[Leica] Re: 21/1.4??

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

>Leica would not be the first with super-fast wides.
>
>Canon makes a 24/1.4, Nikon a 28/1.4. Olympus had a 21/2.
>
>Who here has used any of these and will report to us about their quality and
>utility?
>
>Emanuel
>

I've had the Canon 24/1.4 for quite a while; I've had it when I was 
using only film and it then moved to a 1.6x digital when I got that. 
Now I have a full frame digital and I have 24 and 35/1.4 Canons, as 
well as longer fast lenses. I don't have the 85/1.2, because that 
sort of speed is not as important to me at that FL.

The 24/1.4 is a decent enough lens, but too close to the old 35/1.4 
'lux in performance and not nearly close enough to the 35/1.4 ASPH. 
The 35/1.4 Canon on the other hand, while certainly not as good as 
the Lux ASPH, is quite decent.

The 24/1.4 Canon is, however, good enough so that I use it regularly 
and is probably the most used fixed focal length lens I have for 
Canons other than the 24TSE.

When the 21/1.4 Summilux becomes available, and if it peforms as it 
should for the price, and if the handling isn't too clunky and it 
doesn't block the viewfinder too much, I'll sell some items, throw in 
some cash and get one. I've been hoping for years for a 21 Summicron, 
and while that may represent the sweet spot for me between speed, 
performance, size and cost, now that a Summilux looks like a coming 
reality I'm quite will to consider that.

I've heard about the lens peripherally since last year, but am 
delighted that it seems to be a (near) reality.


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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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