[Leica] Vegetable vs. Chicken Noodle

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

>>>>
The really sad
news is that the 50 f1.8 AF Nikkor (cost: $85 new at B&H) knocks all
those
zooms off their perches, and in fact it holds its own quite surprisingly

against my current-generation 50 Summicron-M even at f2, although I
suspect
the Nikkor will be landfill decades before the Summicron needs a
re-lube.
<<<<

I agree with this...this lens is distinctly sharper than the Summicron
in pictures.

So many Leica photographers seem to think that no other company in the
world can build a lens, that only Leica can. That Leica must be first
and everyone else ranked in some order after that. Mere bigotry! <s>

Every lens line has high points and low points; most lenses have
strengths and weaknesses. What is needed is not a blanket assertion of
"superiority" but a more subtle understanding of what one's lenses can
and cannot do well. This leads to appreciation.

All major lensmakers make at least a few great lenses. Some surpass the
equivalent lenses from Leica. Some merely have different qualities that,
if we appreciated the distinctions, we might prefer--or might not.
Often, by far the major advantage Leica has is simply that people will
pay more for its products, so the designer has more money to work with.
Of course half of this advantage is eaten away in production
inefficiencies and inefficiencies of scale; but it is a very substantial
advantage. If Canon or Minolta could charge $1,000 for a medium-speed
fixed normal, do you believe they couldn't come up with superlatively
fine lenses?

Olympus makes a 50mm f/2 macro that blows the Summicron-M out of the
water; and one of the best 50mm lenses I have ever used is the f/1.4
Pentax Super-Multi-Coated Takumar M42 screwmount lens for the Spotmatic.
A wonderful lens. You can purchase it used for $79. When I give people a
stack of prints made with various 50mms and ask them to pick out the
Summicron shots, typically most of the shots they pick were taken with
the Takumar.

Is the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 "better" than the Summicron? Is Campbells'
Chicken Noodle soup better than Campbell's Alphabet Vegetable soup? A
deep philosophical question! <g>

- --Mike