Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ed Buziak: I know I would like a copy of that article, email address at the bottom of this page. The payback on the 105 APO EL Nikkor is supposed to be at F5.6. It is diffraction limited at this aperture. Stopping own further gets it in the same class as "the normal" lenses. However, as my contention, this also means you have lower DOF to focus with. Now all the other things in your DR must be perfected..... like focus, alignment, parallelism, flatness of paper, negative buckling, etc,etc,etc. On testing lenses at "home": The ability of the paper to reproduce the level of fidelity necessary will be limited. I was told recently by a well known color photographer ( 8x10 and Hasselblad shooting Christopher Burkett) that B+W paper can reproduce only 7 Line Pairs per Millimeter (LPM) whereas whatever they call Cibachrome today can resolve 30LPM. SO the test for best enlarging lens on B+W paper is false. You must use color materials to tell. Of course, the bigger the print, the more this difference will be negated by the film. So at enlargements of 30x40, the lenses will show their true colors. Relevant for the normal 8x10 family portrait print? I doubt it. Owning the best and not being able to tell is OK. It is your money. However lenses like the APO Rodagon, Leitz, even the regular El Nikkor, Componon ( or APO Componon-S HM), etc are certainly fine performers. Especially in B+W printing. Would I own a 105 APO EL Nikkor at $2500? Absolutely not. The question becomes: At what price would I own the best? $1000? $500? We might all agree that at $100 we all WOULD own the best. It is just a matter of justified price, and luck to find the lens of our dreams at a price we have justified to ourself..... As those non-Leica users would say... why own a Leica 50 MM Summicron lens for $800 when you can own a 50mm F 1.8 Nikon lens for $100? It takes just as good a picture....... My technique is certainly below the equipment I have. I doubt I will ever really catch it where owning better is the only way to get better results. But just like in owning Leica Lenses for shooting 35mm...... I feel better knowing I have the best. And maybe that confidence allows me, inspires me, or just plain nags at me, to make better images and better prints. Frank Filippone 12434 Viarna St. Cerritos CA 90703-7731 red735i@earthlink.net