Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:31 AM 10/7/96 +0100, you wrote: >I'm happy to have an old ASPHERICAL - and I wouldn't trade it for >anything else. I didn't do any A-B comparison but a close friend of >mine did and told me that there was definitely no improvement seen >from the point of optical quality. The old one is the superior lens >(better colors, more intermediate colors, ...). Well, everyone else who has done tests I've seen say the new one is better. The new one uses different glass, as well as the molding technique, which by the way causes no loss of quality in and of itself. What tests did your friend run? Slide film? On tripods? Etc? >manufacturer, however. (sigh again). Also there were only some 2000 >pieces made of the old design, the lens was practically not available >(you needed "to know somebody at leica"). The new model can be bought You didn't need to know someone at Leica, but you needed to know someone at a dealer who was going to get one or two of them. You can still find them with good detective work. I suspect the fact that despite the price of the old one they sold very well, which might be why the new one was even considered. The main problem with the original version of the lens was that some of them fell apart very easily. Several people on Compuserve reported the front of the lens fell off with no provocation. They attribute that to Leica losing one of the two guys building the lens and an apprentice coming in to replace him. I have a hard time believing that's true, but who knows? And the reason it was restricted to 2,000 lenses was that's how much of a special glass they had, and wouldn't be getting any more of it. The new lens uses some different glass types. >and please don't tell me too often that the new design is far better >than the old one (it'ssimply not true). Oh, but it is. ;-) Actually you are correct, it's NOT far better. Hardly could be. They're both awesome lenses and the two best 35mm lenses from any manufacturer. Save the bucks and get the new one. It's better than anything else available. It's all a matter of opinion and tests, but whose to say whose tests are best? I trust BAS tests, and they say the new one is phenomenally good. =========== Eric Welch Grants Pass, OR