Yodobashi Rangefinder website- discusses drawing style of most Leica lenses

[Winedemonium]

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I stumbled across this website yesterday looking for info on the drawing style of a Leica lens. Most of the current crop of Leica lenses are discussed, along with photographs from those lenses, and also the ZM and CV lenses too. It's a useful resource.

 

http://rangefinder.yodobashi.com/lens/index_e.html

[dunkelblau]

Such an interesting and helpful website! Thanks for posting, winedemonium

[erudolph]

What does the writer mean when he refers to the moisture or wetness of a lens?

[adan]

Not that I necessarily see it myself - but I'd guess he's using "wetness" to imply the lens makes things look as though they are wet. Fresh glistening paint vs. old dry paint. Rain-soaked reflections. Or in a different metaphor, "wet" fruity wines compared to "dry" crisp wines. Rain-forest colors/contrast vs. Death Valley colors/contrast.

 

Tricky in that he uses it in regard to the 24 f/2.8, but at the same time, most of his examples with that lens are of literally wet subjects. So was it the lens - or just the situation?

[hiepphotog]

I came across this a few months before. The guy was right on some lenses regarding the draw and signature (e.g. ZM 15 and 85); he is among the first few suggested to underexpose the ZM 85 to get around the strong PF issue. But with other lenses, he seems to be too vague.

[cpclee]

There is a similar Leica site hosted by another big camera retailer, Map Camera.  Lots of pictures but the text is Japanese only

 

https://news.mapcamera.com/k4l.php

[cpclee]

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They use the word 潤 ("wet") to describe a richer, more luxuriating look.   And "dry" is used to describe the opposite look of being more transparent, neutral and etched. 

 

The Chinese also use "wet" and "oily" to describe lenses.

[jaapv]

What a work it must have been to assemble all of this. Really nice. However, I find the little reviews to be too uncritical to be of much use.

[Winedemonium]

There are some great short articles on that site too. I particularly liked the 'Requiem' article under Leica Live (near the bottom).