Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]James- Two reasons for the 'soft' quality of the Summaron. One- like my Summitar, and Elmar lenses, there is a slight but noticeable 'haze' from age, lube, or just plain atmospheric crud. I am having the Elmar cleaned at Focal Point, and will see then if the 'haze' had anything to do with it. I did notice that the Xenotar on my old Rollei sharpened noticeably after They recemented, cleaned and recoated the lens! Two- the older Leitz lenses were computed by hand. Ernst Leitz, I read, hired mathematics teachers in the Summer to calculate the lens formulae for his lenses. One reason they were pre-eminent then, and I guess now, was that they were very carefully calculated, even before the days of computers to do the number crunching. As is anything done by hand, it will reflect the 'touch' of the maker. Possibly the Summaron calculations, if done today by a computer, might result in a sharper, more refined/defined image. As someone said, Leitz does not intentionally design an unsharp lens. Personally I prefer the first theory, but until I get my Elmar back, and can compare it with the Summicron and Summitar, I will reserve judgement. In the meantime, I just lean back and enjoy using the IIIf and laugh at people looking and shaking their little plastic point 'n shoots that are guaranteed to last for at least 30 days! Dan dwpost@msn.com