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50mm Lux Vs 50mm LUX (Pre ASPH)?


salim

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Can some one please check these two images. The first one taken with the my new 50mm LUX ASPH and the second taken with the PRE ASPH (not sure which year)

 

Is this normal quality or the the PRE ASPH is naturally creamy at 1.4 where the ASPH is sharper?.

 

Please advice, I am about to buy the PRE ASPH second hand and they are charging 1200 Dollars for it (I think its a bargain)

 

(both photos were taken wide open at 1.4)

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As to sharpness, as jaap says - neither is sharp enough to show what the lenses really can do.

 

As to bokeh - looks normal - hard edge on the bright circle over the subject's shoulder is signature for the pre-ASPH. ASPH produces softer out-of-focus backgrounds.

 

Color also looks like I'd expect as normal - pre-ASPH more cyan, ASPH pinker.

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i recently compared a 28mm cron to an elmarit v3 (which is pre asph), the differences were along the line of what you show here. the pre asph version is a bit creamier overall, not quite a sharp as the asph. read a while back an interview with a well known photographer, name forgotten for the moment, and he said he preferred the soft look from the pre asph version, looked less digital to him. to each his own, as they say, no right or wrong, and there is reason why leica developed an asph lens. you make your choice according to what looks good to you. the definitive great digital camera look has, in my opinion, yet to be defined, most are still trying to make the output closer to film than some new baseline. imho.

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I have worked quite a bit with both lenses. And while the Lux v.2 (pre-ASPH) is in many ways a lovely lens, and really quite a bit sharper on center than your picture shows, it shows less acute definition even there than the 'lux ASPH. And then the contrast falls off towards the corners. The ASPH is really sharp all over at 1.4 except in the extreme corners, and breathtakingly sharp from f:2 on. The older lens has to be stopped down to f:8 in order to compete.

 

Still, the old glass is remarkably good for its age (1962) and an interesting portrait lens. It is also far less susceptible to stray light and internal flare phenomena than even the current Summicron. The current ASPH lens is simply phenomenal in that respect. If you want to know what that lens can do, try to find the July issue of LFI (#5). In it, photographer Michael Jungblut covers an entire multi-day anti-nuclear power demonstration with just a M9 and the current 50mm Summilux – wide open, or nearly so!

 

The old man from the Age of the 5cm Lens

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.... If you want to know what that lens can do, try to find the July issue of LFI (#5). In it, photographer Michael Jungblut covers an entire multi-day anti-nuclear power demonstration with just a M9 and the current 50mm Summilux – wide open, or nearly so!

 

The old man from the Age of the 5cm Lens

I was extremely impressed with the project referred to by Lars. Just study the group of people on the ground with a blonde the centre of focus in the middle (Page #54). I don't have the lens but that series reopened the potential of that fine lens for me.

 

As a general comment, it is not until you see a picture in print that you can begin to form any accurate impressions of a lens's performance. Showing reproductions in this forum seldom reveals a lens's performance at its best.

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...

As a general comment, it is not until you see a picture in print that you can begin to form any accurate impressions of a lens's performance. Showing reproductions in this forum seldom reveals a lens's performance at its best.

 

That's a great truth : as a collector and lover of Leitz lenses from 193x to 200x , I avoided to post examples of the many comparisions I made (most of them for fun... :cool:) because the Net posting (jpg + pixel size) and LCD viewing, subtract lot of noticeable differences and add common elements of "noise".

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Thanks all, I went back again to the shop and tried a different shot, this time making sure the focus is dead on

 

Eventually, the PRE ASPH is more creamier no doubt.

 

Would need to see the second set of photos, as the first are not in focus, which has been noted.

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