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R80Summilux on Canon5D: Universal Ugliness?


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I just tried my R80Summi on the 5D and they hated one another: nothing but smearing across the frame. A sharp image within a smeared 'soft focus' field.

 

Not a pretty sight. Anybody else had this with the 80, or am I doing something wrong? It's one of Mr. Gandy's nicely made adapters.... I can stop it down and reduce the effect, but that's not the solution I'm looking for.

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Well here's a shot (not the best but one which shows the bokeh effectively I think) on the 80 Summilux wide-open on a 1DS. If you don't like the bokeh they you simply don't like it I suppose! It is a stunning performer at f/8 though and well worth persevering with.

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I just tried my R80Summi on the 5D and they hated one another: nothing but smearing across the frame. A sharp image within a smeared 'soft focus' field.

 

Not a pretty sight. Anybody else had this with the 80, or am I doing something wrong? It's one of Mr. Gandy's nicely made adapters.... I can stop it down and reduce the effect, but that's not the solution I'm looking for.

 

Sorry for asking the obvious - did you stop the lens down manually? When using R-glass on the 5D, there is no auto diaphragm coupling and after focusing you have to close the lens down to the working aperture.

 

If you left the lens fully open, the depth of field at 1.4 would be pretty shallow.....

 

Best,

 

Jan

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Thanks for the feedback, both. I was shooting wide open: that's why I bought the 'Lux. Otherwise I'd've kept the 90Elmarit... I shoot it precisely for the shallow DOF: that's the point of the lens for me (and I doubt if I've ever shot it at anything but f1.4).

 

Here's a crop from the center of the frame, shot at near focusing distance, 1/250th, f1.4.

 

 

Check out the smearing on the large letters, and notice that the small letters, which are sharp and black in the original, never come close to black here. You can see the sharpness/focus is there, but that there's also the smear over it. And I have checked: no one has licked the lens or vaselined it.

 

And I love the lens & bokeh on the R6, which is why I was surprised at the results on the 5D. I suspect that because the lens isn't communicated to the body, the software doesn't know how to tweak things to get them looking right.

 

Most peculiar.

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I used on Digital Rebel, beautiful bokeh. Never got to use it on my 5D, sold it last month.

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Everybody's right:

 

The 80 f/1.4 (and its cousin, the M 75) has very pretty bokeh and creamy tonalities, brought about by spherical aberrations, some coma, and a general lack of contrast wide open (gray type, etc.).

 

The Summiluxes are somewhat sharper than other f/1.4 teles of the era (c.1980) but no Elmarits. You get fairly sharp edges overlaid by blurry ones (visible in the "40%" above, where the type edges are sharp but the white background bleeds into them).

 

Basically, it's the aberrations that make for the smears that also make for the bokeh - if you want one, you have to live with the other...

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Everybody's right:

 

The 80 f/1.4 (and its cousin, the M 75) has very pretty bokeh and creamy tonalities, brought about by spherical aberrations, some coma, and a general lack of contrast wide open (gray type, etc.).

 

The Summiluxes are somewhat sharper than other f/1.4 teles of the era (c.1980) but no Elmarits. You get fairly sharp edges overlaid by blurry ones (visible in the "40%" above, where the type edges are sharp but the white background bleeds into them).

 

Basically, it's the aberrations that make for the smears that also make for the bokeh - if you want one, you have to live with the other...

 

Yes, that sums it up pretty well. I'll try to post a wide-open shot from the Canon 85/1.2 - a very different lens both sharpness-wise and bokeh-wise. As I'm fortunate enough to own both I can choose which to use and tend to prefer the Summilux despite the wide-open character of hard detail. As I said before its a stunning performer stopped down.

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Here's a shot from the Canon 85/1.2 MkI (MkII has identical optics). You'll see that although very sharp in the zone of focus (can be tricky to nail focus especially with the 'power focus system), its bokeh is very different and lacks the aptly described 'creaminess' of the Summilux. Of the two I personally much prefer the Summilux, even for wide open work.

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I have the 80 lux, and will never part with it....even if I have to keep one body just to use with it. What a wonderful piece of glass, all the smoothness of the very best lenses, with true colour reproduction in almost any light. Stop it down two stops and the images are detailed and saturated.

 

I did own a 90 Elmarit and really liked it, but replaced it with a 100 Macro Apo, and now have the best of both worlds. The 80 for a look that very few lenses can emulate, and the 100 for anything that has to be sharp and detailed edge to edge, at any aperture.

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I'll never part with mine either. It's the best 80-ish portrait lens I've ever seen. It is sharp at f 1.4 but not like an elmarit at f2.8. On the 5d, remember too you'd need to sharpen anyway.

 

Here it is at f1.6 on a 5d. It's better on a DMR, but this one was handy and more to the OP's purpose:

 

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I just wanted to say as well that the OP should shoot some ruler tests and see if one part is more in focus than another; I think maybe his adapter / camera couple is out a bit.

 

It's almost impossible to tell from a web post, but certainly my 80 1,4 was not as soft as what was posted--even on a 5d. I also found the HK focus confirming adapters the best for use with the 80Lux on a 5d / 1ds2.

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I want to echo Jamie's comments. Without any hesitation, the 80 Lux is the finest lens made for the R system. One problem that I have noticed with use on the Canon is that unlike the DMR at low ISO 100 or 200, the Cannon doesn't have the low noise needed to get the real bokeh this lens delivers with the DMR. I'm no engineer, but I know beauty when I see it. My frames with the 80 wide open reveal the most beautiful bokeh of any of the thousands I have taken. It is tack sharp. Clearly, exposure, lighting and processing have their place. Nothing I can put on an R body comes close to this masterpiece of design.

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OK, gang: ran a test this morning, shooting the R80f1.4 against the C85f1.2, both on the 5D, within minutes of one another. And, as a control, shot the R80f1.4 on the R6 on Fujichrome. I don't have scans of those images, but that lens is as sharp as it ever was on that body, so the lens is not at fault.

 

Here are the results.

 

Leica R80f1.4 on Canon 5D

LensCamparo-LR.jpg

 

Canon 85f1.2 on Canon 5D

LensCamparo-C.jpg

 

If you will notice, the exact center of the Leica lens image is sharp ("shipping"): the image is in focus, but the further you get from that point, the more smeared it becomes.

 

I'm going to try one of mr. happyhk's adapters next, unless someone has another suggestion, the most obvious of which is 'shoot the Canon lens on the Canon, and the Leica lens on the Leica' (yes, but if I could shoot the Leica lens on both, I could sell the Canon lens...).

 

Thanks all for your assistance thus far.

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The 80/1.4 is known to be less soft in the center than on borders at f/1.4 but i would try another adapter if i were you.

I'm using those ones with the 5D for all my Leica lenses without any problem:

AF-Hilfslicht-Adapter Leica R-Objektiv - Canon EOS kaufen im Enjoyyourcamera.com Shop

I don't have a 80/1.4 though.

AFAIK slrlensreview.com used a Fotodiox adapter for their review of the 80/1.4:

Leica Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4 (E67) Lens Review - Digital SLR Lens and Camera Reviews

FWIW

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The performance of the Summilux 80mm wide open drops dramatically if used at very close distances. It is then even ofter than the old Summarex wide open! But keep in mind that neither lens was ever intended to be used for close-up work!

I love to use my Summilx 80mm on my Canon 1Ds (Mark I). Focussing wide open is very tricky, even though I use an adapter with AF confirm chip. I'd say the AF-confirmation is not much more accurate than visual focussing - at least fot the 1Ds. For the focussing screen of the 5D, that may be another story.

Best regards,

Alex

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Looking at the comparison I'd suggest that the adapter may just be at fault - it looks to me like there's a sight angle to the dof which could be as a result of a non-parallel adapter. One adapter I have needs periodic adjustment of the mount to ensure that it sits properly - the slots need a small screwdriver inserting until they widen and the bayonet grips tightly again - incorrect grade of SS I presume.

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OK, gang: ran a test this morning, shooting the R80f1.4 against the C85f1.2, both on the 5D, within minutes of one another. And, as a control, shot the R80f1.4 on the R6 on Fujichrome. I don't have scans of those images, but that lens is as sharp as it ever was on that body, so the lens is not at fault.

 

Here are the results.

{snipped}.

 

There is no way my 85 1.4 was that soft on my 5d or 1ds2. I think it's the adaptor, but it could equally be a lens in need of a CLA.

 

I *did* sell my 85 1.2L when I got the 80 Lux :)

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