At 09:38 AM 1/4/99 +0000, you wrote:
>
>one thing I will ask you: have you done any direct comparison between Zuiko
>and Zeiss lenses? One hears so regularly about the superior characteristics
>of German lenses, it has become a mantra, and is subconciously taken on
>board as fact without ever having been proved. How do you find?
>
Hi Simon. I have taken the liberty of also sending this to the list, as I
think it may be of general interest...
Unfortunately, in order to buy the Zeiss lenses, I had to sell the bulk of
my Oly lenses. Waddaya think, I'm a millionaire? <g>
(BTW, I forgot to mention that I also own a Contax G2 with 45 and 90...
err, my wife does. That is, I wanted it, but couldn't justify yet another
system, so I bought it for HER! How's that for good thinking? :-) )
This question is also complicated by the fact that actually Contax and Oly
SLR lenses have many that do not directly compare. For example, Contax has
a 35 1.4 and an 85 1.4. Contax has a 25 2.8 but no 24 2.0.
It's also complicated by the fact that the Zeiss SLR lenses that are
considered to be the very best, with the latest designs, I don't have yet.
Too expensive. That would be the 21 2.8 and the 100 2.0, and 100 macro.
And of course, most Zeiss lenses, although German designs, are made in Japan!
The Zeiss SLR lenses that I have are the 15, 18, 25, 28 2.8, 35 1.4, 50
1.4, 60 macro, 85 1.4, 135 2.8, 180 2.8, and the 28-85 and 35-70 zooms.
In Leica M, I have only the 35 and 50 'crons.
What I see, is that a great many folk on this list are far more
sophisticated than me in analyzing the sharpness and distortion in a lens.
Now, everyone is different... I have found that most modern lenses seem
quite sharp enough to me. However, what I do see, is that Leica and Zeiss
lenses have far better color charateristics, and this I am sensitive to.
That is, not only do the colors seem purer, but the German designs seem
better able to separate degees of color. To me, this is evident at once on
the lightbox. Strangely enough, the first roll of film I shot with my new
Contax, contained an image of a fruit stand that positively glowed. When I
projected it, with my wife, I was about to go 'wow', but I bit my lip to
see if she would say anything. And she immediately noticed a difference and
commented on it.
I'm very annoyed because I can't find the recent 'Photo Techniques' that
had a comparison btw the Leica M lenses and the Contax G lenses. If I
recall, tho, the M lenses were mostly better wide open, with almost no
differences stopped down. In spite of the fact that the reveiwer felt this
made the M lenses better, a comment was also made that the G lenses had
better color rendition.
IMHO, the G system lenses are incredible bargains, at least the 28, 45, and
90, all of which are available grey market at <$400. Pop Photo's test
called the 90 'the best-performing medium tele we have so far tested'. One
assumes that would include far more expensive options from Leica. In a test
of the 16, 21, and 35 they conclude by saying 'their extrordanairy
performance is unsurpassed, and equalled by few lenses in current production'.
As far as any other specifics...
I remember reading somewhere that a test (ColorFoto?) of long macro lenses
found the Zuiko 90 and Zeiss 100 to be at the head of the class; better
than all others tested.
I have looked at some shots I took with the 18 Zuiko and others with the 18
Zeiss and find the light fall-off with the Zeiss is much less.
I also never liked zooms, until I used the two Zeiss zooms. They share the
great color characteristics of the other lenses, and so I use them
regularly. To be fair though, I never owned either the Zuiko 30-80 2.8 or
35-70 3.6.
Of course in all cases one must consider that the German lenses are more
expensive, and therefore _should be_ better!
Regards,
Denton Taylor
_______________________________
Photogallery at www.dentontaylor.com
Panoramic and 360deg Immersive Images at
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