Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Absolutely! My main interest is in the 21mm. I replaced a 21mm f4 Super >Angulon with the 21mm f2.8 Asph. Elmarit a little over a year ago. I sure >miss the ability of the older lens to focus down to approximately 7 inches. >Although it is not needed often there are definitely opportunities that are >lost with the newer lens. I have times now when the camera needs to be >placed behind my head so it will be in focus. Even doing this does not give >the same perspective the 21mm f4 focused at its closest distance would. > >Neil on the issue of wide angle close focusing + overall sharpness... i've been printing some old negs recently. they date from the b.l. (before leica) period of my life, and were shot using the cosina-made nikon fe 10 + a nikon 20/2.8 ultra wide. while that lens is no slouch, i've got to say that the prints don't compare in edge-to-edge sharpness and rendition of fine detail with other prints of shots made using the elmarit m 24 asph. i've come up with a couple possible explanations: - - mirror-slap may have caused slight camera movement, blurring fine details in the center of the images. (the pictures in question are low-light, non-flash images.) - - dof was not sufficient to render close foreground detail in sharp focus. - - i'm now more attentive to being as still as i possibly can be, propping myself up against a wall, pressing the camera to my forehead, etc., when shooting at slow shutter speeds. - - the leica lens is simply better at rendering fine detail and capturing edge-to-edge sharpness. it's been interesting to revisit those old negs, and to see what the nikon lenses i used are capable of delivering, now that i've grown used to leica gear. i'm not gonna start waving the leica flag here, and decry the inferiority of the competition, but i've got to say that in my own work - and i realize that i've changed as a photographer and (i'd like to believe) have gotten better with time - there is a noticeable difference. guy