[Leica] R8 and new 50/1.4

[John McLeod <johnmcleod@worldnet.att.net>]

LUGgers,

Went to Keeble & Shuchat today to test two new 50/1.4's with 60mm filter
size.  Shot one roll of Elite 100 on a tripod of various scenes at 1.4, 2.0,
2.8 and 5.6.  Results were similar from both lenses.  Actually there was a
third, and I'll coment briefly on all three.  Not intended to be exhaustive
(no Erwin Puts here), but thought you'd be interested.

The lens I didn't test had a focusing knot in it.  Not all that bad really,
but Jeff Alford and others at the store agreed it wasn't right.  The two
lenses I did test
had similar characteristics:

o  Excellent, absolutely superb, contrast even at 1.4
o  Moderate light fall-off at 1.4 (less than most Canon lenses I've seen,
similar to Nikon)
o  Some softness at 1.4 - 2.0 (maybe a bit more than I'd hoped for)

By the way, one of the lenses also had a small air bubble off to the side. 
All in all, I was most impressed with the contrast.  I have seen better
resolution in other lenses at 1.4 (including Nikon and Canon, at their
best), but the softness was minimal and not unexpected -- barely visible
with a 5x loupe, quite visible with a 15x.

I almost bought one of the them, hemmed and hawed, then decided not to.  I
have been thinking about the R8 now for about a year and decided, instead,
to take the plunge.  Will shoot a few rolls in the next few days.  Feels
good, much simpler than the F5 obviously.

If anyone has experience with the new R 50/1.4, I'd love to hear about it. 
Also saw the new 180 APO/Elmarit.  It may be optically better than the lens
it replaced, but it's bigger, has a plastic hood, and an unwieldy look
compared to the sleak, beautifully made lens it replaced IMHO.

John McLeod