Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/07/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica Quality versus Medium Format
From: George Day <george@rdcinteractive.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 16:38:22 +0000

Loupes?  Hardly necessary.  You have to be wearing fogged glasses not to
tell the difference between 6x7 and 35mm at 20x24.  Ditto for 16x20 and,
frankly, ditto for 8x10.  You know this Mark...are you baiting?  If this
were the case, you can imagine that a lot more magazine covers, to say
nothing of fine art prints, etc., etc., etc., would be shot with the far
greater convenience of 35mm.

Different formats are different tools.  Not all tools in the same format are
perfect for all situations or for the way the photographer wants to capture
that situation.  

on 7/31/01 10:58 PM, Mark Rabiner at mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com wrote:

> Marvin Levi wrote:
>> 
>>    This is actually rather simple.
>>    Let's compare Mamiya 7's 80 mm F/4 vs
>>    Leica 50 mm f/2 summicron. At optimum
>>    apertures for both, the cron can resolve
>>    110 lpmm, and 80f/4L can resolve 75
>>    lpmm. Yes, Leica is better in raw
>>    resolving power. Now, take the size
>>    of the negative into cosideration.
>>    24x36mm vs. 56x69.5mm, pick
>>    the lowest linear difference (the area
>>    difference is VERY misleading)and
>>    multiply: 110 x (36/69.5)= 57 lpmm for
>>    the cron when enlarged to the same
>>    size as the Mamiya 80mm f/4L.
>>    The winner? Mamiya.
>>    Don't forget also that in terms of exposure
>>    accuracy, Leica's ancient, mechanical
>>    shutter can be off 1/3 EV, while Mamiya's
>>    electronic shutter is about 1/10 EV. If
>>    both were metered correctly, Mamiya will
>>    expose more consistantly which is also
>>    critical for attaining that maximum
>>    resolving power.
>>    By the way, the 110 lpmm is an overestimate,
>>    I've seen literature saying the cron can
>>    do 90 lpmm. I think Erwin Puts said it can
>>    do beyond 100.
>> 
> Nice numbers. 
> You got matching 20x24" prints in which we all and you can take a Loup and see
> that the Mamiya makes sharper images?
> 
> 
> Mark Rabiner
> 
> Portland, Oregon
> USA
> 
> http://www.rabiner.cncoffice.com/

Replies: Reply from Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com> (Re: [Leica] Leica Quality versus Medium Format)
Reply from "Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com> (Re: [Leica] Leica Quality versus Medium Format)