Erwin Puts Blog on MM posted

[lars_bergquist]

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Erwin Puts is very knowledgeable about some things, optical and Leica, and he has access to information.

 

He is also wordy, repetitive, sloppy in his writing and does seemingly never read his own texts after they have been keyed in. Mijnheer Puts is in dire need of a good, professional editor preferably with English as his/her first language. His Leica Compendium could have been half the volume with all the facts preserved.

 

This said, there is no writer on gear and/or Leica history that I read with some kind of trust as to facts, except Jim Lager and Sean Reid, and even then, my critical faculties do not sleep very deeply.

 

My long background in publishing reference literature (encyclopedias, mostly) tell me that camera writers, like automobile writers, gun writers and travel writers, are generically unreliable. As long as we know this, Erwin Puts is of course an asset.

 

The old man from the Age of Gutenberg (and proofreading)

[leicamann]

May I remind you Erwin Puts is not German, nor is he advocating such a thing.

 

Yes I think we all know Senior puts is not German,,relax:)

I believe his article on the M7 was " Leica has abandoned film and the writing is on the wall for all film loaded rangefinders".. unquote

 

Don't know about you, but he seems to be making a very strong statement about film cameras.

 

Lots of great comments folks, indeed some of his articles are excellent and agreed he needs someone to help him with the text, streamline it out.

The latest one on the Leica MM also runs counter-current to what folks are saying..will you buy an Leica MM,so the question begs, are folks basing their decisions on factual articles or on fashion or trend?

 

Lastly, the point of this thread is, if Mr Puts is writing scientific objective papers based on fact, does this weigh in , is his take on Leica final, or do you base your decisions for other reasons and from other sources?

Thats all, and NO this is NOT "ad hominem" though that is popular in Blogs..so please don't jump to conclusions..... this is simply an open ended discussion.

 

 

Cheers, JRM

[rosuna]

Sometimes Puts changes his mind...

 

Read the old analysis of the Summilux 75mm (included in the PDF about the M system) and then the short description included in the Compendium.

 

Compendimum:

 

At full aperture, overall contrast is medium and coarse detail is defined clearly over most of the picture area. Fine detail is recorded with good visibility but softer edges on axis.

 

Leica M-Lenses - Their Soul and Secrets:

 

At full aperture the lens exhibits a medium to high overall contrast, with extremely fine details quite visibly recorded. Very fine details are clearly resolved with some softness at the edges.

[IWC Doppel]

I have yet to find technical analysis as good. I find Erwin invaluable to give hard considered facts about performance. I have to thank him for his assessment of the M8 as without this I may have ventured into DSLR only to realise my mistake

 

Any subjective comments I take accordingly. He is factually based and seemingly objective and honest I am not sure I have seen anything written by Erwin that could not be supported by carefully considered data. What more could you want ?

 

I take his analysis as gospel, opinions as his opinion. He's better than most and that's good enough for me

[rramesh]

I like to take a survey of what kind of weight and "faith" people here put in Erwin Puts reviews and opinion pieces about Leica lenses and cameras and how much does that say affect your opinion about say the Leica MM..etc

Do you consider Erwin Puts articles to be like Pontifical Declarations, that is what he says is written in stone and the final word about Leica, there is no room for contrary views, end of discussion . Puts has spoken!! What do you think?

 

Thanks in advance

 

JRM

 

The decision to purchase something is yours and yours alone. All reviews are from the perspective of the reviewer and always has some personal bias. Before I purchased my M9-P, I read reviews (In fact all of them including those by SR, EP, SH). I tried it out and then purchased it. I cannot fault the camera or the choice of lenses. And anyway, any poor choice on my part is entirely my fault, not that of the review or opinion I read.

[philipus]

I've been wondering - what is Erwin Puts's background and how come he has access to Leica-specific information?

 

As a lawyer, I cannot be but for proof-reading and correct usage of language.

 

I also like brevity but many writers in the Internet Age, unfortunately, do not have - or take - the time to be brief.

[Peter H]

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The thing about Erwin is that he's not me.

 

He knows much more about lenses than I do.

 

He knows much less about me than I do. (I think!)

 

So I use his expertise but obviously don't depend on it.

[spydrxx]

I have always considered him a knowledgable and informative resource, but I rely on nobody as the final word, but myself!

[SteveYork]

He's a bit of a 'lab rat.'

[gberger]

I'll take him over Ken Rockwell.

[Rick in CO]

I find Erwin Puts' reviews to be a nice balance of technical analysis with some consideration of imaging quality. As Andy Piper posted (we talk occasionally) Erwins reviews are probably more on target than any others I read, and especially informative when he compares different lenses. One has to remember that, even with Leica's (and Zeiss') quality control, individual variation can affect the analysis. That said, in the limited comparisons that I have made before settling on a particular lens, I find him pretty accurate. Now while his observations on the M-Monochrome are optimistic he has not yet published an objective analysis. I hope to read it soon, along with his analysis of the new Apo 50mm ASPH.

[IWC Doppel]

I'll take him over Ken Rockwell.

 

[haroldp]

not a high hurdle

[Hosermage]

I don't read Puts much because it's too technical for me. I base my buying decision on the images of others from the same gears and how much I can justify with the wife

[haroldp]

I find Irwin Puts reviews to be very useful to me as a reference, because he is technically fastidious, and describes in detail the properties and performance of the test items, with a minimum of subjective judgments as to what anyone else should value.

 

I approach all reviewers with an eye to learning facts, and reaching my own conclusions.

 

I have not yet found Mr. Puts to be wrong on any factual issue or test result, but have (very rarely) wondered at his test conditions.

 

An example would be his test of film vs digital resolution where he used ISO 25 Black & White technical film vs an M9.

 

ISO 25 Black & White technical film is used for industrial purposes such as burning semi-conductors, is designed to optimize resolution, has almost no gray scale and is not suitable for any photographic purpose although I am sure someone has used it along the way.

 

Even this test was useful, but not for the named purpose. It conclusively established that the lens used could out-resolve the M9 sensor.

 

A test with ISO 100 color film would have been much more useful.

 

That being said, I believe that Irwin Puts is among the very best and most reliable of equipment reviewers, particularly if you take his facts and reach your own conclusions.

 

.... H

[philipus]

I like that he calls it Monichrom at one point

[bpalme]

A good reference but very boring.

[lars_bergquist]

A good reference but very boring.

 

Having been in that business myself, I do not read technical reference literature for its entertainment value, but in order to learn things.

 

The old man from the Age of Evidence

[Richardgb]

He was, I think (awkwardly) referring to using LR or SEfex on a color file as an alternative to buying into the all-b/w approach. With Puts, it's always a challenge deciphering the syntax and typos.

 

Jeff

 

I think Puts is perfectly accurate when he says filters are the real thing and LR or Silver Efex are subsitutes.

 

As for his autjority and knowledge, he lamented the passing of Geoffrey Crawley (whom I had the pleasure of meeting a few times many years ago), and in many ways his approach to testing is that of Crawley. In fact, as many have said, Crawley knew his stuff on the technical aspects of photography but couldn't take a good picture for toffee (Geoffrey Crawley, the world-esteemed former editor of British Journal of Photography, has died - British Journal of Photography ). Puts does not claim to be a photographer either; he takes photos to show / prove a technical point and he dopes this exceptionally well.

 

Yes, he can be long-winded, and yes, he's a non-native English speaker so (very) occasionally errors creep in, but he nevertheless manages to communicate to those of us who appreciate his knowledge.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[philipus]

Richard, thanks for this link and for the insight into Puts's testing methodology. I must admit I've never considered Puts as a photographer actually, but just as a good source for insightful comments on technical performance of Leica products that I may be interested in.