Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 4/3/01 3:09:26 AM, Erwin writes: << It is remarkable that the idea that there is a significant trade-off between high contrast and low resolution still rides high in Leica lore. As far as I know no one who holds his view has ever presented demonstrable evidence or corroboratable measurements to prove this point. >> Then Leica itself believes its old myth. I am holding in my hand a glossy information booklet entitled "Leica Lenses" published by Ernst Leitz GMBH Wetzlar/West Germany in 1969 (ref. no. VII/69/CY/Mi). In a chapter titled "Resolving and Contrast" the authors claim that the concepts of resolving power and contrast are not necessarily linked and offer photographic evidence that of the two, high contrast is more important for general photography. The booklet was given to me by a Leica factory rep. in 1970 as an explanation of why Leica redesigned its lenses to emphasise contrast. Erwin, this is not mythology. It is Leica's own history. Science is another matter. Larry Zeitlin