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Why would I want a Summilux 50MM ASPH?


mobeyone

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Having had the 50MM cron (which I miss...) and now the 35MM ASPH... I am finding myself looking at the 50MMlux...

 

Now, I am getting on a lot better with the 35 and getting really good results but will the 1.4 be a huge improvement in lowlight over the f2 cron?

 

35MM lux asph is out of the question but the 50 would be great.. if I could even find one in silver chrome!

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I have the silver chrome Lux 50/1.4 asph and it sure is my favorite lens. It is on my M8 most of the time. Its only weakness, if i have to find one, is the weight. The black one is much lighter. I'm always surprised when people sell this lens, it is the last one i would part from. However I wish you to find one soon, you'll love it.

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Why would you want a 50mm Summilux ASPH? Because, IF you want and can do good work with a 50mm lens, then this is the best damn 50mm lens there is.

 

I once owned both the current 50mm 'cron, and the pre-ASPH 'lux. I sold both and got myself a 'lux ASPH way back in 2005.

 

The 'cron's IQ was very good, but the lens was prone to strange flare phenomena that spoiled images I thought I had captured (you see those things on a SLR screen, but not with a RF camera). The old 'lux was very robust in that respect, and a lovely lens in many ways, but you had to stop it down to f:8 to get good quality in the corners. The 'lux ASPH is as good at 1.4 as the 'cron is at 2, and remarkably flare-free. Its images can show a brilliance that is close to tactile.

 

The extra stop was not very important to my deliberations. F:2 goes a long way with digital. By the way, I feel that 50mm (52, actually) is different enough to 35mm that I often carry both my 'lux ASPHs.

 

The old man from the Age of the 5cm Elmar

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What Lars said. The 35 Lux ASPH and the 50 Lux ASPH are individually stellar. Together they form a duo that effectively covers the vast middle ground of all the things one might ever contemplate doing with a rangefinder.

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Thanks for the replies!

 

Even though I have the M8.. I still want a 50 and if I was to come across a silver 50MM asph, I think I would part with the 35 Cron ASPH almost immediately even though I now love this lens.

 

Chasing Amy I think..

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Depends if you want sterility or not. IMO the current range of ASPH lenses have reached such a level of optical perfection they have lost all trace of character.

 

The flip side to that is that anyone and their pet hamster can take a technically competent shot these days without being troubled by the time and patience required to attain a level of personal competence.

 

Add to that the fact that the Summilux has become the "must have" fashion-statement lens du jour and there you go.

 

IMO ;)

 

Regards,

 

Bill

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...will the 1.4 be a huge improvement in lowlight over the f2 cron?...

Comparing an f/1.4 to an f/2 lens is like comparing apples to oranges if you will forgive me.

For low light, f/2 is not open enough if you want to avoid high isos.

Only choice is f/0.95, f/1, f/1.2 or f/1.4 at Leica's, and if you prefer f/1.4, you'll have to choose between two lenses, the asph and pre-asph Summilux.

I'm lucky enough to own both lenses but if i had to keep only one of them, i would ask to myself if sharpness is my main goal or not.

If it is so, you'll be more than happy with the 50/1.4 asph because it is sharp at all apertures. To compare with your Summicron, it gets the same feeling of sharpness at f/1.4 than the Summicron at f/2.8 so to speak.

Beware that the 50/1.4 asph is a very contrasty lens though. Blown highlights guaranteed if you don't care.

Now if you want character, as does Bill above, i would take a pre-asph Summilux instead.

The last version (with built-in hood) is a bit soft at f/1.4 which is great for portrait of not so young people but f/1.4 is a fully workable aperture anyway if sharpness in the angles is not a priority. At f/2 the lens is slightly sharper than the Summicron at the same aperture and at f/2.8 and on i couldn't tell a difference between them, save that the Summilux is almost totally flare free.

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I love the look of both old and new.. but edge more towards the look of the ASPH.

 

With me having a 90MM elmarit and the 35 Cron.. I see both these going to fund a 50 Lux and as you say, F2 in low light just is not enough sometimes given ISO on the M8.

 

I love contrast in my photos so it looks like its a given.. have to find one... and the extra ££! but prices seem to be on the high side at the moment..

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... Add to that the fact that the Summilux has become the "must have" fashion-statement lens du jour and there you go. ...

:confused:

 

Surely the "must have" fashion-statement lens du jour would be the Noctilux wouldn't it, Bill?

 

(Noctilux owners: please don't flame me, I mean no disrespect.:o)

 

Pete.

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We still have Francium as a not so easy to find element, unobtainium and trickytofindium and notsoeasytogetium are more abundant. Francium however exists, unlike the latter.

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We still have Francium as a not so easy to find element, unobtainium and trickytofindium and notsoeasytogetium are more abundant. Francium however exists, unlike the latter.

Ah, but how do you know that in fact the others do exist but they're so hard to acquire that they appear not to exist?:p

 

... Or that they behave like photons that exist as both waves and particles.:rolleyes:

 

Pete.

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Depends if you want sterility or not. IMO the current range of ASPH lenses have reached such a level of optical perfection they have lost all trace of character.

 

If I thought my pictures were dependent on optical aberrations for character, I would stop making them. Picture character – real character, not a gimmick – comes from the photographer's interaction with his/her subject.

 

The flip side to that is that anyone and their pet hamster can take a technically competent shot these days without being troubled by the time and patience required to attain a level of personal competence.

 

Frankly, I doubt that the hamster would be able to focus any lens correctly. With an AF Nikon, maybe ...

 

Add to that the fact that the Summilux has become the "must have" fashion-statement lens du jour and there you go.

 

IMO ;)

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

My lenses and cameras are tools, not fashionable accessories. I don't give a damn what other people think about them are use them for. I returned to the Leica M when it still was an obsolete camera that seemed doomed to die a lingering death in the nostalgia corner.

 

All right Bill, I did see that smiley ...

 

The incorrigible old man

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Hi

 

Unless you are extravagant, the best 5cm lens options are

 

f/2.5 summarit

f/2.8 Elmar M (post 94 model) used

f/2.5 CV LTM used

 

not detectably different... light, compact, cheaper...

 

Noel

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Hi Peter

 

True but

 

You dont see this effect when you look at some one in low light, or do you?

Have any of the classic painters ever painted a picture like that?

 

The reason for the first question is I dont detect that effect.

 

Noel

P.S. Well impressed by Andrew's camera...

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