Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hello, Alexey I ABSOLUTELY concur with your tests r.e. RFDR vs SLR...... I get the equivalent of 2 "stops" worth of "low light sharp exposures" using my Ms vs my Nikons, etc. The RFDRs (Leica, Canon, Nikon, Contax) have ALWAYS given me the edge in sharpness, due to body design. However, when comparing apples to apples, slrs OR rfdrs, I have never known one to see/identify the differences reliably. I'm talking 50 lens to 50 lens, brand to brand, hand held shooting with real-world films (RDP, EPP, etc. In fact, if I had to give the "edge" to one, it's the mid 50s contax IIIa with 50 Zeiss!!! No, I don't have the new ASPH 35 to test.....I assume, with a controlled test, tripod, tech pan, looking at negs wide open at the edge with 50x microscope, etc. the new lens(es) would win!.......but that's not how we use 35mm cameras! I was referring to a page of varied slides shot with various cameras/lenses, normal photography, hand held, various stops/speeds, on a light table with a peak lupe, etc. AS A Photo editor would see them...... that's why my non-Leica friends look at me, roll their eyes, and shake their head!! Well< i've done it again, started a conversation I said I wasn't going to have again...... Best to all, Walt On Sun, 29 Nov 1998, Alexey Merz wrote: > Walter S Delesandri <walt@jove.acs.unt.edu> typed: > >Same things, have-vs.-have nots, law of diminishing > >returns, subjective comparisons because none of the Leica folks > >will subject themselves to an A-B test, might prove they're loonies, > >ya know..... > > The *first* thing that this Pentax/Nkion photographer of over 15 years > did upon aquisition of his M6, 35/1.4 ASPH, and 50/2 was to perform > blind A-B comparisons of these lenses with the AIS equivalents. > > At the widest apertures the Leica stuff won for resolution, contrast, > and flare supression. The 35 Leica was better at 1.4 than the Nikon > was at 2.8. In the field (now, based on ~50 rolls of film) I get maybe > twice the number of sharp exposures at 1/15 and 1/8 as I do with my > Nikons. At some point perhaps I'll post some 60x enlargements of > regions of the slides, set up so that the viewer can do his/her own > A/B tests. Of course, at 5.6 and smaller, there was not much difference > between the lenses; but I think we all know that already. > > -Alexey > .......................................................................... > Alexey Merz | URL: http://www.webcom.com/alexey | email: alexey@webcom.com > | PGP public key: http://pgp5.ai.mit.edu/ | voice:503/494-6840 > | Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the > | first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete > | strangers to kill again. > | -- TV listing for _The Wizard of Oz_, > | in the Marin County, Ca., newspaper >