Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/04/06

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Subject: [Leica] Leica v Nikon results
From: David Prakel <dprakel@rochester.rr.com>
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000 20:39:03 -0400

Well, it's 24-hours since I received a vote so I'll declare the poll over.
16 votes were cast 11 correctly identified the Leica optic and 5 did not.
The Nikon was the top picture, the Leica was at the bottom. If you want a
final look, the pictures are still on the website at:

http://home/rochester.rr.com/prakel/LeiNik.htm

Those voters who said they were just guessing in every case incorrectly
chose the Nikon optic as a Leica.

Of the five voters presenting an argument for their choice four chose
correctly.

One correspondent made me laugh out loud with his reply (I'm sure he won't
mind me quoting anonymously)

> The UPPER SNAPSHOT shows faint hints of astigmatism, poor contrast and
> uncorrected coma in the field. From a completely unscientific view I
> suspect it is the Nikon image. And worse, it was probably made off
> tripod without benefit of mirror lock-up.
> 
> On the other hand the LOWER IMAGE shows the unmistakable Leica signature
> - crisp with hardly a hint of softness at the edges. Deeply saturated
> colors and high contrast mark this image made by what is a landmark in
> lens design for Leica and indeed the entire universe. And although it is
> certainly a controversial subject, the bokeh exhibited in this image is
> unmistakably that of Solms.
> 
> PS. What brand of disposable camera did you really use?

Another correspondent very perceptively pointed out that the picture
differences were probably due to metering. Again I hope he doesn't mind my
quoting his email anonymously:

> No way I could say much regarding lens quality here either way! But the
> bottom photo looks underexposed and I'd expect the Leica R4's automation to
> be easier to fool than the Nikon's

[SNIP]

> Funky color balance either way--top photo looks kind of magenta and the
> bottom's too blue but that could partly be due to underexposure. Suspect
> most folks will prefer the bottom despite the underexposure and the blue
> bias because the skies look cleaner.

To those of you who did - thank you for taking part.

- -- 
Regards
David

dprakel@rochester.rr.com