[Leica] Re: Summicron 90 old vs APO for portraits

[drodgers@nextlink.com]

John Collier wrote:

>>I would like to supplement it with a summicron for when the light is low
and weight
does not matter. Naturally I know the old 90 is a little soft wide and
close
but can anyone comment on how they have found the APO for wide open
portraits?<<

I think the older 90 Summicron, like the 35/1.4 non-ASPH Summilux, while
perhaps "soft wide and close, has character. I sold an older chrome version
with tripod mount. Apparently it had some collector value. I miss the lens.
The tripod socket was very handy. I now own a newer version with SN above 3
million. Both are/were excellent, lenses.

I have an 11 X 14 environmental portrait of my wife that I took with the
newer 90/2 M. It hangs next to a Hasselblad print and the Summicron
photograph looks every bit as "MF". It has tonality and sharpness to spare.
Specs: f5.6, PanF Plus, FX2 dev, Saunders Dichro with Rodenstock 80/4 APO,
Ilford MG FB. It is, without a doubt, the most crisp looking print I have
ever made from 35mm. Even though I used a tripod the photograph is very
"Leica like".

I purchased my first Leica M more than a decade ago because of a print I
saw taken with a 90/2 Summicron. It was a night shot of a fast food store.
The photographer worked at a camera store in Denver. I was looking at a new
Nikkor lens. He was a student who worked at the store part time. He had
borrowed the Summicron for a class assignment in night photography. He
asked my opinion of the photograph. I was amazed at the way the lens
handled the extreme contrast of the night scene. It was then that I became
hooked on Leica.

Ironically, I carry a 90/2.8 M Tele-Elmarit quite often. I never carry my
90/2 Summicron M. However, I actually use the Summicron two-to-one over the
Tele-Elmarit.

David