Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:52 AM 1/24/98 -0500, Ting F Lee wrote: >Any idea which is a better lens >50 mm 1.5 sonnar (contax) or >50 mm 2.0 Jena sonnar??? "Better" is a hard term to define. The 1.5/50 Sonnar whether in its early version or the slightly-recomputed West German version is a stunningly fine lens -- I have several of the Jena lenses in Contax RF and LTM and am constantly impressed by the ability of this lens to produce a crisp image of fine resolution and sharpness, even wide-open. It was designed in '31 but is still a worthwhile optic today. (I should ask Erwin to do a comparison run between the 1.5 Sonnar and the 1.4 Summilux -- I have them both and admire them both deeply.) The f/2 version is slightly sharper in the middle apertures, but the difference isn't as great as would be expected. I have a slew of these, as well, and find all versions of this lens admirable. Both designs came from Ludwig Bertele, arguably the premier optical scientist of the century. Zeiss did a neat ad campaign when the 2/5cm Sonnar was introduced, showing Bertele and an assistant standing by the 3 foot tall stack of paper representing the calculations which went into the design. And an even niftier campaign emenated soon thereafter when the 1.5/5cm was brought forth: "Mehr Lecht!", a slogan which spoke deeply to educated Germans, as these are reputed to have been Goethe's last words -- "More Light!" It is a tribute to both designs that they were used as regular professional lenses for almost forty years and are both still in production in Russia. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!