Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/23

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Leica 1.4 R lenses
From: Five Senses Productions <fls@5senses.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 10:55:25 -0800

I apologized for my miscommunication in an earlier reply.  I meant to
say no "visible" vignetting.

To what were you referring when you said "2 further developments?"

Yes, I admit I am mightly critical......I scan all my 35mm slides on a
2700dpi film scanner and open them in Photoshop for scanner artifact
and color correction.  My slides need to survive the inital exposure,
a film scanner, a few Photoshop operations, and a conversion to JPG
format.  Then they can be viewed on the Internet which is my final output
device.  The reason I love Leica (even though I have only used Leica for
3 months now) is because the images are so much "sharper" and have
very high resolution.  I NEED the highest starting resolution and the best
quality possible because every step of my process degrades the image
slightly.  If I start with a bad slide, I will get an awful scan, if I
start with a
PERFECT slide, I will get a great scan, etc.  I can't afford a $75,000 drum
scanner (yet), so I am stuck with a desktop film scanner for now.

Francesco


At 09:53 AM 1/23/98 +0000, you wrote:
>
>
> ----------
>Francesco wrote.......
>>I recently bought a 35/1.4 and an 80/1.4 to go with my R8.
>>
>>Wide open, during daylight conditions, neither lenses are
>>stellar performers.  The 35 introduced visible corner vignetting
>>at 1.4, which was completely gone by 2.8.  I suppose one would
>>not expect the 1.4 lenses to be excellent at 1.4 during the day.
>>
>>The 35/1.4 also worked very well wide open at night to capture scenes
>>of a street market in Bangkok, lit only by street lamps.....no vignetting
>>here either.
>>
>>Does anyone else agree that the 35/1.4 is not that great wider than f/4, or
>>is
>>this a technical fault of mine?
>>
>>Francesco
>
>===================================
>Francesco,
>
>I fail to see how a lens that vignettes in the daytime suddenly stops at 
>night!. Can you tell me when this changes? 6pm? 7pm? Sunset?
>
>I'm a fan of my 35 Summilux, I know there are imperfections with the 
>ultimate technical quality of the design, (it's curvature of field rather 
>than flat field) but then all lens design is a chosen compromise. Because 
>it's an F1.4 lens I'm happy to use it like that, if it was only useful from 
>F4 onwards then I'd look for an F4 lens. There are of course 2 further 
>developments of the 35/1.4 for you to try if you're dissatisfied, for myself 
>I'd say that it's probably no technical fault of your lens but that you're 
>mighty critical of the performance.
>
>The subjects sounded interesting, street scenes and dancers. Can't we be 
>satisfied with taking pictures and having the tools for the job? Or do we 
>need to know that there is no sharper clinical instrument with which to 
>'scalp our trophies'?
>
>And finally, does anyone know how rare the all-black M3 - 35 Summilux is? I 
>like the fact it focuses closer but I'm unsure whether its a good trade off, 
>vis a vis the extra bulk in the bag... Part of me likes the fact that it's a 
>bit of an oddball thing top put on an M6!
>
>Jem K
> 


Francesco Sanfilippo,
Five Senses Productions
webmaster@5senses.com

http://www.5senses.com/