-----Original Message-----
From: Winsor Crosby <wincros@xxxxxxx>
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, September 06, 1998 12:51 AM
Subject: Re: [OM] Zuiko vs. Leica?
>>"This assumed Zuiko lenses have the same sharpness and MTF as Leica lenses
>>which I'm sure at least they are very close."
>>
>>Is there any reason at all (other than hype, that is) to think Leica
lenses
>>are better than Zuiko? I know it's traditional to *say* Leica lenses have
>>superhuman powers, but actually, Olympus makes lenses about as well as
they
>>can be made. Some of the test results of Leica lenses that I've seen
showed
>>that, although definitely respectable, they were not distinguishable from
>>other good brands.
>>
>>Michael A. Covington / AI Center / The University of Georgia
I need to do some research on this and get back with the list later. I just
recently rejoined, after a 1 years absence, the Leica Historical Society
of America. I believe they will be able to point me to tests run on
various generations of Leica lenses.
I actually have in my hand a report from an independant Lens
testing firm in Germany (BAS. Testlabor) that evaluates 12
of the more recent Leica M-mount (rangefinder) lenses. They
measure sharpness using the Circle of confusion of an edge
of a line as the measuring criteria. I don't know how to translate
that into lines per millimeter ( I've got a guess, though) but will
try to find out.
As a point of refence, the 50mm F2.0 lens, stopped down to
F8, has a circle of confusion of .003mm at the center of the
lens and about .006 at the edge. If anyone on the list knows
how to interpret this in the more common lines/mm then let
me know!!!
One thing I do know which is highly praised in Leica lenses
is their Color Balance. It is very, very, very Neutral. This may
account for most of what people identify as a distinctive of
Leica glass. Also, there is the modulation transfer function,
which is a measure of contrast. I hope to learn more about
that in a few weeks when I take a 4 day course at work on
digital image processing which I am taking as part of my
yearly company (Raytheon TI systems) mandated training.
I'll get back to the list on this when I have some hard numbers.
Mark Hammons
P.S. -- In response to another post, Leica indeed did originally
mean LEItz CAmera ( the firm of Ernst Leitz made the first LEICA
camera in 1925). A few years ago, the camera division of Leitz
broke off from Leitz and just last year Leica Camera GMBH became
a publically owned company. It is now proper to call the company
"Leica".
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