Re: Nov 96 POP PHOTO Review of 50mm's

[captyng@vtx.ch (Gerard Captijn)]

The BAS tests are executed by a tester who is constantly changing his
testing methods. I thank that the current version of his tests consists of
projecting a test slide by the lens- to-be-tested, have a video camera
capture the projected image and to analyze the video image for establishing
lens quality. I don't know how good this all is. There could be some
comparative value if it is certain that the testing methods were identical.
BAS notes on a scale of 1 to 10 but I never saw a note below 7, which means
that his test results are compressed within a 3 point area. The digit behind
the point is therefore important. I don't think however that you can express
the many qualities of a lens in just 1 number.

To be specific, Mr. Barnim A. Schulze (BAS) rated the old Summilux-M 35mm
f/1,4 (2 aspherical surfaces) optical quality 9.6, mechanical quality 9.6.
The new Summilux-M 35mm f/1,4 (1 aspherical surface) got 9.8 for optical
quality and 9.8 for mechanical quality. This is hard to understand as the
old Summilux-M is slightly better than the new one.

BAS is publishing his tests in the German "Fotomagazine" which has the same
commercial constraints as Pop Photo. Eric is absolutely right on the shady
relationships between magazine and advertisers: BAS for instance will   n e
v e r say anything negative on Leica or Zeiss. Fotomagazine publishes a
yearly listing of BAS lens tests (approximately 300) in the January or
February issue. Certain tests are also available on Internet at
www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~unl4/leica.htm (in English).

I am not really interested in tests of Nikon or Canon lenses as I cannot use
them on my Leicas. I am much more interested in the tests of our friend
Erwin Puts who compares the 4 Leica-M 28 mm lenses, the different 50's, all
the 90's etc. From his tests I can make decisions on what Leica lens to buy
or not to buy.

Gerard Captijn,
Geneva, Switzerland.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- ----  >At 11:30 AM 10/18/96 EST, you wrote:
>
>>Both lenses get high marks on the optical bench as well as
>>in real-world situations, but the tester(s) point out that
>>"a handful of Japanese 50mm lenses for SLRs actually edge
>>them out. What really matters is that the Summicron-M and the
>>Elmar-M are top-level performers and among the best lenses
>>that can be fitted to an M-series Leica."
>
>Pop Photo tests are worthless. They consistently get it wrong. They don't'
>design lenses, and they have advertisers to make happy. BAS tests are much
>more reliable and consistent with what I hear people saying from using
>lenses in the real world.
>
>===========
>Eric Welch
>Grants Pass, OR
>
>Everyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his ideas
>closer together.
>
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