Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/09/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I find the 75-90 focal length ideal for portraiture where some background intrudes. With a fast lens 1.4 to 2 you can still make the background go away if you focus very carefully on the eyes: at 1.4 even the eyebrows start to blur. So, with a 2.8 lens, even wide open you do not go to extremes in oof areas. As to M versus SLR only you can answer that. Some individuals find the always on viewfinder of the M more of an advantage than the limitations of not knowing exactly what is or isn't in focus. You will find that in the Leica, Zeiss, Canon, and Nikon world that the 85 to 90 world is sometimes way to informative as far as fine detail. Some of us find the use of the various softars almost a necessity for not young individuals. I can say that the M elmarit and two R elmarits that I own are some of the best lenses as far as fine detail rendering. Shoot, by F4 even my ancient post exchange 85 Serener from the early 50's is scarily sharp although somewhat lacking in really fine detail.. So, likes: sharp, easy to focus, good gradient to out of focus, relatively light, little to no distortion, focus close for tight shots, filters are fairly cheap. Dislikes: not fast enough. If money is not really an object and an extra 200 grams of weight isn't going to drag you to earth then I would suggest going for an F2 variant as twice the light is a good thing sometimes, and sometimes the only way to get a shot. Don dorysrus@mindspring.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html