[Leica] cron vs lux

[Summicron1@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/7/98 7:13:25 AM, you wrote:

<<From: Eric Ertman <ertman@online.no>
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 08:59:33 +0200
Subject: [Leica] New 50mm Summilux M 1.4 ?

 I have decided to break my piggy bank in order to purchase a  50mm
Summicron M f/2 as it seems to me to have the overall best optical
performance of the M 50mm's despite average speed . I am slightly
hesitant, even though I appreciate the excellence of this lens, as I
somewhere caught a rumour of Leica launching a new 50mm Summilux M 1.4.
Can anyone substantiate this rumour? If so it might be worth the wait.

Thanks,
Eric
>>
depends eric-- i have no idea if a new summilux is coming out, but I'll tell
you the same piece of (apparent) blasphemy I've been telling other people on
this list: If you want to take pictures, a Summicron is an excellent choice
that you will never, ever regret. I am firmly convinced that the improvements
that people see in the 1.4 aspherical lenses are at least partially, and
perhaps, totally, in their minds. You say F-2 is "average" speed, but it is
actually quite fast. With modern films you really do not need anything faster
to still get very good results except in the most demanding sports situations.

Remember, the reason an f-1.4 lens has to be an aspheric  to perform well is
that such huge hunks of glass do a lousy job of directing and managing all the
different wavelengths of light without the sophisticated engineering needed to
make them asph. My humble 50mm 3.5 Elmar does a lovely job in its humble way.

So...

For an extra $1,500 or so (you WERE going to buy a used summicron, were you
not? Of course you were.) you get a lens that, maybe, performs a teeny bit
better, and has one stop more speed. Big whoop.

so, you want to take pictures or do you want to spend money and impress your
friends?

(written after spending the afternoon shooting a drum circle/hippie gathering
in Salt Lake City with a CL, a 40mm summicron, a 50 mm 3.5 elmar, and a 90 mm
f-4 elmar and having absolutely no trouble at all, and I know the pictures
where I don't bobble the camera will be very nice and sharp.)

charlie trentelman
Ogden, Utah