Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Mose, J P <j.p.mose@lmco.com> wrote: > >> I'm having trouble with the "search" feature on my computer so >> please excuse my question if it is redundant. I would like to >> purchase a 21mm for my M6. I'd like to hear your opinions on >> the ASPH versus the previous version. I am finicky like many >> Leica users but also trying to be practical ($$$). Most of my >> shots are: Tech Pan or TMAX 100; enlargements 11X14 or >> under; very few at f/2.8. Would I see a big difference? > >At 11x14" and under at apertures smaller than f/2.8...no, you won't see a >big difference. The performance gains in the ASPH version are incremental >rather than revolutionary. OTOH the gains are real and if you must have the >sharpest lens then save your pennies and spring for the ASPH version when >your cookie jar is full. Well, if he uses Tech Pan and TMX, and perhaps even a tripod?, then I think he will see differences also at 4.0 - at least. Not only in sharpness, but also in the rendering of fine structures. Depending on how you use the lens, you may want to consider the size difference betwen the ASPH and the previous version. The difference is not all that big in millimeter (I do not say inches, because that would be small fractions) but when it comes to putting an M with the lens attached in your jacket pocket you certainly notice it. This is important to me, but I use the 21 mm a lot for everyday photography. If you have other lenses, and you use b+w, you may make your choice dependent on the filter size and get the lens that can use filters you already have. Generally, I would say it is six of one and half a dozen of the other - ---but as you are a Tech Pan man, look out for special offers on a new ASPH rather than getting a used earlier version. (BTW how do you expose and develop your TP?) > >My personal favorite among the Leitz/Leica 21mm lenses is the f/3.4 Super >Angulon. It comes closest in look & feel to the Zeiss f/4.5 Biogon (one of >my all-time favorite lenses, period). I used an SA extensively in the Middle >East in the mid-1980s, courtesy of a Kibbutznik/Leica fanatic who took me >under his wing after spotting the M2 hanging off my shoulder as I pruned >rose bushes in the village's greenhouse. :-) > >-Dave- - -- Christer Almqvist D-20255 Hamburg, Germany and/or F-50590 Regnéville-sur-Mer, France