Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/19

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Critical test reports by CDI
From: jackson105@juno.com
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 07:46:38 -0700

I think the reason why Leica lenses sometimes do not pass the magazine
test is because Leica does not design lenses to pass tests, but to make
photographs in the real world. I have seen magazines that say  the
Summicron 2/50mm is an old design and that Leica needs to give a more
modern design.  On the same page they said that it made very sharp
chromes.  Maybe Leica lens designs are not the usual run of the mill
designs and the magazines do not know how to test Leica's performance
against the other lenses.
Fred Jackson
jackson105@juno.com  
On Sat, 19 Sep 1998 09:04:08 -0500 Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
writes:
>At 03:14 PM 9/18/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>Likewise, if a lens priced at the top of its class truely does 
>deliver a
>>performance comparable to lenses costing a quarter the price, the 
>lens
>>designer's intentions are irrelevant. As a potential consumer of the 
>lens,
>>still assuming I find the magazine's testing credible, that is 
>valuable
>>information to me.
>
>I disagree. The Noctilux is an abject failure according to many 
>"tests."
>Yet it's extremely popular with users. Why? Because they testers don't 
>know
>why Leica chose to do what they chose to do to make the lens perform 
>they
>way THEY want it to. Leica, Zeiss, Nikon, Canon etc. all know what 
>they
>design their lenses to do. Tests are second guesses at worst, and 
>somewhat
>accurate at best. And the failure of Leica lenses consistently to live 
>up
>to their reputation in Pop Photo's tests is a perfect example of what 
>I'm
>talking about.
>-- 
>
>Eric Welch
>St. Joseph, MO
>http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>
>Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition.
>

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