Re: [Leica] Leica M vs. R lenses thought

[Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net>]

At 09:09 PM 09-03-98 -0600, you wrote:
>Dan,
>Use Kodachrome 25 and project the slides with a Leica projector.
>Bud
>snip
>>
>>

Its not that simple.  Great care must be taken with the subject matter and
lighting,  and to ensure that exposures are identical between the
comparison slides.  What if the shutter speeds of the two cameras are off
slightly relative to one another?  I was comparing a 27 year old Nikon F2,
a Minolta 9xi, and a Leica M6.  I think there was very good chance that
exposures would not be identical, and I'm not about to go to the expense of
having these cameras calibrated to on another just for the sake of this
test.    With slide film, these differences will be immediately noticed,
and viewers may jump to the wrong conclusion.  

Also, my experience with slide projectors has never been very positive in
terms of image quality.  But then, I have never seen slides projected with
a Leica projector.  ;-).  

I decided (for myself, anyway) that if I couldn't see the difference in
8x10 colour prints made between the 4 lenses being tested, they were, for
all intents and purposes, identical.  Now, I can almost hear the catcalls
now, but I am not interested in picayune differences between lenses only
visible in electron microscope enlargements.  My original point was to see
if there were obvious differences between "normal" photographs taken with
the various lenses.  In my preliminary test, I think I actually DID find
obvious differences, but they are debatable, since basically I messed up
with the control parameters of the test.  

I will try and repeat the test when better weather arrives, and post the
findings, if anyone is interested.

Dan C.