Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/12/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]-----Original Message----- From: Richard <richard-lists@imagecraft.com> >Now I am not enough of a lens head to know for sure, but weren't one of the >old arguments is that the old Leica lens have smoother transition to OOF, >e.g. so things look more 3D, whereas the old Zeiss are sharp and have a >quick cutoff sort of the cardboard cutout look? I don't own Zeiss, but I <can see that 3D look from my Leicas. The question is does this analysis >still applies, IF it ever applies before. I think it depends. The 2.8/80 Planar on my 2.8F is unbelievable in every respect. Smooth as slik, three dimensional, razor sharp, just gorgeous. I have heard on several occasions that the second to last version of the 1.4/50 Planar for 35mm is the one to get. Supposedly the newest one is "harsh". On a different note Zeiss makes a line of lenses for movie cameras called Zeiss Super Speed. We had an older set at work and they were quite sharp and showed very high contrast. But they do have that cardboard cut out look and some of the ugliest bokeh I have ever seen. I mean really fugly. Personally I own a set of Bausch&Lomb Super Baltars, which are supposed to be very similar to Cooke Panchros. They are very sharp, but lower contrast than the Zeiss. The transition to OOF is extremely smooth. Cooke now makes a new line called S3, which is staggeringly sharp, but not harsh. Feli --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feli di Giorgio feli2@earthlink.net www.elanphotos.com