Colin Finley, shot by >Canon were nice prints, but highlights blown. They looked like prints >done where you take a flat negative and bump the contrast--they get an >edginess that I don't like. Same feeling I had of James Nachwey's >work. Whereas the Leica negs seem to produce a richness of tonal >ranges >that is different than simple contrast. Salgado's prints, for >instance, >have a subtley of tones I like. Hard to define, at least for my >non-technical mind. I just like them better and find they are easier >to >print. > >But, as shown by the powerful documentary work of Finley's I saw, >content can be so strong it overcomes all technical considerations. > >donal >-- >Donal Philby >San Diego >http://www.donalphilby.com > > > ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]