Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/29

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Summicron-M 35 ASPH or before? see little test!
From: John Collier <jbcollier@home.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 15:57:46 -0700

 When Leica announced the asph 35mm, I ran out and bought the last non-asph
35mm in Canada as I like the characteristics of the old lens. The non-asph
35mm is famous for its smooth out of focus rendition but definitely not at
f2! As you so ably demonstrate, residual aberrations significantly
deteriorate the out of focus rendition wide open (and the in the plane of
focus too). It would have been interesting to see the same comparison at
f5.6 when the non-asph really comes into its own. If you shoot daylight
outdoor scenes it is unlikely you would use f2. The asph 35mm has gotten
rave reviews for sharpness and now out of focus rendition wide open but I
have not seen any comments on its out of focus rendition in the middle
apertures. The asph 35mm f1.4 has gotten mixed reviews on its out of focus
performance and the asph 35mm f2 is based on this design. Any comments from
the Leica intelligencia?

John Collier

Mr. van Hulsenbeek wrote:
> 
> My dealer offered me a try-out of the two, and the
> difference in the rendition of out of focus objects (bokeh?) won me over tot
> the ASPH. For that I did a small test, that may be of limited scientific
> value, but the results are interesting.