New 50mm APO article/review + Interview with Peter Karbe at overgaard.dk

[Overgaard]

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I know...

 

As I stated, it's from the camera exif;

It's 'the small eye' yes, but it's compared to how much light is measured reflecting off the aperture blades before the exposure, not by the sensor. Leica has a patent for this since they came out with the M8 and 6-bit coded lenses.

 

Thanks, very useful information. I will use it somewhere.

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[Overgaard]

I just updated the article with the limited edition red 50mm APO and the new silver version that Leica release today. 

 

Enjoy!

[james.liam]

Red, baby! Crazy.

 

Thorsten, There's a contributor here, TheGodParticle (Hari Subramanyam), who had his 50 APO feet scale engravings custom painted red at Wetzlar. One of a kind. Worthy addition to your blog. He must be working on the Higgs boson, I imagine.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dementedjesus/23332729072/

[Paul J]

Very nice article Thorsten, I found the Noctilux v APO notation particularly interesting.

 

Now that you've had the time with both, do you still personally lean towards the Noctilux?

[IWC Doppel]

Very nice article Thorsten, I found the Noctilux v APO notation particularly interesting.Now that you've had the time with both, do you still personally lean towards the Noctilux?

If I read the comments on f2 correctly, seems the Noctilux matches the APO at the same aperture in terms of resolution ? Doesn't sound quite right ?

[IWC Doppel]

Red, baby! Crazy.

Thorsten, There's a contributor here, TheGodParticle (Hari Subramanyam), who had his 50 APO feet scale engravings custom painted red at Wetzlar. One of a kind. Worthy addition to your blog. He must be working on the Higgs boson, I imagine.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dementedjesus/23332729072/

Red in a teenagers car tryre valve kind of colour, reminds me of pink cars or green leather jackets (just not right !)

[Overgaard]

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Red, baby! Crazy.

 

Thorsten, There's a contributor here, TheGodParticle (Hari Subramanyam), who had his 50 APO feet scale engravings custom painted red at Wetzlar. One of a kind. Worthy addition to your blog. He must be working on the Higgs boson, I imagine.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dementedjesus/23332729072/

 

 

Thanks, I added it :-)

[Overgaard]

If I read the comments on f2 correctly, seems the Noctilux matches the APO at the same aperture in terms of resolution ? Doesn't sound quite right ?

 

Peter Karbe said, performance is same or better. 

 

Performance, I guess, is more than resolution. One thing is precision of controlling the aberrations; and that should result in accurate colors, less fringing, micro details, 3D feel, tonality, contrast and a lot more. 

 

I frankly don't know if Peter Karbe meant all those things, or his "performance" is a measured thing.

 

What I see in practical use is that the Noctilux shows slightly more fringing than the APO (both at f/2.0; the APO hardly have any but the Nocti still has). 

 

I haven't played with enlarging large prints with both on f/2.0, and that's usually where the APO blows people away. But mostly when used on the Monochrom that have the possibility to show more details than a color sensor. Such sharpness/details is not my area of interest, my area is the 3D feel "aliveness" of micro details such as skin. 

 

Between the two I would say the Noctilux is still my favorite, but always at f/0.95. 

 

Recently though I my love for the APO has grown, and I don't really know why. On the M-D 262 that's the one that sits most on it. 

[Overgaard]

Red in a teenagers car tryre valve kind of colour, reminds me of pink cars or green leather jackets (just not right !)

 

The 1960's 50mm Summicron Rigid in black (fairly rare and thus more expensive than the APO) comes with orange and red feet numbers. Very confusing from a collectors viewpoint. I don't know why it was like that and I don't know which one would be considered the "most original"

[IWC Doppel]

Peter Karbe said, performance is same or better. 

 

Performance, I guess, is more than resolution. One thing is precision of controlling the aberrations; and that should result in accurate colors, less fringing, micro details, 3D feel, tonality, contrast and a lot more. 

 

I frankly don't know if Peter Karbe meant all those things, or his "performance" is a measured thing.

 

What I see in practical use is that the Noctilux shows slightly more fringing than the APO (both at f/2.0; the APO hardly have any but the Nocti still has). 

 

I haven't played with enlarging large prints with both on f/2.0, and that's usually where the APO blows people away. But mostly when used on the Monochrom that have the possibility to show more details than a color sensor. Such sharpness/details is not my area of interest, my area is the 3D feel "aliveness" of micro details such as skin. 

 

Between the two I would say the Noctilux is still my favorite, but always at f/0.95. 

 

Recently though I my love for the APO has grown, and I don't really know why. On the M-D 262 that's the one that sits most on it. 

 

As a user of the F1 (which I love, but historically didn't use enough) I wondered how you think this compares to the f0.95 in terms of the qualities you look for ?

[mltx]

Thanks. Read the interview, and got a better understanding that the following excellent performance of my 50APO was deliberately designed for:

 

 

“the contrast has to fall off very fast in terms of depth of field. That’s it. That is the idea – and the ideal. The fall off has to be very fast!”

 

“You point the lens and shoot, and where the focal plane is, the contrast should be high. The front and behind should fall off very fast. That is the difference between the older Summicron lenses and the APO-Summicron. Not in terms of sharpness but in terms of contrast behavior.“

 

“Technically speaking, my interpretation of a good picture is: You get closer and you see more.”

 

 

Yes, with 50APO, the larger you enlarge the picture, the more detail you see.

[james.liam]

Also in the interview is the notion of "seeing" structure in low-or-no light conditions. I first encountered this attribute accidentally with a R 180/3.4 APO adapted for use on Nikon. Prior to this, I'd used a Nikkor 180/2.8 AIS ED and 70-300/4.5-5.6 on a D700 and had no experience with Leica. The astonishing thing I discovered using the Leica were that shadows in the dark contained a storehouse of detail completely lost on the Nikon lenses. Playing with these files provided so much more of interest whereas I had come to expect voids. 

[IWC Doppel]

Thanks. Read the interview, and got a better understanding that the following excellent performance of my 50APO was deliberately designed for:

 

 

“the contrast has to fall off very fast in terms of depth of field. That’s it. That is the idea – and the ideal. The fall off has to be very fast!”

 

“You point the lens and shoot, and where the focal plane is, the contrast should be high. The front and behind should fall off very fast. That is the difference between the older Summicron lenses and the APO-Summicron. Not in terms of sharpness but in terms of contrast behavior.“

 

“Technically speaking, my interpretation of a good picture is: You get closer and you see more.”

 

 

Yes, with 50APO, the larger you enlarge the picture, the more detail you see.

 

The contrast fall off point is an interesting one. I like the older lenses for a slower transition from in plane to out of plane for the focus, clearly seen when comparing some lenses, never considered the contrast and still not sure why fast is desirable

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Thanks, I added it :-)

[emoji3]

 

Here's a red paint SL, also only one of its kind

 

 

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

Red in a teenagers car tryre valve kind of colour, reminds me of pink cars or green leather jackets (just not right !)

It's the same shade of red used for the black chrom limited edition 50Lux lettering

 

I love the color, not to mention the nice gesture by Leica

 

Totally fine if you don't like it [emoji4]

[gpwhite]

as skin. 

 

Between the two I would say the Noctilux is still my favorite, but always at f/0.95. 

 

Recently though I my love for the APO has grown, and I don't really know why. On the M-D 262 that's the one that sits most on it. 

 

Thorsten, interesting observation! I find that typ 262 sensor gives cleaner images, maybe a bit cooler in the RAW, than the previous 240 files. So I have just 262 now.

 

I know there are posts, counter-posts and counter-counter posts here debating whether the 262 RAW is different than 240 RAW...  who knows   ? But like you, there is something about the 262 images (before processing) that looks better to me. Perhaps it is Stefan Daniels' "technological difference?"

 

The APO 50, wide open, has just as unique and (in its own way) pleasing a signature as the Noct, IMHO. I went for a 50/1 that Peter Coeln put together, but I am indulging in carrying both APO 50 and 50/1 because sometimes you feel like a steak and sometimes you feel like pasta.

 

Peter

[TRIago]

Nice read. I'm with you: love the 50mm Summicron Rigid.

 

 

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[freitz]

Nice read. I'm with you: love the 50mm Summicron Rigid.

 

 

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I think its juts a painted APO

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[NB23]

anyone can paint the distance scale in red. But in Leica's own marketing and industrial design, a red scale means that the lens is made of Brass. That is the meaning of a red painted scale.

 

An aluminum barrel lens with a red painted scale is of absolutely zero value and meaning.

[steppenw0lf]

After reading this interesting article, I am definitely convinced that the 7000$ Apo 50 is a valid alternative to my 700$ Summicron-M 50 (latest) or my 400$ Summicron-R 50 (which is actually my favorite on my SL).  

But I prefer "my" shade which is not losing any lustre/black eloxation. Maybe you should not always bump your lens/camera into all sorts of corners.            Or buy the new silver edition.