Hasselblad vs. Leica

["Michael R. Friedberg" <mrflaw@ibm.net>]

There have been a number of posts regarding whether and when one can discern
a difference in images taken with lenses used by these two cameras. Clearly,
it is unfair to compare a print enlarged 20 times from the negative (say
with a Leica) to one enlarged 4 times (say with any good 6x6).

Earlier this year, I met the well-known fine arts photographer Flor Garduno
(from Mexico but now living in Switzerland) and her photojournalist husband
Adriano Heitmann. He shoot with a Nikon and she uses both a 'Blad and a
Leica. Her most well-known book, Witnesses of Time (published about 1992),
contains images taken either with a Leica and a Hasselblad. The
reproductions are duotones, I believe, of extremely high quality. Both Flor
and Adriano dared me to tell which images were taken with which camera.

Of course I couldn't tell. I also can't tell when I view her actual prints.
Probably if I blew them up to a huge size and used a magnifier I could
discern a difference in resolution. But this proves little, I would think,
except the scientific truth that a negative printed many times larger than
another negative --not enlarged as much-- will lose something. It certainly
doesn't prove a thing about the relative quality of the optics.