Paul Connet wrote:
>I recently paid $390 USD for a
>well-used 50mm Summicron of the third generation looking for the elusive
>"Leica Look". I am still trying to see it.
Paul,
Try a 7-element Collapsible Summicron from 1953-6. That will give you the
"look." It's not a very reliable lens _contre jour_, and not good at the wider
apertures, but it's the quintessential Leica 50mm.
I'm told by old-timers at Magnum that Henri Cartier-Bresson has always used the
newest M-cameras, whatever that happened to be at any given time, but that from
1953 he has always used the Collapsible 50mm f/2 for most of his work. In the
literature you often encounter the phrase "Cartier-Bresson used..."
[such-and-such different lens], because apparently he liked to carry, play
with, and try out various lenses, and so he was occasionally seen with
different things. He also carried a 35mm and a 90mm as part of his daily kit.
But the late Erich Hartmann, a past President of Magnum, told me that you can
go through book after book of H. C.-B. contact sheets at the Magnum archives (I
got to go through a few myself) without ever seeing a single frame that might
have been taken with the 35mm, and only very occasionally one taken with the
90mm, which was used chiefly for landscapes. According to Erich, who knew him
for many years, the vast majority of H. C.-B.'s work was done with the 50mm
Summicron and the vast majority of his 50mm Summicron pictures were taken with
the Collapsible.
I would not be at all surprised, however, if he had custom multi-coated ones
made or modified specially for him by Leica. The stock Collapsible was never
multicoated.
There are Japanese Leica connoisseurs who opine that by the time of the third
computation, 6-element 1969 lens (known in some circles as the "Six-Glass"),
Leica had given up on premium, no-holds-barred construction and, like
everybody else, was taking economics into account. The earlier 7-elements do
not have that problems--the Collapsible and the DR (Dual-Range) are built to a
very high standard, that even Leica has left behind long ago (see Stephen
Gandy's excellent cameraquest.com website for more on this).
There is an article in the current LHSA _Viewfinder_ claiming that the
Six-Glass may be the best of the Summicrons. It is definitely not. (I know
whereof I speak, having tried 'em all.)
However, the best Summicron, the latest--4th, 1979, Mandler-designed one--is
essentially very similar to the 50/1.8 Zuiko. It's the same basic design.
Performance parameters can be tweaked with glass types, coatings, and very
subtle variations in sphericity such that the lenses won't perform
identically--Leica has evidently gone for more even performance across the
apertures, meaning somewhat better performance wide open, an observation borne
out by Gary's most recent test--but they're not that different. QC on the
Leicas is somehwat better (still not perfect), but given the vast disparity in
price we can forgive Olympus for that!
Incidentally, a 5th-generation Summicron exists in prototype. It is
apochromatic and has at least one aspheric element. From what I've heard,
they're holding off on production until they can get the price down. (This is
gossip, so please treat it as such, but my little birdies perch pretty close to
the source.)
Generally, the better Zuiko lenses are as good as Leica lenses. The main
difference IMHO is that Leica can charge more than anybody else, so they have
more money to work with in producing a lens. This generally plays out in the
quality of the barrel (mount) and the QC tolerances.
Hope all this is of interest.
Denton Taylor wrote:
>So can you explain briefly why it is more beneficial for the
>publisher for readers to subscribe (besides of course you getting a chunk of
>money up front) than buying on the newsstand?
Hi there Denton. I can explain it succinctly--because we don't make a Gø&&@#n
dime on an issue sold at the newsstand. We actually lose just a little money
per copy sold. We do it because it creates visibility (advertisers like that),
keeps circulation numbers up (advertisers like that too), and because newsstand
buyers "convert" to subscriptions at a higher rate than promotion mailings do.
--Mike
Mike Johnston, Editor-in-Chief
_PHOTO Techniques_ magazine
(www.phototechmag.com)
Preston Publications Division of Preston Industries, Inc.
Niles, Illinois
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