[Leica] Leica superiority or not.

[lrzeitlin at aol.com (lrzeitlin at aol.com)]

 Enough of this praise of Leica superiority. It is tiresome even on the LUG. 
For most practical purposes Leicas are not superior to other cameras.


The limit to image quality, especially for images presented on the internet, 
is set by the viewing device. In the case of an HD TV, a 35 mm full frame 
image need only have 45 lines/mm to appear perfectly sharp. Even if the 
image is viewed on the top quality 27" Mac monitor it need only have 60 l/mm 
to appear sharp. These image resolution standards are only slightly greater 
than those that the old Modern Photography magazine rated as minimally 
acceptable. Every camera I own, no matter how cheap or how old can meet the 
resolution standard required by modern image viewing systems. Every Leica 
lens ever made, except possibly the old Thambar portrait lens, will exceed 
the minimum resolution criteria. By actual test my widely disparaged 75 year 
old Elmar 35 mm f3.5, Leica's first wide angle, resolved 68 l/mm.?


Some zealots on the LUG seem to obsess over the latest and greatest Leica 
lenses and the imaging characteristics and the size of electronic sensors. 
While these may be interesting topics in themselves, they have almost 
nothing to do with the pictures posted on the LUG and viewed on a computer 
screen. The best is the enemy of "good enough." Get out there and take 
meaningful pictures. Don't blather endlessly about technical perfection.


Larry Z