Idea for Leica lens site at Wetzlar.com please

[reddot925]

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Hi all,

 

First of all, this is not promotion, http://wetzlar.com  is only landing on my Flickr album page, so I've no commercial benefit from this post.

 

Now to the point, I'm fortunate enough to have access to many rare Leica lens from private collectors / friends.

 

Noctilux F1.2, F1, Summilux early versions, Summicron 8 elements, etc.  Also some other LTM and M mount Zeiss and Konica,  and others.

 

I can't seem to find many sites that shows the images created by these lens in one place, along with explaining a little about the usability with today's cameras, mostly we get help from members here or information is scattered here and there or we see the pictures of the lens and the spec or many stories of them in words.

 

I may also include an online store for the private collectors, but I'm not sure if this is good idea since it will just be a store that sells no more than 10-20 items at a time.

 

What do you guys think?  Any idea what's missing out there when you were searching?   Perhaps comparing Canadian and German versions of the same lens, or regular version with special editions to debunk or prove some myth?

 

Thank you all for the input!

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[reddot925]

No takers?   Any vintage or particular hard to find lens of interest?

[Exodies]

I reckon we’re waiting for you to do the hard work - plough through all the questions in the forum over the years and note all relevant questions, flag incomplete and unsatisfactory answers and produce a beautiful synthesis.

[luigi bertolotti]

Hard work indeed... but the idea is good, in the sense that concentrate on one site (flikcr only collection of pictures ?) images taken with rare/old lenses could be really appreciated by many passionates : given the broader intent of our LUF is unavoidable that such images are "scattered" almost everywhere (though there is the "view through older glass" pinned topic which partially adresses this goal)

Also, a dedicated portal would overcome the logical limitations in term of file size that are imposed in the LUF, and this would be a significant plus for people interested in the matter.

 

I agree that an online store is superfluous : rare/old lenses have already their typical channels... it's already rather difficult to track the various sources, that one more wouldn't be so welcome...

[lct]

[...] Perhaps comparing Canadian and German versions of the same lens, or regular version with special editions to debunk or prove some myth? [...]

 

Yes why not but this is a difficult undertaking since valid comparos need to be made with the same subject matter, under the same light and with the same FoV and DoF as far as possible. Difficult and unrewarding then... Not the best site to show one's photographic skills if you ask me .

[jaapv]

There are already several "old lenses" threads on this forum. But organizing systematically might be a good idea

[reddot925]

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Thanks guys for the valuable advise.  I travel a lot to many countries for work as well as to explore, would adding travel aspect to these great lens adds another interesting angle?     

 

PS,  I'm not so much the tourist type so it won't be a travel guide!

[reddot925]

Yes why not but this is a difficult undertaking since valid comparos need to be made with the same subject matter, under the same light and with the same FoV and DoF as far as possible. Difficult and unrewarding then... Not the best site to show one's photographic skills if you ask me .

 

Agreed, it's most likely impossible for me to do a direct comparison, and like you said probably even unrewarding,

[reddot925]

Hard work indeed... but the idea is good, in the sense that concentrate on one site (flikcr only collection of pictures ?) images taken with rare/old lenses could be really appreciated by many passionates : given the broader intent of our LUF is unavoidable that such images are "scattered" almost everywhere (though there is the "view through older glass" pinned topic which partially adresses this goal)

Also, a dedicated portal would overcome the logical limitations in term of file size that are imposed in the LUF, and this would be a significant plus for people interested in the matter.

 

I agree that an online store is superfluous : rare/old lenses have already their typical channels... it's already rather difficult to track the various sources, that one more wouldn't be so welcome...

 

Thank you Luigi, Flickr only collection of pictures is probably the easiest start, that's why I have wetzlar.com pointed there and created some albums, I already have a couple of good feedback requesting this and that.    

 

You're right about the store!  But it's a shame because these collectors friends of mine when they get bored of certain lens or no longer have use for them they will sell it to the store which adds a big markup, regardless it's not my priority because I still worry about returns especially if the returns come back in not so original condition!   

[luigi bertolotti]

Yes why not but this is a difficult undertaking since valid comparos need to be made with the same subject matter, under the same light and with the same FoV and DoF as far as possible. Difficult and unrewarding then... Not the best site to show one's photographic skills if you ask me .

My idea is that (supposed it will be set up) it would be a place for not too "scientific" comparisions... they need too much bytes of informations... enlarged areas, corners... just some "look and taste" comparisions between say, a portrait taken with an Hektor 7,3 cm and a Summicron 75... or a night scenery Noctilux vs. Zunow... anyway straight comparisions Ought to be, imho, not the main goal/subject.

[lct]

Too subjective for my taste but YMMV. 

[Ecar]

My view is that this forum, along with others and various websites, already provide a good "flavour" for how different lenses behave.

As others have suggested above, in order to go further you'd need to be able to provide more like-for-like (boring, but sometimes useful) comparisons in some kind of controlled environment in terms of lighting, subject perspective, etc. And if you are getting into vintage/rare lenses, you'd want to be sure that images from the sample included in the comparison are reasonably representative.

Good idea, but a massive amount of work to make it truly valuable...

[pgk]

In all honesty, the internet simply doesn't offer a viable way of appreciating anything other than either gross differences within a whole image (rare) or detailed differences in small segments of an image. So its difficult to present a really meaningful comparison in a genuinely viable way. Personally I'd rather that lenses were presented by their users along with their favourite images and a description of why the lens helped make that image and details of the lenses relevant characteristics for those images. Its all here on the forum already, but not distilled together. Some will say that this is pointless and not a valid way of comparing lenses but in all honesty that really isn't the point. Most lenses are very capable today and have been for a long time. I'm much more interested in hearing about why a photographer appreciates a particular lens rather than yet another pointless detailed comparison of its technical capabilities. Just my opinion .

[reddot925]

It's true, but if you look from only users perspective who may own only those lens, won't they say their lens is very good or even the best?

 

But otherwise I think your suggestions are very good, thank you.

 

 

 

In all honesty, the internet simply doesn't offer a viable way of appreciating anything other than either gross differences within a whole image (rare) or detailed differences in small segments of an image. So its difficult to present a really meaningful comparison in a genuinely viable way. Personally I'd rather that lenses were presented by their users along with their favourite images and a description of why the lens helped make that image and details of the lenses relevant characteristics for those images. Its all here on the forum already, but not distilled together. Some will say that this is pointless and not a valid way of comparing lenses but in all honesty that really isn't the point. Most lenses are very capable today and have been for a long time. I'm much more interested in hearing about why a photographer appreciates a particular lens rather than yet another pointless detailed comparison of its technical capabilities. Just my opinion .

[pgk]

It's true, but if you look from only users perspective who may own only those lens, won't they say their lens is very good or even the best?

 

But otherwise I think your suggestions are very good, thank you.

 

We, not necessarily. I have the 21mm f/3.4 Super-Angulon for example and have a short write up on it here: http://marinewildlife.co.uk/info/leica-21mm-f3-4-super-angulon-m/

 

I like the lens but have tried to state its characteristics rather than suggest that its a fabulous, must have lens. To me this makes good sense and I'd be happy reading more such information on other lenses. Most has been stated here on the forum but takes some searching for at times. I think that it is actually important to be fairly objective rather than heap too much praise on a lens and not try to make out that nuances are anything but that and not overhype expensive lenses. And there are too many boring 'comparisons' when many lenses can provide an adequate image and the differences are subtle. In the real world lenses have characteristics which can be explored but there is far ore to photography than having the 'best' so comparisons whilst occasionally valid are generally irrelevant and I'd prefer to rad stuff which doesn't follow the bland 'here we have a comparison of' route. Just my opinion though.

[Abram]

I think it would be cool to have a searchable repository if you're looking for references on specific lenses + camera combinations. A Leica specific version of https://pixelpeeper.com/adv/ would be fun