Re: Nikkor 85 mm (off topic, really!) v 90 Summicron

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@apple.com>]

Sheesh, I'm gonna sound like some kinda cheerleader for the
Nikkor 85/2 after all this, but if anyone wants to see a couple
pictures made with this supposedly flawed optic that demonstrate
to me that all this talk of flaws and low contrast is just
rubbish, send me a note and be prepared to view a couple of 100K
JPEG files. These are two images I know I took with the 85/2 a
year or three back, and were PhotoCD rendered direct from the
negatives at processing time. Hans Pahlen already had a gander
at the two images and stated, "Well, You have convinced me that
your 85/2 can produce excellent image quality."

Now, whether their quality control was somewhat variable in the
line and whether it's better than the older 85/1.8, well, at
this great distance in time (20+ years) I can't quite remember
exactly which of the great negatives I made with the old 1.8 I
have prints from handy, nor can I easily remember which of the
tons of other negs I have were taken with the 85/2 or 105/2.5,
both of which are great optics. The very fact that it's
difficult to distinguish between these two lenses' pictures says
to me that the 82/2 is a damn fine lens, the 105/2.5 has been
classed as another one of the 'special' lenses by photographers
for 30 years. 

To return to the Leica, I owned an early 90/2 Summicron when I
owned my M4-P (sold last October). It's a fine lens, although I
understand later model 90mm lenses are better (and lighter!).
Negatives taken with it are sharp and contrasty, but I don't see
much difference between them and the 85/2, 105/2.5, 85/1.8 in
the Nikkor line. Perhaps the later Summicron and Elmarit series
step ahead of the Nikkors, I can't say as I've never had the
pleasure.

Now I'm really going to get into trouble. The sharpest,
contrastiest, sweetest 85-90mm lens I've ever used was a Zeiss
T* lens for my Contax SLR which I owned in 1984-5. The second
sharpest lens of this category, but a little shorter, was the
75mm Zeiss Tessar f/3.5 lens on my Rolleiflex MXV-EV Type 2,
used with a Rolleikin 35mm adapter for doing portraits.

<Hey Marc, you gonna start a Zeiss/Contax list before I get
 drummed outta  here? I'm still looking at that Zeiss Ikon 
 Super Ikonta B... > ;)

Godfrey