[Leica] 35mm 1.4 Aspherical Comparison:

[tedgrant@islandnet.com (Ted Grant)]

Hi All Lugnuts!

I don't normally do the test thing with lenses as many of you do, (which by
the way, you "tester folks" are making a "tester person" out of me. :)

But I've just seen the results of comparing the 35mm 1.4 aspherical with an
old 35mm Summilux 1.4 and it's quite amazing. I saw an immediate difference
with a naked eye, never mind putting a loupe on the slide.

I make this comment in reference to using the lens wide open, because that
is where I use my lenses most of the time; either wide open or stopped down
as little as possible.

To keep the comparison fair, we used one M6 body on a "tripod" and switched
lenses rather than use two bodies. That meant the same roll of film and
camera and the images were done back to back. As in, frames from the Asph
were exposed then switch lens and frames from non-asph.

I must say my personal feelings about all the aspherical promotion was
somewhat skeptical, as I assumed it was the usual test bench hype.

Well, Leica really made a believer out of me about aspherical glass.
Certainly, used wide open there is an obvious difference between the
lenses. Sharpness overall, lights are round and clean without any halo or
flare effect, and just the overall look of the images is quite remarkable.

Stopped down it wasn't as obvious, but there still seemed to be an overall
improvement in a crisper? sharper? edge and cleaner look. In other words,
the slides just look different when you compare them.

Do you see an immediate difference stopped down without having two slides
to compare beside each other? I don't think it's as big a difference as
some might think.  Wide open?  Yes. We're talking major effects here!

Gut feeling about rushing out to buy?  Well, if you are shooting by
available existing light and near wide open for much of your work you can't
afford not to have one!

However, if you are a camera on tripod pastoral scene photographer or
street shooter working stopped way down most of the time, I don't think the
high aspherical extra cost warrants making a change -- unless you get an
incredible deal of purchase!

But, for anyone working low light level picture taking, aspherical appears
to be  a must for major improvement in your "recorded images."

Will your "pictures be any better?"  Well that part is still up to you! :)

ted