[Leica] Inferior and superior

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

Jon B.: >>>
It really depends. You say that you are a really really good printer.
Your
magazine is terrific and I believe you are a really good printer. If you
are
as good as you say you are I am certain that I would be able to see the
differences between inferior and superior lenses. Are you able to bring
out
the very best a lens has to offer?<<<


Jon,
I certainly appreciate good lenses, in practice, and I do believe that,
all things considered, Leica (R lenses, anyway) are perhaps the premier
consumer line of lenses you can buy. The M lenses are very good too,
although I've found their quality to be somewhat more uneven; but then
the point of the M is the camera and the style of photography it
enables, and the lenses are certainly no limitation.

However, other companies know how to make excellent lenses too, and in
some cases make lenses that are as good as Leica's, or better. So "Leica
snobbery" is not necessarily always justified when it becomes so
absolute that one becomes willing to dismiss or denigrate every other
optical company in the world. Zeiss, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus,
Rodenstock, and Schneider (among others) have all made some superlative
lenses as well.

- --Mike