Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]B. D. Colen <bdcolen@earthlink.net> wrote: > Damn! That raises a really interesting question concerning nostalgia v. > reality. I remember the classic Nikon 105 2.5 as an absolute killer of a > portrait lens, a lens so outstanding I have been tempted over the years > to buy one of the old silver barrel ones. Does anyone know what tests of > the lens might suggest? Is it as good as I remember it - or was it just > outstanding in its day IIRC the silver barreled version is the first optical design, and when it was re-designed there was much hand-wringing from people who liked the earlier lens' performance. Tests and comparisons at the time revealed that the distance and mid-distance performance of the new version was just as good as the old, and close-range performance was better. So if you get the silver barreled version you can expect somewhat weaker performance at close range. Also if the lens is single-coated expect more flare and ghost images than modern lenses. Even with these weaknesses it's still a well-liked lens. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .