Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/03/05

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Subject: [Leica] Narrow DoF on the Leica E-3
From: don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory)
Date: Wed Mar 5 04:51:16 2008
References: <200803041501.m24EtxJT018223@server1.waverley.reid.org> <Pine.LNX.4.62.0803041225340.17368@mail.2alpha.com>

Peter,
When Modern Photography tested the Zuiko 50 F1.4 lo these many years ago
they determined that it was closer to a 1.7is lens than a 1.4 in actual
transmission or T stop.  Therefore when the experiment is run you will in
fact find not much difference in exposure from a marked F2 to F1.4 as the
lens does not transmit but 1/3 stop more light.

On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 3:45 PM, Peter Klein <pklein@2alpha.net> wrote:

> Richard:  Would you do me a favor?  Meter something once at a medium
> aperture. Then take a series of equivalent manual exposures. Such as:
>
> 1/30, f/4
> 1/60, f/2.8
> 1/125,f/2
> 1/250,f/1.4
>
> Are resulting images the same exposure, or is f/1.4 much darker? If you're
> game, try the whole range of f-stops. Do things get out of whack again at
> f/11 or f/16?
>
> I noticed that with my E-1 and a Zuiko 50/1.4, I got only about 1/3 stop
> more light going from f/2 to f/1.4.  So the 50/1.4 was really only a
> 50/1.8 for practical purposes. This might have something to do with the
> angle the light hits the sensor wells, and something gets cut off faster
> than about f/2.
>
> There were actually two factors. Not only did the sensor respond
> differently at extreme apertures, but metering was also off at both
> large and small stops. So the effects of the two factors combined, making
> things very confusing until I separted them.
>
> The result was the the OM lenses couldn't be relied upon without knowing a
> compensation factor for wide open and closed down. All this behavior has
> been reported by others (with the usual Internet flamefests over the
> cause, and whether the reporter knows how to use his camera).
>
> I wonder if the E-3 is the same, or if it's more forgiving with
> OM lenses.
>
> That said, if you have a OM Zuiko macro lens, try it with the E-3 and you
> might just marvel at the image quality.  My 50/3.5 OM Macro gave me image
> quality on the E-1 like no other lens I tried. And the 100/2.8 makes a
> nifty 200mm-equivalent telephoto.
>
> --Peter
>
> > Who says it can't be done?
> > http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/_3031364.jpg
> > http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/_3031365.jpg
> > http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/_3031366.jpg
> >
> > The trusty 50/1.4 Zuiko at 1.4. The E-3 VF is definitely as good if
> > not better than the OM-4 when it comes to manual focusing.
>
>
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>



-- 
Don
don.dory@gmail.com

In reply to: Message from pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein) ([Leica] Narrow DoF on the Leica E-3)