Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/01/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I would love to help you place that 28 Summicron.... and give it a good home..... Email me when you know what price you want for the lens......I have been pursuing one for a while..... Frank Filippone 12434 Viarna St. Cerritos, CA 90703 red735i@earthlink.net -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+red735i=earthlink.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+red735i=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of H. Ball Arche Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 1:59 PM To: lug@leica-users.org Subject: [Leica] 28's- CV Ultron & Summicron I surprised dome people last summer when put my Summicron 28 up for sale (I still haven't gotten around to listing it at the auction site yet). I've had the CV Ultron 28 for a year and a half now; I bought a Summicron 28 in late April '07, used it for about 2 months & 2200 shots, and put it aside in favor of the CV. For resolution, in equal shooting conditions I couldn't tell that one was sharper than the other, except that the Summicron is definitly more contrasty and can give the appearance of greater sharpness. For flare, the Summicron (which is not without its own flare characteristics) is much less prone to veiling glare than the Ultron. Part of this may be because the hood on the Ultron is truly lame. (I'm keeping an eye out for a used Summicron hood to hotrod on to the CV). Although a weakness, I've gotten used to it, know when to expect it, and am willing to deal with it. As for vignetting, I have never noticed it in any of the thousands of shots I've taken with the Ultron. But then almost all of my shooting is done in the 5.6-11 range. On the other hand, even in that aperature range, vignetting is clearly visible with the Summicron, and in some situations quite difficult to deal with. My real issue is in how each lens renders dimensionality in the corners. Since all of my shooting has to do with people, it is often the case that I have heads in the corners of my images. Since heads are roughly spherical objects, when shooting a wide angle lens it is to be expected that there is going to be some apparent elongation of the head along the axis to the image center, especially the further from the center the head is located. Now, while both the Ultron and the Summicron show some degree of such distortion; to my eye it seems much less noticeable with the Ultron, perhaps because with the Summicron this distortion is accompanied by a curious and unpleasant flattening of the roundness of the head, as demonstrated by the head of the man in the upper left corner of this image: http://tinyurl.com/2ehend or the head of the man in the upper right (also notice how vignetting has affected this one): http://tinyurl.com/2gfmpq and the head of the girl on the right: http://tinyurl.com/yp6mwt I've never noticed the same effect with the Ultron, although I've looked for it and would have expected to see it in the head of the woman on the left here: http://tinyurl.com/2m8kyn or the woman on the right: http://tinyurl.com/2vn4l2 and this guy: http://tinyurl.com/2whj58 This 'flattening' I see with the Summicron, as opposed to subtle elongation, may be be entirely subjective and personal, but it ruins the lens for me. That said, I too am curious about the new Elmarit asph and would like to give it a try. Any body out there have one they would want to trade for my Summicron? :-) Both the Summicron and Ultron 28's are large lenses; the Ultron looks to me like it could be a 75. Oddly, for the way I shoot, I think this is a definite plus. You can stand right up close to somebody and fire away because they think you're shooting past them. Of course, I could be totally wrong about people thinking that, but I seem to believe it. My take on the recent thread about the photographer not being apparent to the people being shot is that if you think you're invisible you are. For all intents and purposes. And that works for me, or it will until I get punched in the nose. ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information