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Add Elmar M 50 or Rigid Summicron to Summilux 50 Asph?


juppmain

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Hello, 

 

I have a Summilux 50 Asph and I like to add a second 50 mm lens. 

The Summilux is a perfect lens in my opinion, but sometimes i would like to have a lighter, smaller lens.

Most of the time I don't use a camera bag, I just carry the camera on a strap around my shoulder and the summilux feels to big and often gets in the way.

The question is Elmar M 50 vs Summicron Rigid. I like the look of them, but don't know what to expect in terms of ergonomics and image quality. 

Does anyone use one of these along with a Summilux 50?

 

I shot film only (bw, color, slides), maybe I add a digital Leica M in the future.

 

Thanks for your opinions

 

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The Summicron Rigid is indeed somewhat smaller than the Summilux, but not by much.  If you add the sunshade (mandatory; the old Summicron is notorious for flare), it is even longer than the Lux with extended shade, and it is almost as heavy.  That said, it has a beautiful way of rendering; I own both and often use the old Summicron for that reason, esp. on my Monochrom.

 

When I need something light and small, I use a Summarit 50, which is far smaller than either of the others, and very good optically.  A collapsible Elmar is even smaller, of course.

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To OP, I can say I do the same. I have the Summilux and a current-non-APO Summicron as well and the weight difference is noticeable. Also, the Summicron has a shorter focus throw so it's a bit quicker to work with.

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... I have the Summilux and a current-non-APO Summicron as well and the weight difference is noticeable....

I guess a current Summicron (if black aluminum) is indeed lighter.  But the OP asked about the Rigid one, which is a solid hunk of glass and metal.  Mine weighs in at 290 g (with hood), while the Summilux Asph weighs 340 g.  That´s a 50 g difference; not much.

 

Again, the Rigid Summicron is a wonderful lens with lots of character, and well worth having for that reason alone.  But to save weight and bulk, not.

Edited by elgenper
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I think, if weight is a concern and you want the images to match your Summilux, an Elmar-M collapsible would be the first choice.

The image quality is impeccable, much better than the older types of Elmar collapsible.

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I have both lenses (and a few other 50's). The Elmar-M is a perfect second compact lens to complement a Summilux.

 

Very compact and lightweight to carry and use, and overall excellent rendering. The option would be the 2.4 or 2.5/50 Summarit but the Elmar-M is lighter and cheaper. I'm surprised how much I've used it, especially with the 2.8/28 Elmarit ASPH and 4.0/90 Macro-Elmar as a lightweight kit. After all, in reasonably good light (unless after the thin-DOF-look) f2.8 is fast enough.

 

I've just been doing a comparison and testing of my new APO-Summicron, Summilux ASPH (FLE), and Elmar-M this weekend on both the Monochrome and M240.  No it's not as good as the other two lenses but I'm really surprised how well the Elmar-M holds up against the other two lenses. If I'm not pixel peeping, on superficial testing they all look great!  Hard to tell on these small jpegs, really need monitors or prints, but you get what I mean.

 

Waverly Cemetery, Sydney

Monochrome v1, tripod-mounted

Lenses all at f5.6 

In-camera lens recognition on, no PP adjustments

 
 

 

1. 2.0/50 APO-Summicron

2. 1.4/50 Summilux ASPH

3. 2.8/50 Elmar-M

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Edited by MarkP
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100% crops of above all at f5.6:

 

1. 2.0/50 APO-Summicron

2. 1.4/50 Summilux ASPH

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Edited by MarkP
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100% crop of above at f5.6.

 

3. Elmar-M

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Edited by MarkP
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I second the choice of latest Elmar 50/2.8 or Summarit 50/2.5 but i have no experience with the current 50/2.4. The Elmar has more character, the Tessar look perhaps, while the Summarit has more resolution especially in borders and corners. Obvious differences are difficult to see above f/4 but at f2.8 the Summarit is significantly sharper, hence closer to the Summilux asph than the Elmar. 

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Above, this time at f2.8

 

1. 2.0/50 APO-Summicron

2. 1.4/50 Summilux ASPH

3. 2.8/50 Elmar-M

 

 

 

 

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100% crops of above all at f2.8:

 

1. 2.0/50 APO-Summicron (clearly better here than the other two but I don't know if I'd keep it if I wasn't an Monochrome user)

2. 1.4/50 Summilux ASPH

3. 2.8/50 Elmar-M

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Edited by MarkP
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Hi Juppmain,

 

I should remind you that that these were all shot on a Monochrom and would expect that most of these resolution differences would be obscured by the films grain, scanning, etc..

 

I most certainly wouldn't lose sleep over these differences on film, and you always have the Summilux when you need that extra bit of 'high performance'.

 

In fact, my most used 50 on my M7 is the Elmarit-M. It fits  the form-factor perfectly as it's so light and compact on the M7. 

 

 

Regards,

Mark

Edited by MarkP
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Distills down to really small or something completely different. The Elmar is undoubtedly tiny but it's a modern lens. I suppose if all you shoot are RFs the difference in bulk is noticeable but recently coming from DSLRs as I did, shooting something different (Rigid) in addition to the modern fast Summilux is the combo I settled upon. 

 

If you feel that the Lux/Elmar are a modern, yet redundant pair in rendering terms and you don't really shoot at wider apertures, consider the Elmar/Rigid as a combination.

Edited by james.liam
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As I had the same "problem" of wanting to have some lighter 50mm lens than my Nocti, I choosed the zeiss sonar 1.5/50mm. The lens is wide open not as sharp as the Noctilux, but have the glown like the rigid summicron. That's why I like this lens. Small and nice rendering. Just my 2 cents to give you one more option ;)

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Another vote for the Elmar-M, which I have in addition to the Summilux asph as my smaller, take-anywhere lens. To be honest, I often wonder why I still hang on to the Summilux. The Elmar-M is small, plenty sharp, and, with its short throw, it is lightning-quick to focus. It's a lens to make one excited about the M system as a whole.

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I owned 2 copies of the current Elmar-M, one black and one silver, and they both got loose and wobbly in short order.  Even when collapsed, if you have the screw-on shade attached, it's barely shorter than an 11819 "tabbed" Summicron with the hood reversed.  I went to the latter and am very happy.  (I also have a Summilux of the e43 variety).   So the 11819 would be my #1 recommendation, followed by the 2.5 Summarit then the 2.4 (in that order only because a mint 2.5 will be cheaper than a new 2.4).  The collapsible Elmar I just can't recommend because of the problems I mentioned. 

Edited by bocaburger
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I owned 2 copies of the current Elmar-M, one black and one silver, and they both got loose and wobbly in short order.  Even when collapsed, if you have the screw-on shade attached, it's barely shorter than an 11819 "tabbed" Summicron with the hood reversed. [...]

 

Using the same hoods on both lenses, the Elmar 50/2.8 will always be a bit shorter. I like much the Summicron 50/2 # 11819 and it is indeed a very good lens but i still have 3 samples of the Elmar from 1968, 1995 and 2004 and none of them wobble so far. They stay extended much of the time though. FWIW. 

 

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I, also a film-only shooter, have the Summilux Asph and find that it goes well with the Summicron 11817 which is much smaller and lighter, works very well without the (cool-looking vented) hood but isn't very large with it, and has a beautiful rendering. It's ergonomically a joy to use with a wide focusing ring and very distinct aperture ring.

 

M5f2ii.jpg

 

Br

Philip

Edited by philipus
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