Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/06/26

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Subject: [Leica] Leica superiority or not.
From: Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 07:51:26 +0100
References: <8D040E4D7C74EA0-1074-34E6F@webmail-m232.sysops.aol.com>

Resolution is only one part of what we enjoy in a lens. It is the easiest to 
measure, though is usually measured under one set of not necessarily 
relevant conditions. Other aspects of lens performance such as colour and 
boke are less easily measured but easily seen, IMHO.
On top of that there are issues such as robustness, size, weight, ease of 
handling, convenience of focusing and so forth to consider.
I use and enjoy other cameras and lenses but I -do- consider Leica to be 
superior, though perhaps not by a huge amount in the case of a few excellent 
competitors.
YMMV
FD

On 27 Jun, 2013, at 01:31, lrzeitlin at aol.com wrote:

> Enough of this praise of Leica superiority. It is tiresome even on the 
> LUG. For most practical purposes Leicas are not superior to other cameras.
> 
> 
> The limit to image quality, especially for images presented on the 
> internet, is set by the viewing device. In the case of an HD TV, a 35 mm 
> full frame image need only have 45 lines/mm to appear perfectly sharp. 
> Even if the image is viewed on the top quality 27" Mac monitor it need 
> only have 60 l/mm to appear sharp. These image resolution standards are 
> only slightly greater than those that the old Modern Photography magazine 
> rated as minimally acceptable. Every camera I own, no matter how cheap or 
> how old can meet the resolution standard required by modern image viewing 
> systems. Every Leica lens ever made, except possibly the old Thambar 
> portrait lens, will exceed the minimum resolution criteria. By actual test 
> my widely disparaged 75 year old Elmar 35 mm f3.5, Leica's first wide 
> angle, resolved 68 l/mm.?
> 
> 
> Some zealots on the LUG seem to obsess over the latest and greatest Leica 
> lenses and the imaging characteristics and the size of electronic sensors. 
> While these may be interesting topics in themselves, they have almost 
> nothing to do with the pictures posted on the LUG and viewed on a computer 
> screen. The best is the enemy of "good enough." Get out there and take 
> meaningful pictures. Don't blather endlessly about technical perfection.
> 
> 
> Larry Z
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
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Replies: Reply from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] Leica superiority or not.)
In reply to: Message from lrzeitlin at aol.com (lrzeitlin at aol.com) ([Leica] Leica superiority or not.)