[Leica] New 35/1.4 ASPH?

[richard at imagecraft.com (Richard Man)]

Wow, that 35'lux ASPH is really brutally sharp. That's my only 35mm so I
have nothing to compare to it myself.

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 12:21 AM, Peter Klein <pklein at threshinc.com> wrote:

> 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.
>>
>>
>
>
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>



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