Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/03/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]-----Original Message----- >Henry Scherer has worked on a few lenses and cameras for me. I had the >prewar collapsible f2 Sonnar and thought that it was a mediocre lens. It >certainly looked clean to me, but after Henry cleaned and collimated it, I >couldn't believe the difference in performance. According to Henry, he can collimate the lenses to a much higher standard than they did in the Zeiss factory. Same for the camera bodies. Lens performance is very dependent on accurate tolerances, it's not just the optical design. He also worked wonders with >a f1.5 Sonnar. I have several 50 Sonnars as I seem to accumulate them. >They are remarkable lenses for their time, and I don't think anything else >made prewar or through the war period can touch them. And you can trust >Henry completely. > >Mark Until the arrival of the Nikon 1.4/50 in the 1950's the Sonnar ruled the roost. That's a solid 20-25 years. Then the Summilux and new Zeiss 1.4/50 Sonnar came along and for a long period there wasn't much movement in the race. Then just a few years ago, Leica released the 1.4/50 Lux-R and 1.4/50 Lux ASPH, which are more than just a variation on the older designs, but no one else is putting any money in to developing new 50's... Feli --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feli di Giorgio feli2@earthlink.net www.elanphotos.com