Originally posted by biz-engineer Part of the leica lenses performance is a placebo, in the mind of the owner. In fact, you could have people easily people guess Pentax pictures were taken with Leica lens in a blind test. I did the test myself, pulling out a bunch of photographs from Leica pools, and mix them up with photographs taken with Pentax glass, then having to select which was which. There are so many variables in a photograph, such as light, subject to background distance, ISO setting, choice of subject, shooting angle etc. that in practice it is nearly impossible to figure out gear was used.
One long weekend, back in the 1980's , I had a Leica M6 and a 28mm, 50 and 90 lenses...all of Leica manufacture. Out of curiosity I decided to 'test' my Pentax ES ll (screw mount) and Takumar 28, 50 ( f 1.8) and Tak 135mm lens vs the M series Leica and the assortment of lenses. I know comparisons are odious, etc...but I was curious.
All photos were taken outdoors and lighting / lens focal lengths (except for the 90/135) were similar. I would take the same pix with the Leica and equivalent lens, then quickly after take the pix with my ES ll and equivalent lens.
My results were very similar to your results. No one I showed the developed pix to, seemed to be able to tell which was which.
But I still wanted that Leica M 6 and lens kit very much.