[Leica] Lens Quality in the Digital Age

[leica at cinemaminima.com (Austin Burbridge)]

Martin, you are right.

Convenience of modification and distribution is what drives digital  
-- not the primacy of the image.

The digital image is still in the "dancing bear" stage: "It is not  
that the bear dances so well, but that it does it at all."

When I think about all the electronic technology that is needed to  
emulate the quality of one thin 24mm x 36mm frame of acetate, silver,  
and gelatin ... well, I can only shake my head in wonder. Especially  
since film has never been so good.

I have made my living in the digital domain for twenty years, but I  
still believe in appropriate technology -- the right tool for the job!

Regards,

A U S T I N ,

Austin Burbridge,
EXPOSE for Shadows/Develop for HIGHLIGHTS http://cinemaminima.com/leica
Sprezzatura http://sprezzatura.editthispage.com/
flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/sprezzatura/
Cinema Minima http://www.cinemaminima.com/

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On May 26, 2006, at 19:42, Martin Krieger wrote:

> Please correct me if I am wrong. What is most interesting in this  
> emerging digital age is the general decline of interest in lens  
> quality. Lots of interest in processing algorithms, in pixel  
> counts, in noise in the sensor, but the lenses have been let off  
> scot free. This may make sense for point and shoots (with  
> exceptional cases such as the Digilux 2), but you would think there  
> is more concern in the Nikon/Canon/etc digital world. They sell the  
> models with not very good lenses, in effect reasonably good cars  
> with thin rubber tires. You can buy better lenses, but as far as I  
> can tell, there have been no real advances in lens quality. Leica  
> still makes perhaps the best lenses, surely some of the best. Canon  
> may make a few. But the main point here is that lens quality is no  
> longer front and center.
>
> Moreover, no inkjet system (and I suspect no lightjet system, about  
> this I am unsure) has the resolution of silver-gelatin or even  
> color printing paper. You look with a 20x magnifier and you see the  
> dots. Nothing wrong with this, except if you are curious about some  
> detail twenty years from now and have only the print.
>
> Have I missed the revolution?
>
> MK
>
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