Review 2 of 7
Price Paid:
$2495.00
from mail order Summary:
Leica 35mm 1.4 ASPH. While the older Leica lenses are well know for their mechanical and optical performance this particular lens did not quite meausre up to "my expectations". No doubt Leica makes the best manual rangefinder in production today but over the years others have caught up with them optically and for much less. In short if you are in love with Leica this lens is perfection, for all others remember the story of the "King's new clothes" as your the other Leica reviews. Just trying to be objective here. Strengths:
Smooth Focusing mechanical operation, solid professional construction, no doubt better than anything on the market designed for any rangefinder. Optical performance is great under the right conditions. Yet the optical performance not as good as one would expect, compared to modern SLR counterparts by Canon and Nikon as my personal testing has reveled. Weaknesses:
The lens hood blocks to much of the viewfinder image for me and makes it difficult to compose the image on the fly. Flare on this lens is horrible! (even with the lens hood on) It acts like a lens with no coating, and you cannot see this until you get the results back from the lab, due to the nature of a rangefinder camera. A nasty surprise if you doing weddings. Not even Photoshop CS with all it's magical enhancements can recover an image like that. Similar Products Used:
Canon and Nikon 35 mm focal lenght prime lenses ranging from modern to 30 years old optics. Customer Service:
None needed, Leica lenses are built to last. (The M6 body requires a check up every year to check the shutter speeds and rangefinder optics, rarely finding anything seriously wrong.)
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