Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/21
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At 08:06 PM 20/10/96 -0700, you wrote:
>At 01:43 PM 10/20/96 -0400, you wrote:
>>Where does Leica officially state that the new version is better than the
>old?
>
>It was in the press release for the lens, and in several other places. It
>was long ago, when I was drooling over the lens and wondering that very
>question. I had a friend who shot some pictures with the original version,
>and I compared them to my 35 Summilux R at the time, and the difference was
>insignificant, as far as I was concerned. So this is truly an "angels
>dancing..." question.
>
I dug up an old copy of Leica Fotographie (6.94E). In it i states, "The
performnace of the 35mm Summilux ASPH is comparable to the official
catalogue 'Summilix-M 1:1.4/35mm aspherical' (type No. 11873) which is only
being manufactured by Leica in very small series. Apart from slight
differences in the design and verbal designation, there as much more
significant differences in the manner of arriving at....". Then the
article goes on in detail about the new molding process for the aspherical
surface etc. and how great the lens is. The superlatives used to describe
the lens are almost word for word identicle to those used to describe the
aspherical version in that lens' official press release. They conclude the
article by stating, "Doubtless the cut in price will serve as additional
motivation for those photographers who have been eyeing the expensive 35mm
Summilux f1.4 aspherical type 11873."
Nowhere here is there any implication that the new version is better than
the old. I am not sure if articles in Leica Fotographie can be construed as
official statements on behalf of Leica, but I think that it would be safe to
assume this.
I think that the bottom line is stated in your reply. It is probably next
to impossible by using the lens in actual picture taking excercises to
demonstrate any differences between them.
Dan Cardish <dcardish@spherenet.com>
<http://www.spherenet.com/dcardish/photo.htm>