Sanford Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 If your end goal is to produce a high quality 8" X 10" print I believe it is possible to get excellent results by cropping an image produced by a high quality fixed focal length lens such as the 50mm Summicron or 105mm Nikkor lens up to 50 percent. Since Leica M 28-35-50 is inherently not as sharp as it's fixed focal length counterparts (from what I've read - no personal experience) it seems one could get similar results by just using the 28mm Ashp. and cropping to produce the 35mm and 50mm look. Plus, you gain speed, save weight, and save about $2000.00. Would anyone care to comment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_. Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 the best "zoom" lens from leica has always been your elbows and legs. move a bit and get closer to your subject. do the full frame thing - always. if you are looking for a cropping solution, then you should be getting a SLR with a zoom lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 It depends on the film/develooper combo and the lens. You'll be magnifying any unsharpness in the lens by 50% which probably won't matter much with a higher speed grainier film. You'll also be magnifying the film's grain by 50%. With 400 speed film the grain might start to become very noticeable, and with a developer like Rodinal it will likely start to look extremely grainy. You'll hardly end up with a "high quality 8x10 print". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 If you start with a half-frame, like the old Olympus Pen, you can probably crop even more and it will all be just beautiful. Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickperzik Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 my favorite zoom is a well worn pair of black chuck taylors. in the time it takes to fiddle around with a zoom lens, i can just as easily take two steps forward or back. if i anticipate really needing a zoom - like at a tightly packed concert or demonstration - i bring an slr with a zoom lens on it. the cost of the extra camera is nowhere near what i would be wasting on all that unnecessary cropping. besides, getting it right in the camera is half the fun. when you see your framed 16x20 being carried away by the person who just gave you the wad of cash in your hand, you'll be really glad you didn't crop it to death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_k. Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 GRAIN GRAIN GRAIN.... Use your feet.... they are really cheap.... plus i find that it helps my photography to restrict myself to only one lens, you get more creative. -Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karim Ghantous Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 Reminds me of a great story that I forget the details of. This German photographer was doing some amazing work in Africa with his 50mm and one filter. Leica wanted him to try their new telephoto but he replied that he already had a 'two-foot' telephoto. When Leica sent a rep there to see this interesting lens the photographer pointed to his own two feet and said 'this is my two-foot telephoto lens'. Something like that. Does anyone know where to find the specific details? I'd love to know who this photographer was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee_shively Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 I don't know if I would go so far as to crop 50%. You'd have to have a lot of things going for you to be sure--like using a tripod or high shutter speed at least, a middle aperture, good quality light, etc. Many pictures will be improved by a little judicious cropping, especially the quickly composed pictures that rangefinder users are noted to like. Still, cropping a 50mm picture to a 100mm view is a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_. Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 plus, if you reduce the film size by 50%, you will need to enlarge 4 times bigger in order to obtain the same size print (or will you?). That will translate into 400% larger grain size. More importantly, the perspective of the scene will be completely changed then. telephoto lens is great only if you want that perspective. For most street shots, you probably want to get closer and more personal to your subject anyway. Your feet are the only zoom that can serve that purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen_w. Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 Wentong, Where did you learn math? If you crop 20% you need to increase the enlargement 25%, if you cut 50%, the increase is 100%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achilles Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 Let me try to understand the math. Let's say that our subject is a rectangle, its height is "x" and its width is "y". To duplicate the rectangle, as I guess it would happen by changing the focal lenght from 50mm to 100mm, means to get another rectangle with its height equal to "2.x" and its width equal to "2.y", but this implies that the new rectangle's surface is 4 times the old rectangle's surface, i.e., 2.x.2.y=4x.y, which implies a 4 times enlargement. Am I right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now