Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]OK, perhaps the title of my message overstated what I meant to say. The 15mm Heliar was been praised on the LUG and elsewhere. I didn't expect Summicron or Elmarit quality but I was expecting something that would be acceptable, and the severe vignetting this lens demonstrated was not, in my view, acceptable. If the Hologon has as severe vignetting as the Heliar I used, then I'd say its reputation is not justified either. Another Lugger has suggested that maybe the Heliar I purchased was an individual lemon and not representative of the actual qualify of the lens. I'll try to find out more about this. Steve Ken Iisaka wrote: > > Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2001 20:46:49 -0800 > From: "Ken Iisaka" <ken@iisaka.org> > Subject: Re: [Leica] Not Leica quality > Message-ID: <004301c0ba66$c3b01020$e904c53f@pacbell.net> > References: <200103312218.OAA19326@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> <0B684C41.1714BACE.0021EE48@netscape.net> > > > On Thursday I bought a 15mm Heliar. On Friday, I shot photos with it, > developed the film and printed (via Photoshop) the results. On Saturday, I > returned the lens and got a refund. > > Sharpness/resolution was pretty good in the center, contrast was > OK--but vignetting was worse than I thought possible. Photoshop managed to > lighten the corners and edges (the left edge exhibited very bad vignetting) > but the the overexposure was so great that there was little detail there and > what there was, was very fuzzy. In my opinion, this is an overrated lens. > > Steve > > Of course it's not Leica quality. It's not a Leica, nor has Leica ever made > a 15mm lens for use with LTM and M cameras. So what reference is there for > a "Leica-quality" 15mm lens? > > Still, it outperforms a Zeiss Hologon at less than 1/20 of the cost. > > ------------------------------ __________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Webmail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/