[Leica] Perfect for what is the question

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

> I'm surprised to hear you say this, Mike, as you've said on numerous
> occasions that blur is especially important to you in the evaluation of a
> lens, and that Zeiss lenses rarely have good bokeh.  (I agree, by the way;
> sold my Contax SLR.)   Are the G lenses better in this regard, or is it
> simply that their other virtues outweigh this deficiency?  Myself, I have
> to say that nothing in my experience comes close to the Leica M line,
> pre-aspherical.  I haven't tried all of the new Konica lenses, and they may
> well give the Leicas a run for their money (although the Hexar's hardly a
> "line" yet); and my limited experience of Canon LTMs suggests that they can
> perhaps hold their own with early Leica optics, but the M line seems
> uniformly superb.  (This should win me at least a couple of friends on this
> list.)  I also have no experience of the R lenses -- I must confess that
> I've never heard a reasonable defense of the R bodies, so I've never given
> them much thought.  (This should lose me these new friends on the list.)



Well, I didn't say they were *my* favorite lenses. I just said they were
perfect connoisseur lenses. First, because they are Zeiss, which was to
Leica like the Beatles were to the Stones: way, way higher on the
Cool-O-Meter back when it counted. Second, because each of those G designs
is a direct descendant of one or another famous, seminal and significant
Zeiss designs, and Zeiss designs were the most influential in the history of
camera optics. In the same way that the Leica M is a connoisseur piece
because it is a direct descendant of the first viable and widespread 35mm
camera and an evolution of the classic midcentury M3, so the Zeiss G designs
are more purely pedigreed and better connected to history than virtually
anything else. Just a point of connoisseurship for those who care about such
things.

I still think the Leica R line is better than anything else taken as a
whole. The cameras rate no better than a B on the grade scale, and maybe
that's being charitable; but the lenses are A+. I would rate all the other
brands and lines being from A down to D (and I could grade them pretty
precisely if I had to).

- --Mike