Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Last week I took the plunge and purchased the 28 Summicron. To date my favorite wide angle has been the 28 Zeiss Biogon for my G1. It is extremely sharp and distortion free. I had hesitated to purchase the Elmarit 28 because from all indications I have found there just wasn't much difference in the performance of the Biogon and the Elmarit. I'll start by saying this about the Summicron after 6 rolls of film: Wow! This sucker is amazing in it's sharpness at every aperture, flare resistance and control of distortion! In a test roll of TMAX 100 (same roll for both cameras) I have found the Summicron to be better at f2.0 than the Zeiss is at 2.8! In particular, the clarity and resolution of the corners of the image are DRAMATICALLY better. At F 4.0 the difference is tighter, but with the definite edge in fine detail resolution going to the Summicron. After this both lenses are simply,equally, amazing. A note to the picky: All shots were tripod mounted, same roll, same exposure settings and focus points. All negatives were examined under a grain focusing maginifier and also printed on Ilford RC, glossy. I would have been quite satisfied if the Summicron only equaled the Zeiss, and gave me an extra stop to boot. The Summicron 28 is the first f2.0 wide angle I have owned that can compete with the Summicron 50 for image quality at f2.0. A final note: I was also suprised with the much greater resistance to flare of the Summicron. While the Zeiss does surpass my older generation 35 and 50 Summicrons in this respect, it is simply not in the same catagory as the 28 Summicron. Best wishes Dan States Madison WI _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html