Leica lenses vs the best Nikons (for b/w)

[John Koehrer]

Greg Y, why is that?

The typical quality of scanning and inkjet isn't up to reproducing what the lens records.

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Before I entered to APUG world , I had expensive 6 Leicas. Than my income freezed and I sold them. I did not take a frame for 12 years because I had had no money to buy Leica. Than I discovered plastic Leicas , especially Leica Mini Zoom Elmar 35-70 mm.
Its not looking like a world war 1 Ruger but it is faraway better than Canon EOS system and Nikon 40mm Sonnar Generic and Rollei 35S Sonnar 40 mm.
So , if you have 60 dollars , you can buy one from them from keh.com.
No more tears needed.
I used IA ,IIIC with Elmar , two IIIF with Summitar and Leicaflex with Summicron and it is Elmar lens and takes like 60 years old Elmars.
It is wonderfully balanced lens and every attemp to correct it with Photoshop is ugly.
If you dont have money , visit my gallery or flickr galleries and may be you love or hate it.

Yes , Leica is the best otherwise %95 of Magnum or Black Star photographers wouldnt use it.
If you are lucky , you will discover at your first roll , if you are not knowing what to look for , you will be lost and continue to drive Toyota.

Umut

[GregY]

Thanks John..... Exactly that...you will not reach the subtle characteristic qualities of either Leica or Nikon lenses via the medium of scanning or inkjet printing.

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Inkjet printing is nowhere different from your printed media like catalogs , newspapers etc.
If you have good printer , knowledge to how to calibrate ir will give you a print like every offset prints.
But I agree , to collect good scanner , good softwares , good ink and printer is more expensive than buying a Focomat and print your own.
I have a very little knowledge about how photograph trade been done and there are many people sell themselves at facebook or here.
So good scanning is always been the key.
I saw some Sandy King Scans and they were excellent.
If you want to compete with National Geographic Tifdruck Rotogravure prints , you must figure out how to model the different dot depth of rotogravure copper drum plus the ink quality.
One of my attemps was to find who sells ink to NG and than inkjet with them but even remembered now after years

Umut

[Eric Rose]

I've shot for over 40 years with both Nikon and Leica glass. No one has been able to tell me accurately which lens I was using when they see a print. Nuff said.

[georg16nik]

I've shot for over 40 years with both Nikon and Leica glass. No one has been able to tell me accurately which lens I was using when they see a print. Nuff said.

If You used them stopped down after f8.. most lenses look alike.
However, wide open or 1 or 2 stops from it, there is not a chance in hell to not spot the difference.
Comparing Leica, Zeiss, Voigtländer against their japanese descendants/replicas like Nikon, Canon, Mamiya, Papaiya and rest of the monkey names is like comparing Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Bentley against Ford, Toyota, Nissan and saying there is no difference in the ride and that Mercedes shouldn't cost more than Ford, since they both might take You from point A to point B.

[pierods]

If You used them stopped down after f8.. most lenses look alike.
However, wide open or 1 or 2 stops from it, there is not a chance in hell to not spot the difference.
Comparing Leica, Zeiss, Voigtländer against their japanese descendants/replicas like Nikon, Canon, Mamiya, Papaiya and rest of the monkey names is like comparing Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Bentley against Ford, Toyota, Nissan and saying there is no difference in the ride and that Mercedes shouldn't cost more than Ford, since they both might take You from point A to point B.

Let's make simple things complicated then.

Let's say I buy myself a nikon F80, which in turn will accept the latest nikon 50mm f/1.4 G.

Here is the sharpness fully open:

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/..._n15/page4.asp

So, in 2009 (when this lens came out) has nikon caught up with [whatever, Leica, Zeiss etc] ?

(I do believe that Leica lenses have a "signature", but I don't care for it)

[pierods]

Because you didn't ask

Does 35+ years of shooting with Olympus lenses count?

Yes it counts! Could you suggest a "starter kit" ?

[georg16nik]

..nikon 50mm f/1.4 G.

Here is the sharpness fully open:

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/..._n15/page4.asp

So, in 2009 (when this lens came out) has nikon caught up with [whatever, Leica, Zeiss etc] ?

(I do believe that Leica lenses have a "signature", but I don't care for it)

dpreview.com, You must be kidding
I find the humor of nowadays kids., hilarious

[brucemuir]

dpreview.com, You must be kidding
I find the humor of nowadays kids., hilarious

I agree, it seems PDR quickly becomes a pissing match but I guess if you have good gardening skllz you can weed out some mediocre useful tidbits.

I would blame thi mostly on the users of that site.
Can degrade to rubnish quite quickly.