Re: [Leica] Down goes the Gauntlet!

["Isaac H Crawford" <isaacc@flashcom.net>]

> A CHALLENGE: I will make ten prints that I believe to exhibit optical
> excellence. All good negatives, all sharp, all big enlargements, all
> showing fine technique, no attempts to fudge the test or fool you--no
> cheap tricks. All films and developers identified, all made with the
> same paper, paper developer, enlarger, and enlarging lens. Camera lens
> apertures used will be identified. Tripod vs. handheld shots will be
> identified. All ten shots made with various unidentified lenses. Three
> or four of the ten will be shots made with Leica lenses. Do you think
> you can recognize which three are Leica pictures? Will you try to tell
> me that you can distinguish the Leica pictures from the Pentax, Zeiss,
> Olympus, Nikon, and Canon pictures from looking at the prints?
>
> I'll bet not one person here can pick which shots were taken with Leica
> lenses. If I had any money, I'd bet money on it. ;-)


No way I'd ever take that bet... I've got a 50mm f1.4 Pentax SMCA lens that
competes favorably with my 50 summicron in my pictures... I'd have
difficulty picking out which was which blind. I'm sure Olympus and Canon
have some contenders as well.

Isaac
> Anybody want to try? I'm serious--I'll make the prints. I can't do it
> this month, but I'll do it. I'll make three sets of prints and we'll
> send each set to, say, three volunteers. Each can try to identify the
> Leica prints. I'll post the data and let smarter brains on the LUG
> crunch the statistical implications.
>
> Anybody game to try to prove me wrong? Any volunteers?
>
> --Mike
>
>