Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/25

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Subject: Re: [Leica] undeserved praise ?
From: Alfred Breull <puma@hannover.sgh-net.de>
Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 08:33:19 +0200

Nathan, I also do appreciate Erwin's sites, comments, and efforts.
And, indicating his sites to a new member is for sure a good way
to provoke another empty bank account :)

Maybe you remember, that we had a discussion on the significance
of lens tests (6 weeks ago), resulting from the fact, that bench 
tests show one side of a lens, while human perception frequently 
prefers another one.

So - if you ever have seen the 2/90 M Summicron's rendition at f 2.8 
or f 4, and what it does to a face, specially in b/w pictures, you 
will forget all about micro contrast, bench marks, or whatever.

Yes, the original lens is a little large and heavy, but it's one of 
the most beautiful lenses ever built. The price for a used one (1-st
version) in good condition is around DM 1.000 here in Germany, which 
should be around BF 20.000 or USD 560 - no, USD 615, since yesterday, 
when USD 1 = DM 1.63 at Frankfurt. 

Alf

- ----------------------------------------------------
At 06:25 26.05.1998 +0200, you wrote:
>Alfred,
>
>I was only trying to point a new member towards a valuable resource. I am sure
>that not everyone agrees with Erwin's assessments of the various optics, but
>certainly I have not seen anything else on the Web which rivals his site in
terms
>of thoroughness and objectivity.
>
>In his review of the 2.0/90mm, Erwin says that while it is a fine lens, its
>performance at full aperture is not that great (weak micro contrast) and
>concludes that "a better alternative to a high speed medium-tele lens is the
>Summilux-M 1.4/75mm".
>
>Nathan
>


- --------------------------------------------------

Alfred Breull
http://members.aol.com/abreull/index.htm