[Leica] New 35/1.4 ASPH?

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

Vince has a point.  Which is how I justify having three 35's:
- A Summilux ASPH:  Fast and modern, hard-edged. A little focus shift 
between f/2 and 5.6.
- A CV 35/1.2 Nokton: Very fast, and despite being an ASPH, with a 
somewhat classic rendering, and a bit lower contrast) Much kinder to 
women over 30, but big and heavy. Usually sharp enough.  No practical 
focus shift).
- A Summicron v.4:  Slower, but very sharp stopped down, and classic 
rendering near wide-open.  My walkabout and outdoor lens. 

Since 35 is my main focal length on the M8, I like to have a choice of 
how the lens renders.  The trouble is, 35's are more expensive than 50's. 

I wouldn't have the Summilux ASPH at all, except for our own Joseph Yao, 
bless him.  He sold the lens at a very reasonable price a few years back 
when it was merely ridiculously-priced by Leica.  Now it's 
stratospheric.  I can only imagine what the new lens will cost.  Still, 
when you want razor-sharp wide open, it delivers.

The current Summilux ASPH does do edges very hard, as Vince says. The 
way to get around that is not to sharpen at all in post-processing.  Or 
sometimes use another lens.

The focus shift is real.  I used to worry about it more until Henning 
advised me to ignore it. Now I will still compensate slightly at f/2.8-4 
if I can, but if I can't, I just focus on the closest thing I want in 
the focus zone and shoot anyway, and it's usually fine.  For five grand, 
I can continue to do that.

As to "sharpness as porn," it's kind of like Adam and Eve eating the 
apple. Once you've seen how sharp things can be, feel naked without it.  
You always want it.  Or you think you do. Often, I prefer a more classic 
rendering.  So I tell myself: "Self, shoot with your other lenses 
sometimes. They're sharp enough. Mandler and Kobashi know the old magic."

Just for fun, here are two galleries, one with the Summilux ASPH, one 
with the Nokton. Same place, same lighting, even some of the same people.

35/1.4 Summilux ASPH:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/friends/Rosa90/
CV 35/1.2
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/friends/NewYear2010/

--Peter

Vince wrote:
>
> The ASPH lenses in combo with the M8 and M9, which many luggers use,
> sometimes border on the-almost-too-sharp to my eye.  Except in the widest
> (big landscape/seascape) views they can lack subtlety -- there is a 
> tendency
> for the more intimate pictures to look as if they were processed by an ad
> agency for placement in Time. (I keep thinking they would look 
> astounding in
> black and white however; perhaps Luis will fill that gap now that he's
> gallavanting around with his M8.... ) The pictures these newer lenses take
> of clouds and the sky's infinitely various colors are amazing -- but those
> are soft things. The hard edges of the world seem with these lenses to be
> harder even than they are: as in cinema and other art forms, there's a
> possibility we've reached the natural end of the mimetic impulse in art, a
> 10,000 year progression -- in that we can now do reality better than 
> reality
> can do itself. Which makes the experience just a little pornographic.
>
> Just some Sunday ruminations, with fleisch all too well sitzed.
>