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28 Summicron vs 28 Elmarit...


guy

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Well - I've been wrestling with the same problem. I have the 28 Elmarit ASPH along with a 21 ASPH and 35 lux ASPH. The fingerprint of the 21 and the 35 are very similar. The 28 Elmarit is different. It reminds me of Nikon glass. The tonal rendition is not as smooth as my other Leica glass (21,35, 50 lux asph, 75 lux) or even the CV 15. If I had to do it over again I would go with the Cron ASPH.

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I have a 24 elmarit which is low contrast with a very different (and pleasing) look, .... when I want to paint, it's the 24 elmarit.

 

I concur with what has been said above on the 28 Summicron. Seems to be one of the best overall compromises in the current stable of Leica lenses to me.

 

I almost could not believe the above quote, however. The 24asph a low contrast lens? This particular sample must be a lemon! My own 24asph shows very high contrast, almost too high for my taste under certain situations, and renders tack sharp images. Clearly a member of the current asph league of lenses, in line with the Summicron 35 and 90, to name just two.

 

Andy

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I bough the new 28/2.8 Elmarit with my M8 simply because I wanted at least one Leica lens to go with my M8 and it was the least expensive Leica lens available. At the time, I didn't know about disease one gets with the use of Leica lenses - I have since bought several more Leica lenses.

 

I have been very happy with the 28 Elmarit, but got a chance to use a 28 Cron on the Leica Akademie Germany trip and really liked it. I decided to buy a Cron as soon as possible. However, when the moment of truth came about (had a buyer for my Elmarit at a reasonable price), I just couldn't convince myself to spend extra money to get the Cron. The cost difference between the two was too much to ignore. Of course I didn't save any money by not getting the Cron, I just spent it on 50 Lux. I really need a cure for this disease because I know I will end up with a 28 Cron before it is over.

 

Mark Gowin

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I concur with what has been said above on the 28 Summicron. Seems to be one of the best overall compromises in the current stable of Leica lenses to me.

 

I almost could not believe the above quote, however. The 24asph a low contrast lens? This particular sample must be a lemon! My own 24asph shows very high contrast, almost too high for my taste under certain situations, and renders tack sharp images. Clearly a member of the current asph league of lenses, in line with the Summicron 35 and 90, to name just two.

 

Andy

Andy- I meant lower than the 28 elmarit which is the highest contrast of my Leica lenses. Still has excellent contrast and especially incredible sharpness corner to corner, perhaps the sharpest of all my leica lenses. I love the 24....Peter

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Guest guy_mancuso
I bough the new 28/2.8 Elmarit with my M8 simply because I wanted at least one Leica lens to go with my M8 and it was the least expensive Leica lens available. At the time, I didn't know about disease one gets with the use of Leica lenses - I have since bought several more Leica lenses.

 

I have been very happy with the 28 Elmarit, but got a chance to use a 28 Cron on the Leica Akademie Germany trip and really liked it. I decided to buy a Cron as soon as possible. However, when the moment of truth came about (had a buyer for my Elmarit at a reasonable price), I just couldn't convince myself to spend extra money to get the Cron. The cost difference between the two was too much to ignore. Of course I didn't save any money by not getting the Cron, I just spent it on 50 Lux. I really need a cure for this disease because I know I will end up with a 28 Cron before it is over.

 

Mark Gowin

 

Yea and stop hanging out with me will help the cure. I am dangerous to bank accounts. LOL

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Guy, I am afraid the only way to cure the Leica lens disease the way you did - get them all.

 

Thanks to you and the good time in Germany, I have a few more lenses on the wish list. Near the top of the list is the 135 APO Telyt based on my use of your lens in Germany. I came very close to one in London a couple days ago, but the weak dollar hurt the deal. I will probably get the 28 Cron after I get the other focal lengths I want. I just need to win the lottery first.

 

Mark Gowin

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the two are both fantastic...... i think equily good with minor chracteristic and tech differances.......

for example....... the elmar is almost as streight as schneider lenses for large format.... that is good and even on the few pics a differance can be noticed on some demanding subjects that require field corrected lens...... but, it is not the summicron is bad.... not at all...... it is just not schieder-LF-perfect...... other wise..... the summicron is almost perfect in the field streighness and ususally hardly noticable........

we talk here about the new small elamr ashpheric rite ????????

for example..... the summicron has more coherent recording and more and slightly more physical presence to the objects and the details it records........

summicron is f2....... it is super useful at least for "photography with no limits" , and also artistically more useful since the one stop differance on this wide ange makes big differance in selective focusing......... for example u can see differance between f2 and f1.4 on 50 mm of course....... but not a big drama - f2 is selective already....... but here on 28mm it is significant differance for selective focus funs (i am among them)......

the elmar is a tiny lens and reminds very much one lens that i love very much - voigtlander snapshot skoppar 25mm..... really tiny and compact..... but summicron feels like real lens in the hand.... hahhah

 

i dont understand one thing though............ people here talk about contrast here or contrast there.......... the differance is not that big...... the two lenses are very paralel in many things...... modern super lenses........ m8 users can handle the colour problems of the camera but cannot handle the little differances in opst processing ?????????????????????????????

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...i dont understand one thing though............ people here talk about contrast here or contrast there.......... the differance is not that big...... the two lenses are very paralel in many things...... modern super lenses........ m8 users can handle the colour problems of the camera but cannot handle the little differances in opst processing ?...

Can't speak for M8 users but with the R-D1 the 28/2 is a bit less prone to blown highlights than the 28/2.8 asph.

Can be useful for newbies and some oldies as well i guess...

oldie.gifclindoeildroit.gif

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i dont understand one thing though............ people here talk about contrast here or contrast there.......... the differance is not that big...... the two lenses are very paralel in many things...... modern super lenses........ m8 users can handle the colour problems of the camera but cannot handle the little differances in opst processing ?????????????????????????????

 

Victor,

 

Good question. I think it's easy to adjust the contrast and don't find the slightly higher contrast of the Elmarit to be a problem with the M8.

 

Larry

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Guest guy_mancuso

Well there is a lot you can do in post with regards to contrast , so that part of a lens does not bother me as much unless it is really contrasty and can't see in the shadows but i don't see much of that with leica glass.

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Guy, I am afraid the only way to cure the Leica lens disease the way you did - get them all.

 

Thanks to you and the good time in Germany, I have a few more lenses on the wish list. Near the top of the list is the 135 APO Telyt based on my use of your lens in Germany. I came very close to one in London a couple days ago, but the weak dollar hurt the deal. I will probably get the 28 Cron after I get the other focal lengths I want. I just need to win the lottery first.

 

Mark Gowin

 

Mark

 

After reviewing your Germany portfolio I can surely attest that you used the lenses to their maximum my friend. Yours was an exceptional portfolio that deserves looking through many times. I remember you were stewing over the 35 cron vs the 35 lux but ended up with the 50lux instead. Probably a very good choice since (imho) the 28 is a more useful lens on the M8.

 

Hope your Alaska trip was fun.

 

Woody Spedden

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lct , larry.......

well im not expert with that new elmarit since it is not mine but from what i saw both on my mp and mate's m8 is that elmarit is not always contrastier (it somewhat depends on the lighting and the way each one takes harshness) and even if in some cases elmarti is contrastier then not by much at all......... but i do understand what u say ...... i just say that the differance even in those conditions is not significant that much and a little tweak can be done in raw conversion (i believe seriously used m8 is RAW - pitty if not with this level of camera and the occasional problems it has). i dont know how it is on RD1 though......

 

i think the lemarit is great small lens and i understand very cheap too......... and most important is when somebody may need that great strieghness of felied.... amazing for that ...... defenetly.........

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Woody,

 

Thank you for the kind compliments. As you know, the great thing about the Leica Akademie Germany trip (other than making new friends) was getting to use anything Leica you desire. That experience was instrumental in shaping my lens wishlist of which the 28 Cron is still on, but moved down in priority.

 

Mark Gowin

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Of course I didn't save any money by not getting the Cron, I just spent it on 50 Lux. I really need a cure for this disease because I know I will end up with a 28 Cron before it is over. Mark Gowin

 

I know exactly what you mean. I've only had the camera a month or so, and already I'm window-shopping like a lunatic. Advice from the good folks here is narrowing down the choices a lot, which is a huge help: ideally I'd like only ever to have three lenses, and I started at the wide end of wide with the 21 (which is working out great). The others are starting to fall into place now as the 28 and the 50. I keep dithering about the 35 lux – wide aperture! Natural perspective! – but then my latent puritanism kicks in. Three lenses only shall ye have.

 

Sounds like one of 'em's going to have to be the 28 'cron, though...

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...Three lenses only shall ye have...

 

Good luck with that. For example, it would be easy to justify the small price for a C/V 15 to go a little wider than the 21. Plus, Guy Mancuso is right, a 90 would be a good addition to the line up. I find that I use my 90 more than I thought I would. You are thinking right to get the 28 Cron, it will most likely be your most used lens.

 

Mark Gowin

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Good luck with that. For example, it would be easy to justify the small price for a C/V 15 to go a little wider than the 21. Plus, Guy Mancuso is right, a 90 would be a good addition to the line up.

 

Three lenses! Only three!! No more!!!

 

Unless.......... maybe............

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Guest guy_mancuso
Three lenses! Only three!! No more!!!

 

Unless.......... maybe............

 

Your just not following the Guy tradition here , we must buy them all . ROTFLMAO

 

Just kidding

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