Try this…!
In my opinion, the Hasselblad HCD 28mm and the Leica S 35mm (the only digital "medium format" lenses I have) are impressively sharp and rectilinear SLR lenses. They are approximate equivalents to 21 and 24mm lenses for 35mm cameras.
No thanks, I'd rather keep my house. (And marriage.)Try this…!
Good choice...!No thanks, I'd rather keep my house. (And marriage.)
Try this…!
No thank you, I would rather use Hasselblad Zeiss lenses.
Most reviews I have seen Leica beats Zeiss in the corners.
I'm curious what the purpose of those reviews was. I've noticed over the many years I've done this that people who buy Leica have to convince themselves they have the best regardless of the truth. I had a 35mm Summicron and bought a Zeiss Biogon f/2. One short test and it wasn't even close. The Biogon wiped the floor with the Summicron, especially in the corners. I sold the Summicron for twice what I bought it for. So if that is your metric for evaluating lenses, why bother with Leica?
The last two lenses I've picked up that fit Leica were both Chinese, from 7Artisans. So cheap. I bought them because they were Sonnars. The 35mm f/2 and the 50mm f/1.1. The 35mm is a fantastic little lens. Not the greatest over the whole frame but there is nothing else like it. The 50 1.1 isn't a very good lens, but it is rather unique. I paid $125 and $150 for them respectively since Leica snobs won't go near them. They are missing out.
I also use mostly a Konica Hexar RF even though I also own a Leica M3. The Konica is just a better camera. All around probably the best Leica mount camera that has ever been made. Leicas are beautiful cameras no doubt, but when you want to make a picture in a hurry from scratch they are fiddly.
The final point I'll make is once an image is on the wall literally no one cares about what camera you took a picture with. Everything else is just egotistical nonsense.
Don't drink the Leica KoolAid. Of course if you like using a Leica and their lenses, by all means, enjoy them. It isn't a one size fits all world.
Yes, $200,000 is even more than a Leica...!
In my opinion, the Hasselblad HCD 28mm and the Leica S 35mm (the only digital "medium format" lenses I have) are impressively sharp and rectilinear SLR lenses. They are approximate equivalents to 21 and 24mm lenses for 35mm cameras.
I admittedly haven't read all the previous posts, but there seems to be a little bit of semi-mythological legend to all this. In theory, it should be easier to design rangefinder lenses, since they don't need to be retro-focus in wide angles like SLR lenses. And today, Japanese manufacture has not only caught up with German expectations, but often exceeded it. Many Zeiss branded 35mm lenses aren't made in Germany at all, but in Japan. The ability to produce aspheric lenses is now more widespread, and far ahead of what Leica ever had done.
Sure, vintage lenses often have their own look, and if they're scarce and attached to cult lens status, they're going to fetch higher prices within that category of people willing to pay it. Oven some old boot which accidentally came out of a swamp on a fishing line might have "Rare and Collectable" on its EBay listing.
No different with large format lenses, with current asking prices for old cult lenses, which actually don't perform a bit better than later versions selling for a tenth the price. Some people just like the idea of owning fine things, and tend to buy Leica or Hassie, and rarely if ever actually shoot the thing.
But none of this effect me much. My quite affordable Fuji 6X9 rangefinder will blow anything 35mm completely out of the water when it comes to print quality. And it is hand-holdable if necessary;
better than even my Nikon in that respect.
Why do people like 35mm sooooo much? I’ve sold all of mine . Years ago for larger formats
I really don’t get it, isn’t 35, just for entry into film?
Not trying to be obnoxious, but when you find out about 2-1/4,when you are starting out with 35mm, your love affair with 35 it’s all over, and then when you find out large format, 2-1/4 love affair is all over
Why do people like 35mm sooooo much? I’ve sold all of mine . Years ago for larger formats
I really don’t get it, isn’t 35, just for entry into film?
Not trying to be obnoxious, but when you find out about 2-1/4,when you are starting out with 35mm, your love affair with 35 it’s all over, and then when you find out large format, 2-1/4 love affair is all over
silver gelatin prints made from 35 are so . . . . Underwhelming
Since I shoot up to 8x10 film, I see no reason to push the limits of what 35mm can realistically do. I think of 35mm more as my alter-ego, when I deliberately want poetic little grainy prints instead of big highly detailed ones. But I suspect it's more the advent of small 35mm cameras entering the realm of digital moving images which has fueled the drive for 36mm lenses of higher performance than ever before. Film makers are perfectly willing to go out and spend 40 or 90 thousand dollars for a lens if it gives them a distinct edge over the competition in a feature documentary film possibly taking a decade or more to make. But Hollywood cinematographers are known to seek out and adapt old funky lenses too, for sake of some special look. But once word gets out, suddenly those same old lenses jump 2,000% in asking price. Just the psychology of it. It doesn't necessarily have to make sense. Likewise, it Leica puts its official logo on a nail clipper, it would probably cost $400.
But cost is relative. There's a lens and mirror fabricator less than 5 miles from me that can make anything you wish, provided you have a NASA or NSA credit card. If you can afford to launch a Hubble or Web space telescope, you can afford the lenses and mirrors which go with it.
Could it be the sharpness of the Leica lenses is more of the result of the rangefinder’s ability to focus more easily while not having the vibration of SLR mirrors compounding the image making it not as sharp then it being the quality of the lens…?
I’m beginning to understand the lenses for rangefinder systems require more refinement than those used for SLR’s.
This could be the reason they cost so much...!
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