Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Peter: I was agreeing with Ted because I knew he was given the Leica 400mm 2.8 to use during the Olympics. At a venue like that he would have been able to make comparisons. As for me I am stunned with the pictures it produces when I manage to get them in focus. About two weeks ago, I took some pictures of a downhill ski race. It was a rather quick event and since I didn't scout out the course in advance, I didn't get many good pictures. I had never taken sking pictures and this was a learning process. They do move quite quickly too. I scanned a slide I took which shows some of the properties of this lens shot wide open. This is a straight scan with no Photoshop manipulations of contrast. In this picture the sun is in the upper right corner just out of the frame. A perfect spot for flare and even worse with the bright snow adding to it and the skier in the shade. Pictures taken from this same position ,but at a closer skier, panning with a 60mm produced a lot of flare. This image when projected or on a light table has a lot of snap to it. It was shot on AGFA RSX100 which is probably as far from Velvia when it comes to sharpness and contrast as you can get, but it looks like it could have been done on Velvia. http://home.iSTAR.ca/~robsteve/photography/images/downhill/sl-37-2.jpg This picture is not supposed to be an example of a good sports picture, but just the demonstration of the good properties of this lens. It manages to get good detail on a skier in the shade with a very bright background and the sun just out of the frame trying to induce flare. How it would compare to the Canon equavalent in these circumstances, I do not know. I do know however that the pictures I took with the 35mm Summicron and the 60mm Elmarit were much more contrasty than my friend had taken at the same time using his Nikon gear and he was using Fuji Sensia which is much better than RSX 100 when it comes to contrast and saturarion. http://home.iSTAR.ca/~robsteve/photography/images/downhill/sl-36.jpg This was one with the Elmarit, with the sun to my back and panning around 1/60th. Great contrast and colors. Regards, Robert At 12:57 PM 2/19/99 -0800, you wrote: >Peter K wrote: > >>I love all the opinions of people who have not used the new Nikon or Canon >>lenses, yet already have concluded the Leica is better. Talk about a >>cult.>>>> > >But then you assume I haven't! And that isn't quite the case. So sometimes >when I sound like a "Leica Cult Member" it is from experince! :) > >ted > >Ted Grant >This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler. >http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant > > > > > >