Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]You buy a Leica for the lenses. You buy a Voigtlander for the value. But you buy an 90mm rangefinder lens by its look. The only reason you should buy an RF 90 is for portraits and then it should be the one with the optical signature you like. The god-awfulest 90mm APO ASPH blah blah 90/2 for an M will set you back significantly, while rendering human faces like a microscope does. If this is what you like, then the 90/2 APO is better. In a portrait lens, you top two needs are smooth in-focus out-focus transition and good highlight separation. To this end, M and LTM lenses that you might consider include 85/2 and 105/2.5 Nikkors 90/4 Elmar 85/2 Canon chrome 85/2 Jupiter There is no inherent rangefinder lens superiority for the 90mm length: retrofocus is not an issue, compactness is not really an issue, and realworld focusing is less accurate. When you start talking about 85s and 90s, the SLR world provides very stiff optical competition. Cheers Dante Nathan Wajsman wrote: > Hi Phil, > > No pitfalls. By all accounts the Voigtlander lenses are excellent value for > money. Of course there is the school of thought that says that you buy Leica for > the lenses, so using another brand on a Leica body (when Leica offers the > equivalent focal length) is heresy. I must admit that I do prefer Leica lenses > myself, but the one Voigtlander (really Cosina as I am sure you know) lens I > have, the 15mm Heliar, is very good. > > Having said that, in 90mm, the 2.8 Elmarit is an excellent value these days, > with many on the second-hand market because people are buying the 2.0 Apo. It is > a very very good lens. > > Nathan > > Phil Sudberry wrote: > > > Here's the twist-- I've heard/read the Voigtlander lenses are extremely high > > quality and can fit with adapter to the M3. Prices are reasonable for my > > budget . Any pitfalls to these lenses? > > -- > Nathan Wajsman > Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland > > e-mail: wajsman@webshuttle.ch > > General photo site: http://belgiangator.tripod.com/ > Belgium photo site: http://members.xoom.com/wajsman/ > Motorcycle site: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1704/