RE: [Leica] Lens signatures, old and new

["Dan Honemann" <danh@selectsa.com>]

Hi B.D.,

I've wondered about this and have considered it as a possibility.  But if I
look at the contrast, the out of focus areas, the texture (I lack the proper
terminology)... I still see a difference in the older prints.  I'd be more
inclined to believe it is based on different emulsions, chemicals and papers
than on lenses; I doubt that the nostalgia of the content accounts for _all_
of it (but hey, I could be wrong).

I can still tell the difference between videotaped vs. filmed footage on tv
right away, while many of my friends can't see it at all.  To me, the
difference in old vs. contemporary prints runs along the same lines...
immediately apparent.  I have seen some modern photographs that do seem to
come close if not match the older quality, though I can't tell you which off
the top of my head (there was a link mentioned here a few weeks back to a
photographer who did many portraits of appalachian familes that springs to
mind).  I'll pay closer attention to this and jot down some examples as they
crop up.

Dan

> Okay, I'll take my life in mind hands and...
>
> This whole "old glow" thing is really pretty funny...On the one
> hand we have
> Erwin, judging lens quality on the basis of scientific formulae
> and the number of
> threads visible in a 1" square of silk photographed with  ASA 2.3
> film at 100
> yards with the latest Leica optic, and on the other we have a
> bunch of guys who
> call the flare and veiling of the old, optically inferior lenses,
> the "classic
> leica glow."
>
> Yes, as Buzz and some others have pointed out there were papers
> available 50 years
> ago which are no longer available - and some of them probably
> would produce
> superior prints. But the bottom line, folks, is that that glow
> which so captivates
> you is the glow of nostalgia; nostalgia for a long-gone world and
> way of life
> captured in the "glowing" photos of the greats, nostalgia for the
> days when
> photography really "mattered," nostalgia for the days when we
> were all a good deal
> younger and full of promise than we are now.
>
> But that's only my theory...
>
> And, by the way, some things, such as wooden stringed
> instruments, DO get better
> with age...Give me a 1966 Martin D28 over its "new" clone any day...
>
> B. D.