Re: [Leica] More Sharpness is Highly Overratted

["Joe Stephenson" <joeleica@email.msn.com>]

Charles,
Soft-focus are still made. Rodagon makes one (the Imagagon), and to  bring
this back to topic, Leica used to make the 90mm Thambar. Its image softened
when used near its max f stop of f2.2. I'd love to have a Thambar, but have
never even seen one. Can anyone report on the Thambar? And, as the
availabilty of such lenses suggests, softness can be good for some images.
Sincerely,
Joe Stephenson

[cut]
>Very different than the pinhole look. Moderate center sharpness falling
>off rapidly into oblivion. View camera controls determine where you put
>the "sharp" part. Try it with your Linhoff, Jim. I love that camera. I
>put a couple of shots with this technique in my portfolio and got more
>than one job from it. Sold both of them as stock, too. Enough to buy a
>couple of Linhoffs ;) All that I'm saying is that Sharpness is Highly
>Overrated. It has it's place, but can be very distracting. It's why I use
>my Summiluxes wide open most of the time. I like to have sharpness there
>when I need it, but sometimes it helps just to get rid of everything and
>simplify the composition by breaking the rules. I hate rules. Sorry folks
>if I digress away from Leica for just a moment.
>
>charles