leica 50mm apo at 5.6

[stump4545]

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since one buys leica glass for their wide open performance if you take the 50 apo and shoot at 5.6 at center, are you going to have sharper results then other nikon/canon/Leica 50mms?

[luigi bertolotti]

Not many discussions about, at the moment... probably not so many are around.... ... but here is a test which insists also on not wide open performance : May 10, Part 2: The Leica APO-Summicron-M 50/2 ASPH review, and a comparison – Ming Thein | Photographer

[Paul J]

I have heard the difference is noticeable even at middle apertures. I'm waiting to see for my own eyes before I place my order.

[lars_bergquist]

The ultimate in lens definition, as demonstrated by many current Leica M lenses, is when even the MTF values for 40 lpm are up at around 80% even wide open. This is for the inner 10mm or so of image heigth. After that, we must expect some softening, but this is of little account if the 40 lpm graphs don't drop much below 50%.

 

In this select company we find lenses such as the 18mm and 21mm Super-Elmar and the 24mm Elmar. The 50mm Apo-Summicron too is one of these. So in that respect, the new lens is not the astounding performer that it has been made out to be.

 

The Apo-Summicron is however the only lens that, when stopped down to 4 or 5.6, shows MTF curves that not only keep above 80% at center, but curves that have gone essentially flat from axis to corner. None of the other lenses quoted above can do that – but their angles of view are of course vastly larger and therefore more difficult to correct.

 

I find in practice that on center, I normally cannot see any difference between any of these superlenses and a really high quality other lens. In other words, the advantage is there (for what it is worth – sharpness is not all there is to a picture) but we cannot make use of it except under very unusual circumstances. We are no longer at the bleeding edge, but beyond it. It remains to be seen if the higher sensor performance of the MM and the M will change that. But the limiting factor is usually not the sensor, but the situation, the conditions, and of course we ourselves. For, unlike a tripod, we are human.

 

I'm glad I'm not a tripod.

 

The old man from the Age of the Box Camera