[Leica] Less you scoff at R lenses compared to 21st Century M lenses.........

Wed Jul 5 01:57:37 PDT 2017

Some Leica R zooms were actually Minolta designs, and the earlier ones
were actually built by Minolta. That’s back when R-series cameras were
still based on Minolta designs (R3, R4, R5, R6, R7).

-- 
Chris Crawford
Fine Art Photography
Fort Wayne, Indiana
260-437-8990

http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio

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On 7/5/17, 4:47 AM, "LUG on behalf of Frank Dernie"
<lug-bounces+chris=chriscrawfordphoto.com at leica-users.org on behalf of
Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com> wrote:

>Interesting Frank, with respect to the R zoom I had always thought that
>they were Sigma designs built by Leica to Leica tolerances in Leica type
>mounts. Thanks for the update.
>My main 50 is the f1.4 Leica on an M though.
>cheers,
>Frank D.
>
>> On 4 Jul 2017, at 23:07, Frank Filippone <red735i at verizon.net> wrote:
>> 
>> #1. if you do not wish to read about techie stuff, quit now.  This is a
>>very
>> nerdy test that takes absolutely no interesting pictures.  It is a Lens
>> test.  Period.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For a while I have been trying to cut the weight and bulk of my M kit,
>>at
>> the same time, making travel photography less complicated.
>> 
>> My preference is towards the least user intervention in the photographic
>> process.  Changing lenses is a big distraction.
>> 
>> Getting a SL and lenses, is not in my budget, even after they dropped
>>the
>> price of the body by almost $1500.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Museums and Churches are dark places.  I want one fast lens to do
>>Churches
>> and museums.  50mm seems the right lens.
>> 
>> To that end, I collected a bunch of lenses, and ( thanks to Doug, yet
>>again)
>> a Sony A7II body (24MP body).
>> 
>> Using that body as my test device, I tested out my 50mm lenses for use
>>in
>> low light conditions.. Full open Aperture..  For zooms, they were only
>> evaluated at 50mm.
>> 
>> I used a tripod, self timer, manual focusing at max magnification,
>>distance
>> of about 12 feet, in bright light, ISO 50.
>> 
>> My subject is the cedar fence ( now 45 years old) in my front yard.
>>Lens
>> Hoods were used in all cases.
>> 
>> I took 3 images for each lens, keeping the best , and evaluated all the
>> images through LRCC at 1:1.
>> 
>> Only the center of each image is evaluated, at full aperture ( F1.4 or
>> whatever)  Because that is how I will use this lens.  Full open
>>aperture.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For the results..  Best to worst.. This is all about central
>>resolution, and
>> ability to get fine detail...
>> 
>> 1)    Leica M 50mm F1.4 ASPH.  Wins by a big margin optically.  Fully
>>manual
>> operation, as are all M and R lenses.
>> 
>> 2)    LeicaFLEX Vario Elmar R 28-70 F3.5-4.5 ( 1990 design, Rom version,
>> with Novoflex adapter.  Fully manual)  ( Stick that in your .. "old
>>lenses
>> suck". pipe and smoke it)
>> 
>> 3)    Sony 55mm F1.8 ( very close to the Leicaflex lens.  Lightest lens
>>in
>> the test and it is AF and auto-aperture)
>> 
>> 4)    Leica M 50mm F2 ( early 1990's vintage)
>> 
>> The next bunch are pretty close, but if you leave out 1 lens, the
>> differentials are greater. so the lenses do decrease in capability
>> 
>> 5)    Leica M 28/35/50 Tri Elmar F4
>> 
>> 6)    Sony 28-70 F4.5-5.6 Zoom (AF)
>> 
>> 7)    Nikon 50mm F1.4 AF non D lens ( with Fotodiox adapter, no AF as
>>it has
>> a mechanical aperture connection to the body)
>> 
>> 8)    Nikon 50mm F1.4 G lens ( which will AF on the Sony body with the
>> Fotodiox adapter)
>> 
>> Big gap in image quality, but that is not the prime purpose of these
>>lenses
>> 
>> 9)    7 Artisans 50mm F1.1 Chinese (New, $369, 400grams, delivered in 1
>> week!) 
>> 
>> 10)                       Noctilux 50mm F1.0
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Yes, the best lens of the bunch  was the 21st century marvel.  But you
>> probably believed that before you started to read this.
>> 
>> To me, the surprise was the Leicaflex lens doing so well...  FYI, I
>>believe
>> this lens is a Leica design produced by Sigma in Japan
>> 
>> And to me, the most rewarding part of the test is how well the Sony 55
>>F1.8
>> lens did..since that lens is part of my proposed new kit.  Optically,
>>it IS
>> good enough to do what I ask of it..
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Remember, these results are specific to MY lenses and MY needs
>>(wants?).  If
>> you were to evaluate your kit, or, even using my images, or making up
>>new
>> images using my lenses, may result in a different order.  (YMMV)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Comments?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I also tested the Sony 16-35 Zoom lens against the Leica 16/18/21mm Wide
>> Angle Tri Elmar.
>> 
>> Hands down, the Leica lens is superior at 16mm.  At 18mm, they are much
>> closer, but the Leica is still better.  At 21mm, the Sony lens is
>>superior.
>> 
>> 
>> At these focal lengths, manual focusing errors are more prone to
>>happen,  AF
>> was used and results were gathered from the AF Sony images.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> BTW, my time to do this came about as I tend to my Wife, as she is now
>>lying
>> prone ( last 4 weeks) with back issues. so getting further than the
>>cedar
>> fence surrounding the house is an issue..
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Frank Filippone
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Red735i at verizon.net
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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