Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:44 PM 7/16/96 -0400, you wrote: >At 08:32 PM 7/16/96 -0400, Charles E. Love, Jr. wrote: > >>Claude--The old 35 Summilux (very recently discontinued) was, a friend at >>Leitz tech services told me, by far the poorest of the current M lenses. >>The design is so old, he said, that it was the last of their lenses designed >>without the help of a computer! Optically, it remained the same from the >>time it was introduced in 1961! (See Rogliatti for confirmation.) > >Well, Leitz designed all Wetzlar-produced lenses from 1949 onwards by >computer, so I seriously suspect your friend hadn't a clue as to what was >going on -- see Rogliatti, as you snippily advise, for confirmation. > >Second, instead of passing on some stale hearsay -- have you ever USED one >of these? They work and, as Roger Hicks smuggly points out, at f/1.4 they >blow the doors of the f/2 Summicron. > >In any event, if you like the Summicron, try the FIRST generation lens, the >eight-element jobby. Quite possibly you'll not be happy with the current >version thereafter. > >Marc > >msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 >Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir! > Marc--Sorry I upset you. This is, after all, for many of us, just talk about our hobbies :) Yes, I owned two 35 Summiluxes--an early chrome one and a later one, and both performed as has been described--flarey, none too sharp at large apertures. My photographer brother bought a used one, and traded it in almost immediately--same problems. Of course, it's always "horses for courses," as Eric appears to be pointing out. I used to use a IIIg with some of the last screwmount lenses, and the photos I took had a "look" that was quite different from that produced by current M lenses. That look was certainly appealing. But the current standard for measuring lens quality seems to go beyond sharpness to include contrast and color saturation, as well as low flare. BTW, what's your motto after your name on your signature? Welsh? Gaelic? Charles E. Love, Jr. 517 Warren Place Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-7338 CEL14@CORNELL.EDU