Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/02/12

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Subject: [Leica] not entirely OT: the recurrent dilemma
From: philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent)
Date: Mon Feb 12 12:11:13 2007
References: <3280493C-7263-4F11-BD0E-F63FE0ED2D6C@pandora.be> <45CF89F6.8020405@nathanfoto.com>

Thanks Nathan,
Your combo made me thinking.
Philippe

Op 11-feb-07, om 22:26 heeft Nathan Wajsman het volgende geschreven:

> Hi Philippe,
>
> I am late to this party, but anyway...you know my style, since you  
> always look at my PAWs. At this time, I have the following Canon L  
> lenses:
>
> 2.8/16-35mm: I must have a good copy, since I am quite pleased with  
> the image quality
>
> 1.4/35mm: superb lens, comes close to the Summilux; most of my  
> available darkness images are made with this lens
>
> 2.8/24-70mm: this is the lens I use most often, simply because of  
> convenience. The quality is good, but it is IMO not on par with the  
> fixed focal length lenses in this range, but then again, that is  
> usually the case with zooms. But the quality is still very good.  
> The lens is big, and it has a weird form factor, since it becomes  
> loooong when you zoom to 24mm.
>
> 2/135mm: From the point of view of optical quality, this is  
> probably the best lens I own. It is fully on par with the Leica R  
> lenses I used to own.
>
> I recently sold my 2.8/200mm--it was an excellent lens, but I like  
> to keep the outfit small enough to fit into my Domke bag, and so I  
> got a 1.4x teleconverter instead--when I put it on the 135mm, I end  
> up with a 2.8/190mm lens, i.e. almost the same as before, and with  
> a considerably lighter bag.
>
> When reading my comments re optical quality, keep in mind that I  
> use a body with a 1.3 sensor crop, so I do not see the  
> imperfections at the very edges of the image circle.
>
> Also, the people who have praised the 17-40mm are right--it is an  
> excellent lens, and the choice between it and the 16-35mm depends  
> largely on whether you need the extra stop of the 16-35. I do, but  
> your mileage may very...
>
> All of the lenses mentioned will seem big compared with Leica M  
> lenses of similar focal length and aperture, but they really are  
> not bigger than corresponding Leica R lenses.
> Cheers,
> Nathan
>
> Philippe Orlent wrote:
>> Since I won't be buying an M8, and waiting for an M9 -not being  
>> sure if it will be worth all the bucks, and if it will be full  
>> sensor- is not really an option, I have some decisions to make.
>> Digital has always been a bit on the side: not that I don't have  
>> good digital cameras, but the ones that I have, have their  
>> quirkinesses. Until now, that wasn't a problem, because most of  
>> the time that I was really concentrating on photography, it was  
>> still an analog process. But the beast of full digital has been  
>> roaring in my head for too long now.
>> So I've come to the conclusion that, to keeps things simple and  
>> pleasant, digital is the way to go, even if my hearth still tends  
>> to these mechanical beauties that were made in former eras.
>> I'll go the Canon 5D route, and I have almost decided on lenses, too.
>> I'm pretty sure that a lot of you switched to or embraced Canon,  
>> so some first hand experiences would help to smoothen out the  
>> 'fear' for the steep costs involved.
>>
>> What are your impressions of the following lenses?
>> Canon EF 24-70mm L f2.8 USM
>>
>> Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM
>>
>> Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8L USM
>>
>> And, if you'd only keep one lens on your analog M, which one would  
>> that be?
>>
>> I was thinking of selling everything except for one good M body,  
>> and then buying a Summilux 35 ASPH to glue on it forever. A  
>> perfect B&W street dedicated machine, so to speak.
>>
>> Other -and wise(r)- suggestions?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Philippe
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>
>>
>
> -- 
> Nathan Wajsman
> Almere, The Netherlands
>
> Opportunistic Image Acquisition
>
> General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com and http:// 
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>
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>
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>
>
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>


In reply to: Message from philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent) ([Leica] not entirely OT: the recurrent dilemma)
Message from nathan at nathanfoto.com (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] not entirely OT: the recurrent dilemma)