The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

What is the Leica 'glow'??

Moonshine

New member
I've read about the Leica 'glow' so often and don't really know what 'it' is and which lens in particular has it or has it the most. Please enlighten me :)

Thanks
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
A little German pixie dust applied to every exposure ... ;-)

Actually, it's a subtle rendering quality that Leica strives to achieve with their lenses with high resolution, lots of micro contrast gradient, and a small amount of coma along with smooth and pleasing bokeh. They do a lot of subtle tuning to achieve the look and it is indeed quite subtle. Leica lenses are sometimes not quite as technically perfect as the best Zeiss lenses but usually have this pseudo-magical extra something in the rendering department.

That's the best I can describe it. I hope others can do better.
 

JimCollum

Member
35mm lux preasph is a good example

lens stopped down.. good micro contrast



wide open, you get the 'glow'



100% crop


another 35mm preash lux wide open

 

JimCollum

Member
Jim, is that 'glow' working for you?
IMO I dont want a lens like that... it's personal I guess.
works very well for me (most of my lenses are pre 1910... petzvals and portraits for 4x5 & 8x10 that make this one look absolutely sharp.

.. and if i want tack sharp, razor crisp edges... i can stop this lens down to f2.0 and get that

it's all about personal preferences... i probably feel the same way about the new glass' look as you do about this. 25 years ago, my personal aesthetic was closer to yours... give me another 25 and i'll probably be back (course by then *everything* will probably look soft to me :)
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
works very well for me (most of my lenses are pre 1910... petzvals and portraits for 4x5 & 8x10 that make this one look absolutely sharp.

.. and if i want tack sharp, razor crisp edges... i can stop this lens down to f2.0 and get that

it's all about personal preferences... i probably feel the same way about the new glass' look as you do about this. 25 years ago, my personal aesthetic was closer to yours... give me another 25 and i'll probably be back (course by then *everything* will probably look soft to me :)
Sadly I have "glow" all the time especially at night :mad:
-bob
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Do all Leica lenses have this or some more than others?
Which lens according to you has the maximum 'glow'?
:)
Some Leica lenses exhibit this "effect" more than others, all have it to some degree. It's not just a "wide open" imaging phenomenon.

Which lens has the "maximum glow" ... I couldn't answer. I've had quite a few Leica lenses over the years but never categorized them in terms of how strong their particular "glow" was.
 

zombii

New member
Another with the pre-asph Lux 35 wide open. My copy behaves like JimCollum's above: sharp stopped down and glow wide open. I have mixed emotions about the glow. It works for me in some situations but not others.

 

250swb

Member
I think it is essentially about the well controlled micro contrast of Leica lenses. Compared to say a Zeiss lens (and assuming that both are as sharp as each other) a Leica lens will show smoother transitions of tone at the micro level (the tiny details). The Zeiss on the other hand will show knock your socks off definition of tone, a real punchy hyper real look that also makes the lens look sharper. Anybody who has used a Contax G2 and a Leica M at the same time may recognise the effect.

So when the lens is open wide and it inherently gets a bit softer this smoother micro contrast causes a melding of tone which causes the glow. This smoother tonal information has always been a feature of Leica lenses and they haven't been tempted to go for the higher contrast Zeiss type look, until that is, they introduced the Summarit range which I think has lost the glow.

Steve
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
I think this is not a very useful term, because it means different things to different people. Somebody probably said it once, "Those Leica lenses really glow!!", and someone repeated it etc. Someone like Jim will use it to describe the soft-luminance of an older lens wide open -- like the 35/1.4 or the 75/1.4...but another person will say that it is the very high microcontrast the contributes to a 3D effect. These are all real properties for real Leica lenses, but I would not say they are tied together by any "glow philosophy" at Leica. Leica has just been trying to make the best lenses they can make for decades, and in doing so they have made a lot of great lenses! People are looking of ways to describe why they like those Leica lenses better than other lenses from other manufacturers, and "the Leica glow" is an easy stock phrase to repeat when they don't have the words or the ability to articulate a clearer reason as to why they like them better (which is totally fine! I am in this exact same ship of fools and loving every minute of it!).
 

Brian S

New member
The early collapsible Summicrons used Thorium glass, the only that I know of that used it for the front element. Put it over a Phosphorous screen and it will glow.
 

edtan

Member
Brian S::LOL::LOL:

Yes, tough to explain, kinda like a sheen over a contrasty shot or a little underexposed look. But it's there.
Here is few shots showing some "glow".
It is like the 75 Lux is a black hole, sucking all the light up (or maybe I should pull the hood out even in dim light!). :D

M9/75 Lux




 
Last edited:

Paratom

Well-known member
I think this is not a very useful term, because it means different things to different people. Somebody probably said it once, "Those Leica lenses really glow!!", and someone repeated it etc. Someone like Jim will use it to describe the soft-luminance of an older lens wide open -- like the 35/1.4 or the 75/1.4...but another person will say that it is the very high microcontrast the contributes to a 3D effect. These are all real properties for real Leica lenses, but I would not say they are tied together by any "glow philosophy" at Leica. Leica has just been trying to make the best lenses they can make for decades, and in doing so they have made a lot of great lenses! People are looking of ways to describe why they like those Leica lenses better than other lenses from other manufacturers, and "the Leica glow" is an easy stock phrase to repeat when they don't have the words or the ability to articulate a clearer reason as to why they like them better (which is totally fine! I am in this exact same ship of fools and loving every minute of it!).
totally agree.
 

Brian S

New member
Summarit 5cm F1.5, wide-open on the M3. The Summarit is low-contrast, a Nikkor would have blown the highlights on this shot.



Another wide-open with the Summarit.



"My Interpretation" of Leica glow: Lower contrast lens with veiling flare that preserves shadow detail and maintains highlights. Perfect for Digital.

And a 5cm f1.4 Nikkor-SC, Sonnar formula, on the Nikon SP.


Don't you hate it when cookies scream "Ouch" when you bite them?
 
Top