New Summarits tested in AP

[Peter Black]

Geoffrey Crawley has tested all 4 Summarits in this week's Amateur Photographer and the results are a mixture of good and not quite so good.

All four are rated exactly the same with 26/30 for spec, 19/20 for build, 18/20 for handling and 25/30 for performance (total 88%). The good news is that he describes them as "high-resolution, high-contrast lenses, giving the image fingerprint that Leica M users expect" He then goes on to say "In these respects, they are admirably suited for film."

Oh, the not so good news is that they aren't quite so successful on the M8 :rolleyes: and that they're not quite as good as the more expensive Leica lenses.

 

[pentaxuser]

Peter. Saw the very same article myself this afternoon. I suppose you get what you pay for. I wonder if you are a dyed in the wool Leica person do you compromise on lenses or simply ignore anything less than the best as being not in the spirit of owning a Leica? It's a little like prospective Rolls Royce owners or those looking to acquire another never ask about how many miles to the gallon they do. If you have to ask that then you can't afford one!

Seriously the acid test is an article doing a direct comparison with the best lenses to see what the difference is in the final picture. I suspect I'd be hard pressed to conclude that the extra price translates into a proportionally extra quality but that's probably why I don't own Leicas.

What I found interesting is that the pictures representing the digital M8 looked nothing like the film Leicas' pictures in terms of colour. One of the pictures surely wasn't an authentic representation of the piece of architecture. I wonder which one?

I'd be interested in Roger Hicks' views on the new lenses but I fear that it's Roger RIP as far as his future presence on APUG goes. Pity

pentaxuser

 

[Peter Black]

I'd be interested in Roger Hicks' views on the new lenses but I fear that it's Roger RIP as far as his future presence on APUG goes. Pity

pentaxuser

I'm sorry to hear that, although I was aware he hadn't been around for a while. I'm sure that we'll have an opinion from Roger/Frances/both of them in the not too distant future, maybe even in B&W magazine this month?

 

[pentaxuser]

Peter Don't take my statement on Roger's likely future presence here on APUG as gospel. I am certainly not privy to any info. It's just that like you I noticed that he suddenly disappeared from the crowd and has, as far as I am aware, never even once re-appeared since. It looked ominous but the rest is speculation on my part based on his fairly regular contributions suddenly becoming zero. On the other hand never say never I suppose as he didn't announce his farewell and others have occasionally re-appeared after lengthy absences.

pentaxuser

 

[mcgrattan]

Pentaxuser,

That's not true. He has the backpage column in AP this week. I gather he is now doing one week in four, rather than every week.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Roger runs his regular advice-and-argument column in the fine halls of the RFF if you're interested...

 

[pentaxuser]

mcgrattan. Thanks. I always read Roger's article in AP. Pity there are less of them than before. My reference was to his absence in APUG for at least the last two months compared to regular contributions almost on a daily basis previously to that time.

Michel. Thanks. I had a look on the RFF which I presume is the rangefinder forum here on APUG and both his last posts and threads all seemed to be before December 2007. If he has made any contributions since then let me know.

Anyway as I said, even if he hasn't made threads or posts I recognise that I should "never say never"

pentaxuser

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Pentaxuser, I mean www.rangefinderforum.com

 

[Donald Boyd]

Roger is on RFF and his reviews are now free which he just announced:

Reviews now free
The reviews on www.rogerandfrances.com (in the photoschool section) are now free instead of paid-for. I did this in response to an observation elsewhere in RFF that The Rangefinder Book (GMC, 2003) missed 'several important models' -- mostly, I have to say, because they hadn't come out when it was written...

 

[pentaxuser]

Pentaxuser, I mean www.rangefinderforum.com

Thanks. I'll have a look. While not having a rangefinder I always find his comments on photography interesting. Of course as I was trying to point out to mcgrattan I wasn't saying that he had dropped off the photographic map, simply that he had dropped off APUG

pentaxuser

 

[DanielOB]

As Leica is turning to "consumer" company, summarits are just in the curent Leica fashion. Compared to Zeiss, leave it alone...

 

[Tom Stanworth]

As Leica is turning to "consumer" company, summarits are just in the curent Leica fashion. Compared to Zeiss, leave it alone...

I am not sure what you mean here. Its good that Leica are producing cheaper lenses, esp in light of there stratospheric increases in price of late. Also good that Zeiss has responded with their compact lenses...