Yesterday I sold 15 FE, 85/1.2L and 24-105/4L IS and bought a new Elmarit 24 asph and a mint 135/3.4 Apo-Telyt.
On the R-D1 the 24 asph is better than my Elmarit 28.
Both have rather soft corners at f/2.8, but the 24 has definitely better sharpness (very high) in the center and more "punch".
At f/8 both lenses render even sharpness corner to corner with the 24 again giving higher sharpness and more "punch".
The 24, though wider, has less distortion and slightly less vignetting wide open.
As Sean accurately pointed out in his reviews, the modern asph lenses gives more punch and more contrast at the expense of slightly less highlight details.
The 28 Elmarit seems overall more "soft and grainy", though it is indeed a sharp lens.
Not always a bad fingerprint, on the contrary in high contrast situations it could be an even better lens.
The 24 asph has the carachter of the 75 and 135 apo.
The 135 Apo is quite difficult to accurately focus without the 1.25x magnifier and framing is a guess, but after some training the results are truly amazing.
Stunningly sharp as the 75 Apo, with deep colors and beautiful bokeh.
Anyway I think it will be probably my least used lens, because of the framing and focussing (SLRs are way faster here), I'm waiting to test it on the M8 to see if I could comfortable manage it.
Anyway it's funny how even on the "lowly" 6 Mp R-D1 you can easily see the difference between a very good lens and an excellent one.
I can't wait to mount these lenses on the M8 !
OK, my next dilemma... do I want the Summilux 75 or the Apo-Summicron? I'm familiar with the lux's rendering and love it, but I've never seen anything from the new cron. What is its image like, more like the APO 90 or did Leica tone it down a bit?
Jan,
it is said to be toned down a bit from the 90 Apo.
I had the the 'lux 75 when I was shooting film so I can't make a direct comparison, but the 75 Apo on my R-D1 is absolutely beautiful. It's amazingly sharp but it retains the Leica look I love.
Having said that, the 'lux 75 at f/1.4 on film (full frame) gives a unique look which is impossible to replicate with the f/2 Apo on cropped digital.
Guy Mancuso wrote:
I'm going to get the 75 apo at some point.
Guy
As you are doing your research do not overlook the 90 APO/Asph. It is a remarkable lens with super sharpness and wonderful leica look. It may be the ideal portrait lens for the M8 and you are so good with portraits.
Marco wrote:
Yesterday I sold 15 FE, 85/1.2L and 24-105/4L IS and bought a new Elmarit 24 asph and a mint 135/3.4 Apo-Telyt.
On the R-D1 the 24 asph is better than my Elmarit 28.
Both have rather soft corners at f/2.8, but the 24 has definitely better sharpness (very high) in the center and more "punch".
At f/8 both lenses render even sharpness corner to corner with the 24 again giving higher sharpness and more "punch".
The 24, though wider, has less distortion and slightly less vignetting wide open.
As Sean accurately pointed out in his reviews, the modern asph lenses gives more punch and more contrast at the expense of slightly less highlight details.
The 28 Elmarit seems overall more "soft and grainy", though it is indeed a sharp lens.
Not always a bad fingerprint, on the contrary in high contrast situations it could be an even better lens.
The 24 asph has the carachter of the 75 and 135 apo.
The 135 Apo is quite difficult to accurately focus without the 1.25x magnifier and framing is a guess, but after some training the results are truly amazing.
Stunningly sharp as the 75 Apo, with deep colors and beautiful bokeh.
Anyway I think it will be probably my least used lens, because of the framing and focussing (SLRs are way faster here), I'm waiting to test it on the M8 to see if I could comfortable manage it.
Anyway it's funny how even on the "lowly" 6 Mp R-D1 you can easily see the difference between a very good lens and an excellent one.
I can't wait to mount these lenses on the M8 !
I have a silver one on order since June, I like the classic look.
I will keep the DMR, mainly for macro and zoom lenses. I have been off rangefinders now since Nikon F time and I wonder if I shall catch the bug again. Not having zooms and having to carry and change lenses is not my ideal. I have bought an M4 to practice rangefinders but I admit that I have barely touched it. Waiting for film to be developed and printed and scanning has become a NO NO for me.
I am also using a D200 Nikon for when I need AF. So I shall be comparing the M8 not only to the DMR but also to the Nikon.
BTW, I seem to be the only one here and on other Leica fora considering using R and Nikon F lenses with adapters. I think my 21-35 Vario Elmar might have enough DOF for zone focusing and the old manual 4/20 Nikkor might also be interesting.
I still have three chrome oldies from the fifties: a 2.8/50 Elmar, a collapsible Summicron 2/50 and a 4/90 Elmar. The 50mm have caught some haze. I wonder how they will perform on the M8.
I've read that it is difficult to get a precise framing in close-up. The parallax difference at close distance is so high that even if you know how to compensate the framing (via the macro adapter) the perspective will still be visibly different.
I do not have the 90 macro but in the very far past before SLR time, I used the 2.8/50 Elmar with the NOOKY macro adapter on a IIIb. The framing was very different and beeing able to see the exact framing and DOF on the ground glass was an important argument for me to go SLR. (Nikon F).
fish_shooter wrote:
I still do not understand - is there a bug in the program? I have not had to do this. Have no trouble reading.
Tom
I get it now. This message did not appear until these others that follow appeared. A glitch in the web-server software?? Seems like a waste of bandwith to have to 'flip' the pages.
Tom
We are wasting a lot of bandwidth on these page turns. Need a page turn?
Type the ^ in the box and hit SEND button. When the posts pop up, use the delete key on the box with the ^. Mission accomplished and no extra posts to slow things down.
Edited by Cindy Flood on Oct 08, 2006 at 10:07 PM GMT
I do not have the 90 macro but in the very far past before SLR time, I used the 2.8/50 Elmar with the NOOKY macro adapter on a IIIb. The framing was very different and beeing able to see the exact framing and DOF on the ground glass was an important argument for me to go SLR. (Nikon F).
Cheers
Peter
Chimping will help, but there ARE things that SLRs are better at, others for RFs.
Tom
We are wasting a lot of bandwidth on these page turns. Need a page turn?
Type the ^ in the box and hit SEND button. When the posts pop up, use the delete key on the box with the ^. Mission accomplished and no extra posts to slow things down.
Edited by Cindy Flood on Oct 08, 2006 at 10:07 PM GMT
Guy Mancuso wrote:
Yes and i do that a lot on a commercial shoot with lighting and basically have left the laptop out on many jobs. i will take a shot than zoom in on the LCD and scan the whole image to see what i need fixed and will keep doing that until i have what I want. Here is the GREAT news over the DMR the M8 is much faster at it and you can zoom around much faster . On the DMR and the M8 you can tell if you are in or out of focus very easy. One of the best features on these camera's...Show more →
Yes, this is a very cool tool. I use it a lot with the D2X. Just another digital advantage. Maybe it should be called super-chimping!!
