Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/10/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My buddy came over and he shot his D4 against my M9... so the test images made, were native .. no adapters used... Cloudy bright day, 20 foot distance to focusing target ( a grape stick fence in my front yard). Area focused upon included the fence and grass both in front and behind and at a distance of maybe 200 yards, some cars. First of all my buddy screwed up the focusing on some of the MF lenses... he is too used to AF, obviously.. And maybe does not see/know about the little lights... Enuf complaints.. Lenses: Leica : WATE, 3E,50 ASPH Lux, 90 Elmarit M Nikon: 18AIS, 18-35 AFS, 24-85 G, 50/1.4 AIS, 50/1.4 G Apertures.. F1.4, F4, F8.. basically wide open, and again at F8. ( a waste of time.. If a lens was best wide open, it was still best stopped down, etc.) I compared image area that was in focus. ( See note above) The results were mixed... The 50 Summilux absolutely outperformed anything at any F-stop.. THE best. Ditto this particular 90 Elmarit-M..which is a great performer.. The 3E at 50 mm was very weak. But best at 28 and 35 for this grouping. The WATE kicked all the lenses at 18mm.. Surprise.. the 18/3.5 Nikkor did pretty well for a 30+ year old design. At least as well as the 28-35.. but a bit more flare..no hood.. Both the 18-35 and 24-85 are good performers.. In general.. But not up to Leica standard. ( maybe not a surprise for the rest of you) Leica was overall the best. optically. Nikon did very well, and at times, it was hard to tell the differences.. But the question remains, are the Nikon offerings good enuf for my purposes? Frank Filippone Red735i at verizon.net