Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/24

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Mo' Bettah: The 35mm Summicron
From: "Robert G. Stevens" <robsteve@hfx.andara.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 22:41:59 -0300

Alexy:

I agree with your assesment of the 35mm Summilux ASPH.  I had one for a
short time and sold it because it did not seem to create the images I like.
 On a trip to New York and times Square, the Summilux images at night
looked dull in comparison to the Noctilux shots.  As for general F8 and be
ther shots, I think my currens 35mm Summicron ASPH looks much better with
more sparkle to the slides.

A web page with some pictures from this trip is linked below.  The night
pictures taken with the 35mm Summilux were a bit diappointing, even the
Daylight picture I took of the White House while continuing on to North
Carolina didn't seem too look as good as I had gotten from Summicrons. 

http://home.istar.ca/~robsteve/photography/trip.htm

As for the smoothness of the Summicron, I have a few pictures on my site
taken on AGFA portrait 160 and at F2.  With the shallow depth of field, not
everything is in focus, but the transition is so smooth as you described.
They are the top two pictures the page linked below.  

http://home.istar.ca/~robsteve/photography/gordon_francis_stevens-3.htm

Regards,

Robert


At 04:04 PM 10/24/99 -0700, Alexey Merz wrote:
>
>The 35 gets used for landscapes and as a general-purpose
>lens. It seems incredibly wide to me (and bear in mind 
>that the 35/2 Nikkor was my standard lens for almost
>my entire photographic life). This lens is the one that
>gets used *both* handheld in very low light, and 
>set on a tripod for landscapes. The 'lux ASPH does not have 
>especially beautiful bokeh at intermediate stops though 
>this is only a problem in shots with fields of specular 
>highlights when I am focussing on something relatively 
>close. Recently, I have been using the 35 more and more 
>in classic wide angle "fore/back" shots, but open to 
>f/1.4 with the focal plane in the foreground. Ah! this is 
>what the lens was deigned to do! Fantastic! Now it *really*
>feels like a "wide 50".
>
>I hope soon to have access to a decent slide scanner,
>and I will share some results then.
>
>Regards, 
>Alexey
>
>