Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/08/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi all, I´m back from holidays and during this time the second quarter 2001 issue had arrived. This may already be discussed to death in the LUG but do you detect a change of direction in the Viewfinder? I am referring to the writings of the learned gentlemen Rosner and Moss who clearly prefer the more Leica-like images of older lenses compared to the Nikon-like "hard, wiry, ultra high contrast" images of the current generation of Leica lenses. They are of course entitled to their opinions but I´d rather not see the Viewfinder support this view. Just look at the front cover which seems to illustrate the not-hard, not-wiry, not-ultra high contrast position. To me it is just unsharp, way below what a 4/135 Tele-Elmar can deliver. The back cover photo tries to satisfy both opinions by (besides slight underexposure) having the old style look in the subject´s right eye and the wiry, eyelashes visible look in the left eye. If I had dared to bring photos like these to my camera club meeting in the ´sixties when I started photography, I would have been openly ridiculed. While it is true that the late, lamented Modern Photography magazine stated, that "based on resolution and contrast figures (as opposed to less quantifiable picture-taking results)" the best 50 mm normal lens is the old 7 element version of the f/2 Leitz Summicron, as the statement was made in August 1983, does it still hold? But I do like to emphasise that the judgement was made "based on resolution and contrast figures". IMO Leitz/Leica lenses have been universally praised because they have both excellent resolution and high contrast. Actually you cannot have one without the other. All the best! Raimo Personal photography homepage at http://personal.inet.fi/private/raimo.korhonen