Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/31
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>Dear All,
>
>I'm not a great fan of lens testing but I like to have a quick look at
>test results before I buy a lens, just in case! I was quite surprised
>to see that Photodo - link
>http://www.photodo.com/prod/lens/leicam.shtml#LeicaM - rates the 35mm
>Summilux ASPH as the worst M lens they have ever tested, with an
>overall rating of only 3.8. In contrast, the 50mm Summilux-M, which I
>know is quite an old design, is rated at 4.2. It was my impression,
>from reading the archive, that the 35mm Summilux ASPH was considered by
>most people to be a star lens. So, is Photodo off the mark here or is
>the 50mm Summilux really all that much better than the 35mm?
>
>Regards,
>
>=====
>Ray
>
>"The trouble with resisting temptation is
> you never know when you'll get another chance!"
>
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>--
>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
photodo is out to lunch (with a lot of martinis) on this one. I had a
Summilux 50 for many years, and it just doesn't come close to the
Summmilux 35 ASPH.
I find photodo's ratings to be rather questionable. I don't mind test
results that don't exactly track my own, as every person has their
own preferences and priorities, but most test results approximate my
own and are in relative correspondence. Photodo's results vary more
widely from my own experiences than any other set of tests and are
thus rather pointless for me. Part of the problem is that photodo's
one number results don't give you much in the way of information on
how that number was arrived at.
The Summilux 50 is very good at f/8, especially in the center. So
what. Almost every lens is adequate if used with normal film at that
stop. At f/1.4, the Summilux 50 is only so-so at the edges, and not
outstanding in the middle. Get a Noctilux and live life on the edge.
It has worse performance at f/1 than the Summilux has at f/1.4, but
now you're shooting at _f/1_!
The Summilux 35 ASPH is very even in performance. There is not a
large amount of difference (if you use normal 100-400 speed films) at
the edges, the center, at f/1.4 or f/8. That is what is so fantastic
about this lens. You don't have to pay attention to what f-stop is
used re: quality, but only think of DOF or exposure. This is in
marked contrast to the Summilux 50, which has hugely different
performance at f/1.4 and at f/8, both center and edges.
- --
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
|[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com
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