• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Why the quality of a Leica lens is better

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Here one with a Leica Summilux and another with an Olympus.

There are rendering differences to be seen between various lens design styles in some circumstances. Generally speaking, the differences are more apparent for faster apertures. Here, your particular choice of lenses and aperture makes the differences quite small. Moreover, Olympus (and Minolta) were the Japanese lens makers with an optic design philosophy closest to the one of Leica (as opposed to the one of Zeiss, for example).

I would say that, unless you have a particular interest in a special rendering type, almost all modern lenses are perfectly adequate. But if you have an interest in a particular rendering, then by all means get the lens with that particular rendering.
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
I am about to be as mad as to get two lenses for the Pana GX7

Leica_15mm_450.jpg
Leica_Nocticron_450.jpg
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
I was anxiously - so to say - waiting your lines about this option.

The M is out of question as it is a bit out of the limits. However, I am sure that these two - not so ambitious - are very nice companions for the MFT Panasonic GX7.

The wide angle is not specially expensive but this can't be said about the other. I read lots of reviews about it and they all say marvelous.

Thank you Fahim ! :)
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Antonio, once again my congratulations on your purchase. The quality remains long after the price is forgotten!!

Some maintain that with software, one can achieve any look. Maybe so.

But if you start with an excellent image to start with, the software can only make it better ( or worse depending on your PS skills ). I prefer to have more in the original image than later on..

p1135610374-6.jpg

Leica Macro Elmar-M 90mm f/4. A tiny lens.

I was anxiously - so to say - waiting your lines about this option.

The M is out of question as it is a bit out of the limits. However, I am sure that these two - not so ambitious - are very nice companions for the MFT Panasonic GX7.

The wide angle is not specially expensive but this can't be said about the other. I read lots of reviews about it and they all say marvelous.

Thank you Fahim ! :)
 
Leica does not make the best

Leica lenses are by no means the best consumer photographic lenses. There are simply "extremely good", coupled with very compact size, and great build quality.

When lens size can increase proportional to lens size, you get Zeiss Otus, or Olympus SGH Zoom lenses (14-35mm f/2.0, 35-100mm f/2.0), either of which are measurably superior in all optical aspects to most Leica M lenses.

I had my doubts, and have done my own careful testing. The olympus zooms outclass the Leica primes in matching focal lenghts so far (for resolution, contrast, field flatness etc) it's not even funny.

Don't buy into the Leica kool-aid. They are very, very, nice, yes. But neither magical, nor the best.

regards,
Dawid
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
Thank you Dawid for your opinion.

Much appreciated.

In Germany - that is where I will buy my two Pano Leica lenses - it costs about 2.500 Euros!

This would mean even more money involved than my option. And... this amount of money is out of question.

We can't have everything can we ? :)

Zeiss Otus ? Oh well... next time, next time ! LOL
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
When lens size can increase proportional to lens size, you get Zeiss Otus, or Olympus SGH Zoom lenses (14-35mm f/2.0, 35-100mm f/2.0), either of which are measurably superior in all optical aspects to most Leica M lenses.

The Zeiss Otus extraordinary complexity and, hence, price comes from one single constraint. Interestingly, that design constraint will not show on images of flat subjects like test charts.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Unfortunately, no one makes zooms with af for my Leica M. So I cannot talk about Olympus zooms or others.

And no lens works, for an RF M mount system, like a Leica. My experience. I try to make images, not looking at resolution charts.

As to drinking Kool Aid. Everyone has drank from that well and has their opinions. Some, like me, after testing too but as a photog.

I personally would never go near the current Olympus systems.

When they ( Olympus ) introduce a modern 135mm full frame, maybe I will stop drinking my brand of Kool Aid, and try some of yours.

Until then let's each of us mix our drinks and enjoy photography. With Zeiss, Nikon, Olympus etc.

That's why we have choices..for Internet experts and Kool Aid drinkers.

Oh yes, the size and weight...totally forgot about that. I am puny, the Zeiss 50 Otus weighs mor than me..it is humongous.

The Leica cron 50 APO..is a tiny piece of glass magic. Beauty in a small size. I prefer to drink Kool Aid, than to take steroids and get into gymnasiums to be able to carry 35mm FF lenses.






Leica lenses are by no means the best consumer photographic lenses. There are simply "extremely good", coupled with very compact size, and great build quality.

When lens size can increase proportional to lens size, you get Zeiss Otus, or Olympus SGH Zoom lenses (14-35mm f/2.0, 35-100mm f/2.0), either of which are measurably superior in all optical aspects to most Leica M lenses.

I had my doubts, and have done my own careful testing. The olympus zooms outclass the Leica primes in matching focal lenghts so far (for resolution, contrast, field flatness etc) it's not even funny.

Don't buy into the Leica kool-aid. They are very, very, nice, yes. But neither magical, nor the best.

regards,
Dawid
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I am about to be as mad as to get two lenses for the Pana GX7

Leica_15mm_450.jpg
Leica_Nocticron_450.jpg

I am not very knowledgeable about µ4/3 lenses, I rarely use that system. But wouldn't the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45 mm 1:1.8 be a cheaper choice than the Panasonic/Leica lens, considering that your camera is already stabilised?
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
Probably yes Jerome.

But I am looking for the quality of the image, the bokeh and so forth at a reasonable price compared to "plain" Leica which I can't afford anyway.

And like others, I am influenced by the label. I confess this sin !

Thank you for your comment ! :)
 
Both the "Leica" (It's a panasonic, made in Japan) Nocticron 42.5/1.2, and the Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8, are stellar lenses, probably the best in Micro Four Thirds. My friend and I did careful comparison, and the 75mm is the only Micro Four Thirds lens that seems to match the optical abilities of the Four Thirds SGH zooms. None of the others come close (this includes the M.Zuiko 45/1.8) - and most of the micro four thirds lenses require significant digital correction of distortion, and sometimes Chromatic aberration - thus severely limiting image performance.

Fahim - I'm not attacking your beloved M lenses - I'm just saying that they - nor most any other lens - are magical. I would certainlly be careful of Leica's marketing material. They are a company that markets luxury goods, not working equipment. They are constrained by the laws of physics.

With regards to the Olympus SHG f/2 zoom lenses - and please don't confuse these with the small, consumer Micro Four Thirds lenses, these are beasts with 77mm filters, and the best weather sealing known to man - I would rinse them under the tap after a serious outing to the beach.

I enjoyed my time with these "perfect" digital lenses, but I sold them. Why? First of all, the four thirds system is simply too constrained by the tiny sensors. I am used to film, and the smoothness and dynamic range it brings. Second, I am tired of carrying around such huge lenses, perfection be damned.

I've switched fully to my small manual-focus Nikkors, and the Voigtlander Heliar 50mm f/3.5 on my Leica M3. I sold the large Summilux ASPH. When I want to use a large camera, I use my Linhof or my Mamiya RB67. Otherwise, I am enjoying my 1960s Manual-Focus, pre-AI lenses.

Would this image that I made yesterday have been better with a $7000 Summicron-ASPH 50mm? I don't think so. The "look" would be totally different than my $70 Nikkor-H 50mm f/2, not to mention that Leica doesn't have a sensor that can do this (yet) - this was on the fabulous sensor in the Nikon Df.

My Olympus SHG zooms couldn't make this image either. They'd make a sharper image, but with a much deeper field, and never capture this dynamic range. And they'd be bloody huge, not a tiny, 52mm-ring lens that fits in my pocket.

Layers of the 20th century
17251911696_053bfe272f_o.jpg

I really don't like Ken Rockwell, but he's famously said for years: Sharp lenses mean nothing to good photographers. Use what you enjoy - especially what's small enough to keep with you. In that regard, Leica M, or micro four thirds - does so well. I had a nice stash of old Nikkors, so that's it for me at this stage - I could not afford a stash of new M lenses :)

Have fun.
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
Thank you Sam. :)
I hope in the morning - or in the afternoon, why not :) - I will post others but this time with the 13mm.
I can perceive/realize that the colors are different from those of Canon I am used to. Obviously :) :)
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
The M8 and the cron 75 apo was being tested today for travel..the above image and this one with that setup..

p1183195897-6.jpg

Not bad for a digital sensor from 2006.
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
Thank you Fahim for your contribution.
This is one I made today.
Not specially appealing I must say.
With the 13mm this time.
i-69fgpvX-XL.jpg
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Antonio, enjoy my friend. That is what it is all about.

I do not like to spend too much time in pp ( one does not really need it too much ), but here is one taken
a few minutes ago.

p1184419035-6.jpg

a 100% crop.
 
Top