Re: [Leica] Build Quality of Lenses

[Guy Bennett <guy.bennett@wanadoo.fr>]

>Sure! I have first generation M chrome lenses and current generation and
>there is no question IMHO that the first generation chrome lenses feel
>better but I cannot say which is the better quality as they were built with
>different materials and standards. I know that Irwin will disagree but I do
>have trouble telling which picture was shot with which lens. I have shot the
>same scene at the same time first with a Summicron collapsible (1953) then
>switched to a current Summicron, then had prints (8x10) made, just about
>impossible to tell which is which. Going a little further I took a portrait
>with a Summitar 50 (1950) on a 111G and the same shot with current Summicron
>on a M2 and maybe I need my eyes checked but could not see any difference.
>No doubt under scientific conditions there is a big difference but in the
>real world, I am not so sure.
>Steve
>Annapolis


i can definitely tell the difference between shots i've made with new and
old leica lenses.

i usually let about 5-6 rolls of exposed film pile up before having them
processed, and when they come back from the lab, i enjoy comparing proofs
made with an m6 and current lenses and a iiif and lenses from the '50s. it
is pretty obvious to see how images made with the older lenses differ from
the current ones.

without going into the specifics of which lens at which aperture and what
kind of film, in general i'd say that the older lenses create pictures that
seem a bit flat and lacking in contrast when compared pix taken with
current models. i use the elmar 50/3.5, summarit 50/1.5 and a summaron
35/3.5 on the iiif, and current 50 and 35 summicrons on the m6. i do shoot
a lot wide open, and that may explain the shortcomings of the older lenses,
since it usually seems that performance at full aperture is one of the
things that gets successively better when lenses are recalculated and
otherwise improved.

now, i'm not saying i don't like the older lenses or that i'm not happy
with results i get from them, i'm just saying that from my experience, they
don't compare favorably with current lenses, especially at full aperture.

that said, i do enjoy shooting with them, and am almost always impressed
with the results i can get from lenses that are half a century old. in the
case of the summarit, it has qualities that the contrastier, sharper modern
summicron 50 can't match.

guy