Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/01/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]A few ideas on this: All of a sudden people are shocked that something with a red dot on it would not pay a premium. I cant figure that out. Of course the proof is in the pudding and if the people with the G3's are pulling consistently better A3's that the people with the Digital 2s then we can see Leica has hit a snag in the modern digital world. For whatever the reason; glass or electronics or both. I donıt think it has or will. I think our A3's will look better than the ones from the G3's. And the G4's. I think if there is a problem with the Digital two its sure not going to be the lens. The lens would be the last that thatıs going to make anyone not get that camera. In many cases it will be the major reason people DO spend the extra money for this camera. Although it looks to me in the pictures like A CL with a Noctilux on the front of it but everyone whose handled it says the handling is a major plus. So all that stupendous and profuse Leica glass which you've got your paws on in the front of this camera has no minuses. A tad flashy. As is the red dot. It tends to be the brand of flash I'm a sucker for. - --- If the picture in the example being spoken about is that one of the buildings then I cant see that one. First of all if you look at that shot it is a photographic test for mastery with a Sinar P camera system. Not the type of subject matter we try to capture causally with a point and shoot. On the right side of the picture we see the straight lines of the building agast the edge of the frame converging inward and also slightly bending inward., to the left. A sign of barrel distortion IF ALSO on the left side of the picture the lines are not also bending inward. To the Right. But they are not. They are also bending to the left to the outside of the frame. Everything's bending in the same direction. Thatıs not what a barrel does. A barrel has a symmetrical thing going on. If this was shot with a non retrofocal lens like a Hasselblad superwide Biogon 38 or a Schneider super Angulon 3.5 on a Leica I'd expect these lines to be straighter and otherwise more satisfying.. Converging maybe but not at all bowing ... or wowing. Or certainly with a view camera such as a ten thousand dollar Swiss Sinar P or F, an architectural photographers tool of choice. You'd take the convergence out as well. Leave a little in perhaps for flavour. I think what we are seeing is some natural distortion youd normally get when your regular point your wide angle retrofocal lens upward at a bunch of straight glass buildings. Probably in effect a 28. And made even more less perfect as Frank says by the fact that this is a zoom lens. This year I got a 12-24 f4 lens for my nikon DSLR but for more demanding architectural stuff I got an exotic fixed 14 which translates in digital to a 21. In a way maybe I wasted my money. Most of my casualty taken images from the past involving a lot of converging or otherwise just not right lines "those lines aint right" have been easily corrected in Photoshop. This is done with the cropping tool with the perceptive square check marked. Barrel distortion can easily and just as funnily dealt with with the filter of the appropriate name. Its fun for 5th graders. Ask them and they will teach you how. I say this because traditionally we used view cameras with ample swings and tilts, rises and falls, for demanding architectural stuff and now I think we'll see those shots done with fixed medium format or digitally but as I said, corrected in software, Photoshop. All lines can be parallel with the edges of the frame. Its as simple as pie and fun too. You are not left with funny artifacts. Mayan or Incan. So again I'm saying if there's a problem with the new digital 2 its sure as hell is not going to be with the glass. Glass is Leica's thing. If Leica can't design a lens of these parameters (28-85 35mm zoom translation) on an image circle of this handily modest size then I'd not buy it's next M or R lens burnt offering either as the company has totally lost it. This is of course not the case, I think Leica is doing great. Mark Rabiner Photography Portland, Oregon http://rabinergroup.com/Catagorypages/PersonalWork.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html