[Leica] IMG: More Wayback Photos + Normal Lenses

[Alan Magayne-Roshak]

On Sat, 10 Aug 2019 Lluis Ripoll <lluisripollphotography at gmail.com>wrote:

>I like very much the two first pictures, great tones!

>Nice collection of 50mm lenses, I can suppose that the Macro-Switar
performs very well?.

>Lluis
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Thanks, Lluis.

The Macro-Switar is just average in my tests of most of these lenses (in
the 18" to infinity range).  It's close to the Micro-Nikkor in the
macro realm, but has a different distribution of sharpness with a more
curved field, and it can give a more impressionistic look
when opened up past the f/3.5 of the Nikkor.

Of the f/1.4 lenses, the Zuiko is the best wide open, with a slight glow.
At f/2, it's gone, and is only very, very slightly behind
the Summicrons in resolution, but the Zuiko has more contrast (probably due
to haze from age in the Leitz lenses).  The Summicrons
have the most pleasing o.o.f. background rendering, but the Zuiko isn't
bad.  I don't use the f/1.4 Nikkor much - it's the bulkiest, and
also is in mint condition (I got it from my uncle, and he never used it,
preferring zooms.  I keep it on his 1965 Nikon F - such a
pretty combination.)  My Super-Takumar f/1.4 does quite well, considering
how much it got knocked about in the 1960's when I
worked on the student newspaper.

The Canon f/1.2 is in a category to itself.  I put this on my X-E2 when I
go out at night; it's my fastest lens, and my example is
sharp wide open, and gets really good at f/5.6 - f/8 (in the center), but
the curvature of field makes it less useful for scenes that
feature buildings or need a flat field of sharpness.

Alan

Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Photo Services
(Retired)
UPAA Photographer of the Year 1978
UPAA Master of the Profession 2014
amr3 at uwm.edu
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/

"All the technique in the world doesn't compensate
 for an inability to notice. " - Elliott Erwitt