Summarit Series 35,50, 90 Sharpness Test

[guy_mancuso]

Hello folks well the hardest part is done and with the Ugly test , Images thread now comes the sharpness test my last test on these lenses and there are some surprising results. i will touch on them as we go along but these lenses do perform. Now in this test you can also look at the contrast, color , saturation and dynamic range of the lenses . Not what I was testing for but it does show that also so may help seeing what you like better or worse. Now the lenses the Summarits are going against are some of Leica's finest lenses and although one lens the 35 cron pre asph version IV is a old lens with a unique look to it but in technical terms of sharpness and such it gets a nice whooping here. LOL But i still love the lens but it shows you what the new technology Leica did on the Summarits does over the old glass. Pretty interesting as you will see and you will also see why the 50 Lux ASPH is considered the best 50mm on the planet and again it does not disapoint for one second. Interesting is the 90 cron APO against the new 90 Summarit and i will explain that one when I hit he 90mm but this one has me baffled a little. I checked before actually starting the test the focus on each lens made sure it was dead on in the LCD and tweaked as needed, well either the 90 summarit is the gold standard or I missed on the 90 cron and you will see that but it is odd the results.

Now test conditions so everything is clear. Shot around 8 am in the morning in Flagstaff Arizona which is about 7200 ft up and about 25 degrees out. I shot a nice old building with the 3 sets of lenses in somewhat different spots so I had detail for the corners . The 35 I am closer than the 50 and the 90 I moved over to a window as you will see. Shot on a tripod with the self timer set for 2 seconds ISO 160 for the best results. NO WB but brought into 1.3 Lightroom and processed 3 different times with full frame and also center crop and corner crop all done in LR

Now fair WARNING this is a long test and will go into the pages of data but i want to show everything i see so please forgive the long test.

Also please wait until i am finished to post want to try and keep it all together so it is easier to read . I am doing the LUF site and GetDPI site at the same time so i can keep track of what i am posting. This is a bit difficult to do so when i give the go than please go ahead and start posting. Thanks for your understanding.

Lets start with 35mm lenses the 35mm Summarit 2.5 and the 35mm Sumicron version IV pre-asph.

[guy_mancuso]

Lets get the 35mm Cron F2 test out of the way since there is no comparisions at F2

In order Full Image
Center crop
Corner crop top left

[guy_mancuso]

Full images and the Summarits will ALWAYS BE FIRST in every post

At 2.5

[guy_mancuso]

2.5 crops center and corner

[guy_mancuso]

If you noticed the Cron is a touch wider

Okay 2.8 Full images

[guy_mancuso]

Actually I moved ever so slightly between lenses

Okay center and corner at 2.8

[guy_mancuso]

lets move on to F4 Full images

[guy_mancuso]

f4 crops

[guy_mancuso]

Let's do the 5.6 Full Image. As you may have noticed there is some CA in the Summarits but it pretty much goes away at f4 /5.6 . Sean and i just talked about this and he did his CA tests today but if you look at the white type you can see it on the wall.

Now one other thing I think my cron is slightly out of focus so keep that in mind. Honestly you just don't know how hard it is to get dead on and you really have to focus shift to get it just right so don't go over crazy on these,It still is very close but I know for a fact my cron is sharper . Sean and I just talked about this and if you want to get really down into the sharpness test Seans will be better because it is in the studio under very controlled res charts and bracket focusing. Now I know the 50's are dead on but the 90 is slightly off but still there is a lot of valuable data here. folks get to crazy over sharpness some time but here they all do a excellent job and it just shows you how good the Summarits are. so don't go screaming at me about sharpness i already know the cron is out just a touch.

Okay that is settled lets go to 5.6

[guy_mancuso]

5.6 crops center and corners

[guy_mancuso]

Okay f8 and you most likely will not notice much here but let's do it anyway

Full Images. Sorry if this is boring. Go get some Espresso and come back

[guy_mancuso]

Okay the crops for F8 center and corner

[guy_mancuso]

Whew and only 2 more lenses to go . LOL

Lets move on to the 50's . Here it is the Summarit against the 50 Lux asph. Well I nailed the focus here for sure and the 50 lux is just a killer even at 1.4 but there is also a huge price difference too. Still the Summarit is doing a excellent job.

lets get 1.4 and f2 out of the way again and than move on to the comparisions.

First the 1.4

[guy_mancuso]

crops from 1.4 and f2

[guy_mancuso]

Okay lets go to 2.5

[guy_mancuso]

50mm 2.5 crops

[guy_mancuso]

Okay on to 2.8

[guy_mancuso]

2.8 crops

[guy_mancuso]

Moving on to F4 50mm lenses

[guy_mancuso]

F4 crops of the 50mm