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 Re: Leica R Series Lenses | |
Grenache wrote:
If I did not have my Leica 100 macro, I would do your 90/2 cron for the long end, but I would want the 24/2.8 for the wide end. I think it is better reputed overall, plus you pick up those crucial extra 4mm. Adorama has had a couple of the most recent versions of the 24 recently. Don\'t know if they are still there.
Jim
JohnJ wrote:
The R 24 is a nice lens (not as nice as the current R 28 E55) but the R 24 won\'t allow infinity on FF bodies, it hits the mirror on a 1dsmk2. I have no idea how the R 24 compares to the old R 28. I some times use The R 24 on a crop body, such as 40D, but that is kind of pointless (you might as well use a wider lens on a FF body instead).
JJ
Not considering the 24mm as it won\'t clear on my 5D. FoV aside, I would think there is a difference between the drawing characteristics of the 2 Elmarits and the 2 Summicrons with the latter being more painterly wide open. The 2 Elmarits are sharper
Sorry for regurgitating the below lenses literature. It appears that the Summicrons have performance that excel in portraiture while the Elmarits may be more useful as general purpose lenses. What are your comments on this?
Elmarit 28:
The current R-28 has been introduced in 1994 and is a more advanced design. It has a floating element to improve close distance performance and also to assist the overall level of correction. Its level of performance is very close to that of the 1993 version of the M-28. At full aperture it is about equal to the M-version and almost two stops ahead of the previous R-28. .At 1:2.8 high overall contrast is combined with a crisp definition of very fine detail over most of the picture area (image height 16mm). In the field the fine textural structures are rendered with soft edges. In the corners coarse detail is blurred but detectable. At 1:4 the performance in the field improves and at 1:5.6 the on axis performance (image height 9mm) sets a new standard and surpasses even the M-28. As with the M-version we note a high correction of the oblique sagittal rays, which does improve the rendition of fine gradations in tiny object areas. Close up performance has been improved too and now the full aperture can be used at 1 meter without reservation. This is an outstanding lens, that in some areas even surpasses the M-version, which lacks the mechanically complex floating-element construction.
Summicron 35:
The fourth Midland version with seven elements delivers a medium contrast image and much improved quality at full aperture, specifically in the field as field curvature is corrected to a higher degree. Overall contrast is higher than in the previous version, but the corners are still very soft. Coma is less visible in the middle of the image area, but the lens shows a tendency to flare in the outer zones, where one can detect coma spots around bright small points of light Fine detail is recorded with soft edges, becoming quite fuzzy in the outer zones. At 1:2.8 rendition of fine detail becomes quite crisp till image height 18mm, abruptly becoming very soft in the corners. At 1:4 very fine detail is detectible over most of the picture area, excepting the corners and at 1:5.6 this level of detail recording is visible. Stopping down further brings more edge sharpness to this level of detail and at 1:11 we have a medium contrast coupled to a good definition of textural structures, which can stand bigger enlargements.
Vignetting is high with 2.5 stops and distortion is not visible. This version however is often referred to as a bo -ke champion. Compared to the predecessors it is an excellent design and its compactness has its own advantages. Optically however it is limited by the principles of the DG-design
Elmarit 90:
In 1980 the Wetzlar designers recomputed the 2.8/90 for the R again and created the best 2.8/90mm ever in the Leica history (R and M)......
At full aperture, overall contrast is high and very fine detail is crisply rendered with only a faint trace of colour fringing and astigmatism over the whole picture area. The previous R-version has lower contrast and softer edge definition and needs to be stopped down to 4 to get comparable performance. At 1:4 the contrast improves visibly and at 1:5.6 we reach outstanding image quality with extremely fine detail recorded with high edge sharpness and good clarity over most of the image field. The edges are slightly softer, but this will be visible only when one needs exacting coverage of small details in the corners at bigger enlargements. After this aperture contrast and edge definition drop due to diffraction. Close-up performance is as good as at infinity. Vignetting is low with half a stop, and distortion just visible. Flare suppression is excellent as coma (among others) is well controlled. As the 4 element lens has no cemented surfaces, Absorban can not be used to control colour transmission and it has to be accomplished with several types of coating layers.
Summicron 90:
This lens for the R-system arrived in 1970 on the market and has not been changed during its long production life of more than 25 years. It is closely related to, but not identical to the Summicron-M, third version, introduced for the M-line in 1980. It is a 5 element design from Midland origin....
At full aperture contrast is low to medium, with coarser detail recorded with fuzzy edges. Performance is quite even from centre to the outer zones,, dropping in the far corners. Flare is somewhat less well suppressed. Stopped down to 2.8, image quality improves markedly and from aperture 4 there is a gradual improvement till 5.6, where an excellent quality is attained. Vignetting is more pronounced with one and a half stop and distortion too is visible. We see here the careful adjustments and compromises when designing lenses for several camera systems. The R-lens had better performance at the closer distance range, on the assumption that the R-system would be more frequently used in that range.
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