Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]What has surprised me, looking at the raw numbers for depth of field wide open, is that there really is not that much difference between 50/1, 75/1.4, 90/2 or even 90/2.8 - it's always somewhere around one inch, maybe two, when you are shooting at a distance of four feet. Even with 35/1.4 you only have four inches at four feet. As far as getting focus with your M rangefinder goes all of these are just about as difficult or easy - apart from the 35, of course. So I think the real issue is the content that tends to go with each lens when used at close quarters. In terms of my own use it all starts to make more sense to me. Very limited DOF is demanding, but not too difficult, when you are shooting a head shot on a 90 or above, because (at least when you are working close quarters) you tend to be concentrating on the leading eye of someone who is not moving too much in front of you. As your view gets wider so the amount of movement of your subject tends to be greater - I'm sure this is why the Noctilux is so demanding at F1 even though theoretically there is a little more DOF than with the longer lenses - it's just that what people want to shoot with the Noctilux in low light will often tend to be people in a social setting who are (relatively) unaware of the photographer and not co-operating by staying still. Having gone over and over this I am now coming to the opinion that the four or so inches of DOF that I get with the 35 Summilux (certainly a 1960 Summilux stretches the limits of definition of DOF when wide open, but that's another matter) suits my purposes better than the Noctilux would. With it I tend to get just enough focus to catch two, maybe three, people, and then wonderful out of focus effects. So maybe the 35 Summilux Asph. is a better bet for me than the Noctilux. But does it have as pleasing out of focus areas as the non Asph. version? I hope this indecision is not driving others as mad as it as driving me....^_^