[Leica] 15 Zeiss

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 12:15 AM -0500 2/9/08, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>>  Leo.. what is the distance you want in focus?  Close plus far....
>>  I will assume F2,8 and tell you the hyperfocal point.....
>>
>>  Frank Filippone
>>  red735i@earthlink.net
>>
>>
>>  i have the 16 cv and i tend to use it mostly at the closest focusing 
>> point,
>>  so with a 2.8, being able to actually check the focus in the rangefinder
>>  would be helpful.
>>
>>  leo
>>
>>
>The most famous wide angle camera is the Hasselblad superwide.
>No rangefinder you don't need one you could be way off and still nail your
>focus with the 38mm Biogon.
>Which is like a  21 on a 35.
>
>You can easily do it with a 24 or longer
>But a 15!?!?!!?!?!?!
>A 15 is like hitting the broad side of a barn from one foot away.
>A rangefinder would be a complete waste of machinery and weight.
>
>Mark William Rabiner
>markrabiner.com


And yet... I have and often used the gg back for the SWC and focussed 
on that. It always gave the _correct_ focus, instead of the best 
guess focus. It depends on what's needed. A 15/2.8 at close focus 
does not have endless dof, and the dof on 35mm lens scales is 
optimistic for a 4x6 print, let alone a real enlargement.

If you shoot a postcard shot, set the lens at infinity and you're OK, 
but for close work, you have to be able to focus accurately. For a PJ 
grab shot to be printed on newsprint, dof covers a lot of errors, but 
they are still errors and they can be seen, and in some shots it 
matters.

I haven't seen the 15/2.8 Zeiss, but if the rear element is too large 
to allow a cam, then the design should have been modified to 
accommodate one. Thats what's done in almost any lens design. The 
Noctilux could have been a lot better lens if they didn't have (many) 
size restraints. According to reports the 15/2.8 Zeiss is not that 
outstanding a lens at present; maybe a reworking would have done it 
some good.

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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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