Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/26

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Subject: Re: diffraction (was Re: [Leica] Leica 90mm f/4.0 Elmar C prices)
From: Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 21:51:13 -0700
References: <bf.35567c7b.2c7d7e05@aol.com>

At 11:22 PM -0400 8/26/03, Afterswift@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 8/26/03 8:17:13 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
>telyt@earthlink.net writes:
>
>>  Diffraction cannot be reduced.  It's a function of wave mechanics and the
>>   size of the aperture, nothing else.  Other aberations can be reduced enough
>>   so that the sum of the aberations and diffraction still makes an acceptably
>>   sharp picture - depending on the size of the print, of course.
>> 
>>   Doug Herr
>------------------------------------
>Doug,
>
>I reckon that's what they did. I assume the object of this tradeoff was a
>marketing promotion.
>

When film has grain the size of (small) golf balls, diffraction is 
less of an issue. With current films, diffraction makes f/32 on 90mm 
Elmars useless. Recompose, tighten up your criteria and use f/16. 
There is good reason for the current 90/2 AA Summicron not having an 
aperture smaller than f/16. Why purchase a superlative lens and then 
use it to make fuzzy images? Even at f/16 it produces its poorest 
quality.

- -- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
   /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
  /###\   mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
  |[ ]|     http://www.archiphoto.com
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In reply to: Message from Afterswift@aol.com (Re: diffraction (was Re: [Leica] Leica 90mm f/4.0 Elmar C prices))