[Leica] Lens Quality in the Digital Age

[mcyclwritr at comcast.net (mcyclwritr@comcast.net)]

Lens quality counts. Perhaps, more than before. 

A few years back, shortly after Canon introduced the EOS 1D-whatever with a 
full-frame sensor and 11 MP capture, a pro said he immediately saw that a 
lens which was "excellent" with film now exhibited shortcomings. I think 
it's pretty well accepted among pro Canon shooters that L-Series glass is 
mandatory. 

And I suppose the day will come when Canon introduces L-Series Plus glass. 
I'll hate that day. Because I can't afford that day. Don't let Canon read 
this message, lest it give them ideas. 

-Chris Lawson

P.S.:  B.D., please wring all the moisture out of the Grey Northwet before 
heading home. There's a plan a-brewing for a Moto Guzzi in Seattle to learn 
a circuitous route to Denver. I know I'll have an easier time teaching on 
dry roads under sunny skies.   


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Martin Krieger" <krieger@usc.edu>
> 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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