Sharp 50mm or 35mm lens suggestion

[Guest Ansel_Adams]

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I was just printing some of my negs today taken with the 35 Summicron ASPH and was very pleased with the resolution and detail ("sharpness") of this lens even up to my max print size of 12x16 (analogue... darkroom).

 

The ASPH 35 Cron can be picked up for about the same as a version IV second hand if you are patient. That would be my recommendation. But before you do that perhaps you should first look at your printing process using the M. There is no reason why your existing lenses should not be plenty sharp enough.

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[Guest Mr. B]

The 50mm summicron is about as sharp as lenses get. Just because a lens is one stop faster doesn't make it any sharper. I'd say you have a very fine set of lenses that are capable of producing stunning images. Enjoy what you have and get the most out of them.

Mr. B

[TomB_tx]

I have 50 Summicrons from V1 (collapsible), V2, V3 (1969) and the current (non-asph). The current one has an edge wide open due to higher contrast, but they are all excellent.

The only sharpness issues I've had with a Summicron were due to focus calibration being slightly off. Seems like the sharper a lens is, the more a bit of focus error is noticed. My 1960s Summicrons appear to be "calibrated" for about f2.8 as exact focus, since the focus shifts backwards as the lenses are stopped down. Of course, I never noticed this on film, and wouldn't have on the M9 until I started to test for it.

I also have 35 and 50 Zeiss ZM lenses, and because of their high contrast and flare resistance they can appear sharper than the older Summicrons.

[Guest Mr. B]

When it coms to 'sharpness', the 35 Summaron f2.8 is just about equalled by the Zeiss Biogon 35 2.8. The Summaron has better resolution than other 35s I have owned or tried.

 

I love my Summaron. Once you stop down to F5.6 or F/8 they all sort of equal out when it comes to sharpness. After F/8 diffraction kicks in and image quality begins to suffer in most lenses anyway.

Mr. B

[semi-ambivalent]

I love my Summaron. Once you stop down to F5.6 or F/8 they all sort of equal out when it comes to sharpness. After F/8 diffraction kicks in and image quality begins to suffer in most lenses anyway.

Mr. B

 

I've been wanting a 35 Summaron after seeing how it renders with B&W film, but shopping around it's obvious I've missed the bargain boat by a year or better.

 

s-a

[Pelpa78]

Thank you everybody, I think I'll practice again try to get sharper images from my set.

[Guest Mr. B]

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I've been wanting a 35 Summaron after seeing how it renders with B&W film, but shopping around it's obvious I've missed the bargain boat by a year or better.

 

s-a

 

If you keep looking you should be able to find one with the google eyes in very good condition for around $700. The 50mm frame lines will appear and if you use a 50mm lens you will not notice any difference other than the size of the scene will be slightly smaller.

Mr. B

[Ralf]

Zeiss Planar, definetely even sharper than my 50mm Summilux, newest version.

[CheshireCat]

Two things stand out for me after looking closely and repeatedly at both photos:

1. The Touit has a f/1.8 maximum aperture compared to the Nokton's f/1.5 and naturally has a deeper field of focus, which makes it look like it's sharper

2. The Touit is a contrastier lens that naturally emphasises fine detail more than the Nokton.

I see the same detail evident in both photos so personally I would hesitate to say that one is sharper than the other.

 

+1

Also, the Touit is on a crop sensor, therefore the Touit has roughly the DoF of a 50/2.5 lens on full frame.

The subject framing is also different. The subject looks smaller in the Touit shot, and this means that the subject is farther away, hence even more DoF.

I'd say that for a fair sharpness comparison (i.e. same DoF), the Nokton should have been stopped down about 2 stops. But then, people may argue that it is sharper because it has been stopped down... which is true, and may be something Pelpa should try more often

[jip]

Sharpness is just a stupid thing to look at in my opinion.... its the thing I look at least when choosing a lens... I rather want it to be useful, with character, and be small/easy to handle.

 

Of course I'm not talking about out of focus pictures, but in focus sharpness.

[Stealth3kpl]

I have a Summicron 35 IV Bokeh King and 50 version 1979-1994

 

Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk

 

I have both of these. They are superb lenses. I also have the 35 asph and the 50 lux asph. I have no qualms about using the former pair, in fact they get most use.

Pete

[01af]

sm-02-09-22

[jip]

sm-02-09-22

 

Thanks for this, I was looking for it for OP but couldn't find it...

[hendriphile]

Suggested reading before you buy:

 

Lens Sharpness

[IWC Doppel]

Suggested reading before you buy:

 

Lens Sharpness

 

I'm not sure that's really helpful

 

Sure I agree with most of the points and the picture is unequivocally the most important thing, but KR's pictures speak 'a thousand words', but don't however communicate with me, take a look at his family shots. look through KR's site and you'll find plenty of sharpness comparatives in any case. I personally treat KR's site with a pinch of marketing/income intent.

[NightSun]

If you want biting sharpness from wide open and want to stay (relatively) low budget - which was my case as well when first buying into the Leica M system, I can recommend Zeiss C-Biogon 35/2.8 and Zeiss Planar 50/2 lenses. These feature classical lens designs pushed to the limit, so they are optimal when you want to avoid the high costs of aspherical designs and their occasional harsh rendering (for some taste) and if you remain satisfied with a slightly larger footprint or slower aperture compared to Leica's modern ASPH offerings.

Both of these lenses draw images with high micro-contrast and high global contrast at the same time. In particular, C-Biogon exhibits very high contrast that can be even a problem with high dynamic range scenes (easy to blow highlights) and also you will get a lot of moire on repetitive patterns with it. But further advantage with both of them is outstanding flare resistance, so you can simply use them without lens hood and having to worry about any subpar performance even in challenging illumination conditions. One more: they don't exhibit any focus shift at all, so focusing is very easy with both.

 

However, if you stop down a bit your already owned lenses, I bet you would not see too big difference in terms of sharpness and acutance compared to the C-Biogon and Planar. In any case, it's quite easy to locate them second-hand in mint condition, so it might be worth giving a try.