Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/03/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Erwin, In the field of aesthetics, as you must know, philosophers have attempted to answer the question, "What is beauty?" Is it important to humans? Is it culturally determined or universal? Does it exist in "reality" or in the mind? If we assume for the moment, that aesthetically oriented photographers attempt to create or capture beauty (however defined), for the joy and meaning it gives to them and others, then the most relevant questions in regard to Leica lenses are as follows: Is a modern Leica lens more capable of rendering beauty than an older one? Or, is a modern Leica lens capable of rendering more beauty than an older one? In practical terms, would HC-B's shot of the top-hatted man jumping across the puddle have been even more precious with edge-to-edge sharpness, higher contrast, and whatever other "improvements" are now available on the 50 Summicron? I'm afraid that only when that question is answered, can we then go on to define what is an "aberration," and what is not. We can certainly say what is more or less *scientifically* "perfect," for whatever cold comfort that is worth, but I don't think we can say which lens is capable of rendering more beauty than another, at least not by any of the scientific criteria I've seen discussed in the recent posts. Still, thank you very much for elevating the discourse of this group to a higher level, which is what you always seem to do. Regards, Bruce Feldman Warsaw, Poland