Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/11/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 03:14 PM 11/3/96 -0500, George Zachar wrote: >3) Marc from Virginia, knowledgable as ever, pointed out > that Leica uses a trick to create a unique optical > outcome. > a) What's the "trick"? > b) Is there a visible-to-the-naked-eye effect > at, say 8x10 print size? Is it seen only in Chrome? This has been covered so many times I think I'll do a FAQ on it ... Berek figured out that by 'defocusing' out-of-focus images, the apparent sharpness of the in-focus image would be emphasized. This produces what Rogliatti terms the 'Leica glow' -- the in-focus subject 'pops out' of the out-of-focus image. It was seen as a cheap trick by the more established and better-heeled German firms in the '20's and '30's (Voigtlander and Zeiss, especially) and their optical techs wrote some disparaging attacks on the Berek methodology in the German optical journals of the day. Obviously, this is visible in any print size and on any photographic medium. >4) The only glass LUG members praise besides Leica is Zeiss. > Why wouldn't an imaging purist (with money to burn, I guess) > go with Contax and Zeiss glass instead of Leica? Their SLRs > offer auto-focus, for those who want/need it. This is a distressingly broad statement. I am a rather seasoned LUG habitue and routinely praise Schneider and Russian lens designs; I also shoot Canon EOS and find the primes for this system perfectly adequate. Others on the LUG regularly say nice words about Nikon and even Minolta has been known to get a grin or three. The primary reason a photographer would choose a Leica over Contax would probably be the choice of a Leica M over a Contax SLR -- a lot of us DO really like the convenience and efficiency of an RF. In any event, if money werem't an object, we'd all probably be shooting Hassies or Rollei SLR's for most applications. >5) Speading of Contax, for those who care, the Usenet buzz is that > the G-2 is a pig. And there is no Contax mailing list. I'm not certain this is an actual precis of the 'USENET buzz', at least not on the REC.PHOTO groups. In any event, this IS a 'Leica Users Group', not the 'Contax G-2 Users Group" (or should that be COG, for the 'Contax Owners Group'?) Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!