Re: [Leica] Summicron 35/2 wide open

["4season" <4season@boulder.net>]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Dan Post <dwpost@email.msn.com>
[snip]>I even have the 35/3,5 Summaron LTM which I had heard was such a dog.
Tried
>it shooting the shadowed front of the store, almost directly at the sun,
>with the sun just over the top of the store.... Sure- some localized flare
>where the image of the sun came over the roof- just off frame. I was amazed
>that the rest of the frame had decent contrast, and you could see detail in
>the other parts of the shot.
>What prompted me to try it was seeing a shot, similar in aspect, with the
>sun to the front, taken by one of our sales people with a Nikon AF zoom....
>The whole frame had been blown out by flare!

My own experience has been that Leica flare resistance isn't tops by any
means, and that it's improved a good deal in recent years. But my '70s 35
Summicron is a well-rounded performer overall, and if it doesn't excel in
all areas, neither does it really stumble elsewhere. I've owned a lot of
lenses which could run circles around my Leica glass in one aspect or
another, but few which offered such an agreeable set of compromises.

Jeff

PS: No fair comparing Leica glass to the stuff that Nikon just about gives
away for free with the purchase of a new camera! Some of the pricier
AF-Nikkor zooms will knock your socks off, if they don't dislocate your
shoulder first :;-)
>I am sure there is a great improvement in the new stuff, but the old stuff
>performs in a lot of cases as well as your basic brand X of today, and that
>ain't bad!
[snip]