Re: [Leica] 28mm Elmarit-R SHARPNESS

[Mmermag@aol.com]

My tests of the 28mm Elmarit R showed to me that it was no sharper than my 
28mm Rokkor-M nor the 28mm Zeiss Distagon. In fact, they were all similar in 
sharpness, but very different in color balance and contrast. The Rokkor-M 
having the most contrast, the Distagon had 'warmer' color balance, and the 
elmarit was a little cooler and tended toward the color blue compared to the 
others. The tests were done with Kodak 100asa film and Minolta film scanner. 
All lenses had uv filters. For what it's worth...

Mike

In a message dated Mon, 6 Nov 2000  1:59:09 PM Eastern Standard Time, "C & C 
Property" <michael@scoates.freeserve.co.uk> writes:

<< > Andre Jean Quintal wrote:
> >
> > Simon wrote:
> > [ ... ]
> > In fact, I also purchased the famed 100/2.8 apo as well,
> > and would be tempted to say that the 28 is sharper overall!
> >
> >         --> Could this phenomenon be caused by ever so slight
> >         camera shake related to the focal lengths ?

I just want to clarify:

I purchased a Leica R6.2 body with 28/2.8, 50/2 and 100/2.8.  I put a
two-page newspaper spread on the wall and took pictures of it with the three
lenses at varying apertures with the camera on a tripod.  I didn't have a
cable release at the time, so I used the self timer to release the shutter;
I therefore could not lock the mirror up(so the results would have been
potentially better).  The main point of the test was to compare it to my now
previous camera system, a Minolta 9000 outfit with 28/2.8, 50/1.7 and
Vivitar 100/3.5 macro.

The 28 indeed showed amazing results; it is razor sharp at f/2.8, better
than the Minolta 28 at any aperture; so that is how I came to my conclusion
of it compared to the 100.  It is a fantastic wide angle lens.  It doesn't
matter whether the 100 or 28 are the 'better' lens; they both do different
jobs and do it really well.

As far as I am concerned, though; the 28 and 50 lenses are superb; the
slides just show a lovely, sublime quality that we Leica users have got used
to; the 100 produces wonderful close-ups and has higher contrast, which must
be down to its' APO status.  Incidentally, the colour saturation is so good
with the lenses, I have now changed to Kodachrome 25 from Velvia(today I
took a mushroom shot that took 2 minutes!).

Simon

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