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 p.57 #12 · Voigtlander 35mm f/2 APO-Lanthar Review | |
They all have their own signatures, their visual styles. The latest Leicas are terrific optics, of that there is no doubt. They can sometimes look like the photographer used too much contrast and saturation. The different standards are partly due to glass and complexity, the latter being the enemy of image depth, unfortunately.
The SL 90/2 APO is an 11/9 lens, no mention of high refractive index (HRI) glass, but lots of APD glass. The older M 90/2 APO had just 5 elements and I want to quote Leica, and note the first sentence:
'This lens is unique because apochromatic correction and an aspherical surface are combined for the first time. Two of the five lens elements are made of high-refraction optical glass, and two others make judicious use of anomalous partial dispersion.'
So this was the best of both worlds to some: a simple design full of great and expensive glass, made possible by the high retail they asked. The modern APD glass is relatively inexpensive we can assume, looking at its near ubiquity in the modern age, but you need a lot of it to achieve the desired resolution (lens contrast). My guess is APD glass's refractive index is high 'enough' but maybe not as good as the HRI glass (which incidentally is used widely in cine lenses).
That was the trade-off: double the complexity, ~half the glass quality per element (both lenses use just one asph element but the earlier lens used one surface, whereas the latest asph lenses mostly use double-side surfacing). By the way, these two sell for the same money today.
Leica (now) believe image depth (dimensionality) comes from super high contrast wide open, with fast fall-off:
'..extremely high contrast values at maximum aperture mean that these lenses provide the quintessential Leica look, in terms of shallow depth of field and isolation of subject details.'
'..sharply focused objects show much higher contrast than objects that are out of focus. This means that objects “snap” more distinctly out of the foreground or background and more effectively isolate the subject. This creates a three-dimensional visual effect with very impressive apparent depth.'
https://leica-camera.com/en-AU/photography/lenses/sl/apo-summicron-sl-90mm-f2-asph-black
I beg to differ here. They are referring to subject-background *separation* here, not image depth. '3D' is much more complex than that, and it's difficult to achieve. That requires smoothness across the frame, smoothness from the focal plane to the background (and foreground), a lot of aperture blades, the right level of contrast in the bokeh field, steady abstraction decay with image depth, and naturalistic color.
The recent Leica APOs are not the greatest for most humans' skin and the cine people have heard this concern loud and clear. So there is a move away from the 'sharpest is best' mentality there, as most (serious) movies feature a lot of people. The early 90/2 M APO used the familiar low detail MTF wide open. They knew it would be used for people photography.
Fred posted a comparo of the latest CV lens, the 90/2 APO, and this Leica 90/2 APO from around 20 years ago. If it was released today it would pass as a modern vintage lens, a truly beautiful look.
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1886307/
Today's Leica APO lenses may seem a bit overdone to some eyes. And not much is said about it, but what we photograph is changing too. I make it a point to watch this closely, and I see fewer images of people compared with 20 years ago, excluding set up portraits. A lot more buildings and street, and general work. And very sharp faces, at any aperture setting!
https://www.dpreview.com/sample-galleries/7595010911/leica-q3-43-sample-gallery/1765656822
https://www.slack.co.uk/articles/leica-q3-43.html
https://www.cameralabs.com/leica-q3-43-review/2/
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