Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/03/02

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica, Canon, and soft images
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 19:18:43 -0600

At 01:13 PM 3/2/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Second point, why would Canon be crying when they are #1 in the Pro market
>these days?  Even if the 70-200L is only as good as the Leica (Kyocera)
>80-200 F4 and not on par with the 70-180 F2.8 it may still be good enough.
>Remember, its the image that counts.

Because Leica is a little piece of grit in their eyes. They like to think 
they make the best lenses. And in some cases, they do. But Leica is there 
to poke them in the eye with a Noctilux that still outperforms their lens, 
even though it's from the 70s and doesn't have an Aspheric element. They 
claim theirs is better, but from those to date who have used both, that I 
have talked to say that they think the Noctilux has special qualities that 
make it actually a better lens to use. I'd like to try the Canon, but I 
don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

So Leica comes out with a zoom lens that has no equal. It's got to bug them 
when they think they have the best designers.

>Case in point, Stan Stearns' image of little JFK Jr. saluting at his
>father's funeral in '63 is a soft image but no one cared.  It was a great

Nobody here would argue that fact. Eliott Erwitt also has a picture of 
Jackie crying taken with an old 400 mm lens. Not terribly sharp, but who 
cares? It's a wonderful picture. But anyone using that lens today for 
professional work would be laughed out of the press stands. :-)

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.