Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/20

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Subject: Re: Nov 96 POP PHOTO Review of 50mm's
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@cdsnet.net>
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 07:10:52 -0700

At 09:03 AM 10/20/96 +0200, you wrote:
>the many qualities of a lens in just 1 number.

Arthur Kramer, who used to write for Modern Photography agrees with you on
this point. There are way to many characteristics to be able to give an
overlal evaluation of a lens with one number, but this number is a
subjective assessment, based on more objective tests.

>
>To be specific, Mr. Barnim A. Schulze (BAS) rated the old Summilux-M 35mm
>f/1,4 (2 aspherical surfaces) optical quality 9.6, mechanical quality 9.6.
>The new Summilux-M 35mm f/1,4 (1 aspherical surface) got 9.8 for optical
>quality and 9.8 for mechanical quality. This is hard to understand as the
>old Summilux-M is slightly better than the new one.

Where do you get this idea? Some people automatically assume that two will
be better than one aspheric surface, but there are newer glasses used in
the new version, and that assessment concurs with Leica's own claim the
newer version is better. And my experience is Leica gives realistic
assessments of their own lenses, compared to other Leica lenses. Because
some people favor another is no indication that all will agree. 

>BAS is publishing his tests in the German "Fotomagazine" which has the same
>commercial constraints as Pop Photo. Eric is absolutely right on the shady
>relationships between magazine and advertisers: BAS for instance will   ne
>v e r say anything negative on Leica or Zeiss. Fotomagazine publishes a
>yearly listing of BAS lens tests (approximately 300) in the January or
>February issue. Certain tests are also available on Internet at
>www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~unl4/leica.htm (in English).

Yet, bit even so, I talk (on Compuserve) to a man who was an editor of this
particular magazine, and he claims to be very independent, and also feels
like even though the BAS tests do have a bias for German glass, the
comparative tests to coincide with most people's experiences with the
lenses in question in the field. Not always, but most of the time.


===========
Eric Welch
Grants Pass, OR

Ever notice how fast a Mac runs? Neither did I.