Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I agree with Marc Small. There is quite a bit of heresay on this board. I happen to have the new-design 35mm Summicron. I noticed that this lens has a tendency to flare. In spite of this, I like the lens very much. I don't have any experience with the Summilux. I know that Hicks loves them. However, in one of his books he points out that one of his Summiluxes was a dog. On the subject of computer design of lenses. Computers have been in use for a long time. Even before the war, people used various mechanical computers and tabulating machines. In good hands, these gave wonderful results. I am not a big fan of computers. They can produce wonderful results in the hands of capable people. However, their indiscriminate use can lead to real nonsense. A good engineer should be able to design both ways. The computer should be an aid, but its results must be validated. I don't know how to design lenses, but can design various ultrasonic and vibration transducers. I can tell you that many of the best designs were arrived at in the 50's by people who really understood the limits of the technology. Best regards, Chris At 11:44 PM 7/16/96 -0400, you wrote: >At 08:32 PM 7/16/96 -0400, Charles E. Love, Jr. wrote: > >>Claude--The old 35 Summilux (very recently discontinued) was, a friend at >>Leitz tech services told me, by far the poorest of the current M lenses. >>The design is so old, he said, that it was the last of their lenses designed >>without the help of a computer! Optically, it remained the same from the >>time it was introduced in 1961! (See Rogliatti for confirmation.) > >Well, Leitz designed all Wetzlar-produced lenses from 1949 onwards by >computer, so I seriously suspect your friend hadn't a clue as to what was >going on -- see Rogliatti, as you snippily advise, for confirmation. > >Second, instead of passing on some stale hearsay -- have you ever USED one >of these? They work and, as Roger Hicks smuggly points out, at f/1.4 they >blow the doors of the f/2 Summicron. > >In any event, if you like the Summicron, try the FIRST generation lens, the >eight-element jobby. Quite possibly you'll not be happy with the current >version thereafter. > >Marc > >msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 >Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir! > > > **************************************************** C.M. Fortunko, Ph.D. Group Leader, Materials Characterization (853.05) National Institute of Standards and Technology Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory 325 Broadway Boulder, CO 80303 Voice phone:(303)497-3062 FAX:(303)497-5030 ****************************************************