Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/15

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Subject: [Leica] Summicrons 90 - opinions?
From: pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)
Date: Sun Jul 15 23:09:01 2007

What Don said.  This is exactly how I would describe my 1980-ish 90 
Summicron. It has the same optics as the last pre-Asph (E55) version, but a 
transitional mount where the built-in lens hood retracts over the aperture 
ring.

If I recall correctly, this one was taken around f/3.5 (and some cropping) 
on Neopan 1600:
http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/musicians/SarahSrRecit01-35.htm

And this one was probably at a similar aperture, and better light, on Tri-X:
http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/musicians/SarahHaydn1480-04.htm

In this stage situation, the 90/2 AA is sharper wide open.  Astoundingly 
sharp, actually. You can't tell much if any difference between the lenses 
from f/2.8 down (from a practical hand-held shooting standpoint).  But the 
90/AA has a seemingly narrower depth of field, the focus is a sharp 
peak--if you graphed sharpness relative to distance, it would be an 
upside-down "V"  rather than a broader upside-down "U" of the older design.

Here's what I mean.  This one was shot with a borrowed 90/AA, I think wide 
open or nearly so:
http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/musicians/2-03LonyaMischaWeb.jpg

The two violinists are almost in the same plane--the one on the right is 
maybe a foot behind the one on the left.  He's distinctly less sharp.  The 
guy on the left is very sharp.  If I'd taken this same shot with the 
classic design, it's more likely that both would not quite as sharp as the 
man on the left, but sharper than the man on the right.

--Peter

At 08:28 AM 7/15/2007 -0700, Don Dory wrote:
>The later
>Summicrons behaved much like a gen IV 50 Summicron; not tack sharp wide open
>but certainly very good images and down even one stop really good.  Bokeh on
>either is of the old creamy style for the older design.


Replies: Reply from leica at screengang.com (Didier Ludwig) ([Leica] Summicrons 90 - opinions?)