[mirekti]

Dear Administrator,

 

I've noticed this section of the forum is quite slow.

Do you plan on doing some other Leica lens test? I really like your approach, but there's been two lens tests and you stopped there.


Please get an M, and a set of Leica lenses and make me happy.


Cheers,

M

[mst]

Hi M,

don't worry, there will be lots of additional lens reviews in this section. However, the Leica section has no high priority internally, which means as long as their is more "important" review work to (for example in the Nikon section) this part of photozone simply has to "idle".

In addition, the amount of time the review team can put into reviews is limited in general (we all do this in our spare time) and unfortunately extremely limited currently in my case (due to my main job... again).

Nonetheless: two additional reviews are already in the pipeline for publication (Noctilux 50/0.95 ASPH and SLRMagic Hyperprime 50/0.95), the next two reviews after that will most likely be the Zeiss ZM 50/2 and the Leica Summarit 50/2.5. I also just finished the lab tests with the Elmarit-M 135/2.8 (interesting beast).

One note though: there is no plan to shift to the new M. The M9 currently is and will remain to be the test camera. From a reviewer's perspective, the new M's sensor doesn't offer much over the older Kodak CCD, not even in terms of resolution. From my personal perspective (as a user of the M9): the new M has absolutely no appeal to me, sorry

-- Markus

[mirekti]

Thanks for the update. No problem with the M9 instead of M. I understand the time might be an issue for you. I'll keep waiting. ;-)

 

However, why don't you start with some newer lenses? For example why 135 Elmarit instead of 135 APO?

My whish list would be a WATE, 21mm SEM, 35mm FLE, 75mm Cron, and 135 APO.

 

Thanks again, and I'm looking forward to seeing the f/0.95 results.

 

Cheers,

M

[mst]

Hi M,

sorry for the late reply, I must have missed your post... and unfortunately have been quite busy lately.

Regarding newer lenses: well, the M section is more of a "hobby" on my side. Unlike all other cameras I have available, the M9 was not primarily aquired to be a test camera. In fact, the idea to test Leica lenses came to life quite a while after I got the camera.

Thus, there is no priority list of lenses to test (as it exists in other sections). I'll just grab and try whatever I'm personally interested in or what's offered to me. That's why I ended up with the 135 Elmarit (which is available dirt cheap... for a Leica lens) and not the 135 APO (which I can hardly imagine is much fun on the M9... the Elmarit is already a borderline lens IMO).

Another note: I'm not sure whether I will do reviews of lenses below 24mm, since for anything shorter the system's minimum focus distance will most likely already be a problem in MTF testing (I'd have to get closer than MFD for the MTF tests).
I may give a 21mm lens a try (just to find out), but I'm sure you can already rule out the WATE.

As for the other lenses you mention: 135 APO only if someone offers one as a loaner, 35 FLE has already been offered to me (I hope to find the time for this one next year), the 75 Cron review is already done.

-- Markus

[mirekti]

Perfect!!

Thanks for taking your time in doing more reviews and clarifying your plans.



With those two fast 50mm lenses' reviews, things started to move in this section. 

However, for some reason I am not able to see the 75mm Cron link in the list of tested lenses.


Your work is highly appreciated. 


Regards,

M

[mst]

Thanks, M.

Sorry about the 75 cron confusion. I meant to say that all the review work is already done, but the review itself is not written and published, yet.

-- Markus