New 50mm Nokton 1.5 ASPH or 50mm Summincron

[Acekerman]

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Looking for a good 50mm one kit lens my new M-E. How good is the new Nokton 1.5 ASPH? The Summicron is a classic Leica. Just curious as to input. Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers

Brian

[jdlaing]

Looking for a good 50mm one kit lens my new M-E. How good is the new Nokton 1.5 ASPH? The Summicron is a classic Leica. Just curious as to input. Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers

Brian

 

The Nokton is rather large compared to the Leica lens.

Have you looked at the Summarit 50?

[TomB_tx]

I have and use both lenses. The Nokton is a bargain and fine performer, with sharpness nearly equal to the Summicron, especially stopped to f2.0, but it gives nice results at 1.5 also. However, overall I like the Summicron images more - I think they have a bit more contrast and texture. In poor light it's a question of a bit more shutter speed on the Nokton, or how steady you can hold the Summicron. I've used f2 50s for available light work for nearly 50 years, but at my age now the Nokton speed helps.

[MarkP]

I assume you're trying to avoid the cost of a 50 Summilux (if not this is a great lens) so have you also considered the 2.5 Summari (which in some ways performs better than the Summicron), 1.5/50 ZM C-Sonnar, or the ZM 2.0/50 Planar?

[Guest Marc G.]

if you want a sharp and easy-to-use allround 50mm lens the choices would be 50 summarit, summilux asph, summicron, zeiss planar, nokton asph. It mainly depends on your needs regarding max aperture f/2.5 vs f/2 vs f/1.5-1.4

 

I myself tested the summarit, summilux asph and nokton asph for a longer time. while the summilux is definitely the better lens in every regard the nokton isn't far behind. reason I would pick the summarit every day is the inferior ergonomics of the nokton. you can hardly feel the aperture click into place, thus changing by feel doesnt work. also, the knobbed focus ring is only usable in the black version as the chrome version's knobs are not done very well. sharp edges everywhere.

 

I also think the summarit is superior to the summicron because the optical performance is identical but the summarit is a lot less prone to flare

[bideford]

I have used the screw mount Nokton 1.5 on my M8.2 for a year now - mainly in low light (nice with its effective 66mm). Now with the M, I am wondering if I should replace it with the Summicron - given that it is my preferred walk around focal length - I find 35mm a tad wide.

 

Consequently I'm currently seeing how it performs stopped down compared with my 35mm Summicron ASPH. Initially I'm not convinced that I would notice the difference - but time will tell as I get to use it more.

 

The screw Nokton uses the same optics and the M mount, but the new one has different (better?) coatings.

 

Interested to see what other users that have used both the Nokton and Summicron think.

 

James

[imperfiction]

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My one complaint with the Nokton and the reason for selling it was the slightly stiffer focus action which with the ergonomics of the focusing ring made it unpleasant and very slow. The focusing tab on the older summicrons 50 and the current line of lenses really helps.

[bideford]

Reid identifies some focus shift on the Summicron (near, low to mid apertures) - anyone know how this compares with the Nokton?

 

James

[Guest Marc G.]

I compared the new Nokton directly to the Summilux asph.

 

Regarding focus shift the Nokton showed some focus shift. Worst at f/2.8 where the exact point of focus (near close focusing distance) was completely out of focus. At f/1.5 everything was fine and at f/5.6 everything was fine again due to DOF.