Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The review of the Voigtlander lens by Amateur Photographer is typical of a lens review by a magazine in the UK. What I mean, is that the magazine only get to test 'average' lenses that everyone can afford and 99% of photographers end up using. When magazines test any modern lens, they will do a resolution test and use it in 'real world' situations, and invariably end up with a positive conclusion; it is very rare to find a seriously bad lens these days. Even 28-200mm superzooms can produce sharp pictures now! When I started photography approx. 10 years ago, I was sucked into this myth; that Minolta, Pentax and Canon produce superb quality lenses, and that Leica lenses are more or less the same; that there is no difference. Well, I have since started to appreciate what Leica photography is all about, and I can conclude that the Leicas perform vastly better than my Minoltas. The whole process from taking the picture to projecting the slides is now far more enjoyable. How can Japanese lenses perform the same? Leica, as we know, put a tremendous amount of effort into polishing, centering and finishing of the lens elements that a Japanese lens simply cannot compete! There are some superb Japanese lenses out there, but they cost about the same as Leicas anyway(sometimes more - the EOS 50/1 is £400 more than the Noctilux!), so they would probably produce a similar test result. Another example is the Contax 300/2.8 APO, which is a staggering £7,000 MORE than the Leica APO-modul equivalent! I suppose a fifty year-old Leica lens will not match a modern Japanese lens, but any of the recent Leica lenses such as the M-28/2, R-50/1.4 and R-180/2.8, I am sure, will easily come on top in any comparison test. I suppose that magazines are not allowed to say a lens is really poor, and they don't. It is a bit like comparing a Rolls Royce to a Ford; they both get you from A to B, but with the Roller in far more luxury. Leicas are similar, in that they will take a nice sharp picture, just like most Japanese cameras, but the whole process is far more 'luxurious'. At the end of the day, as Leica users we appreciate the craftsmanship and overall quality that Leica cameras and lenses possess, and that the system as a whole is simply the best money can buy. Simon