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APO 50mm on film


maine207

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Hey guys, asked this in the lens section but no one is responding so I thought maybe it would be more appropriate in the film section...

Has anyone used the 50 APO on a film leica? Would it render any sharper than the regular 50 summicron or can you really only see the advantage on a MM? Just curious if this lens makes sense in the film world or if it's really only meant for digital.. I've poked around online a bit but haven't seen any information on that and was wondering what you guys thought?

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I use both the old and the new (Asph) 50 mm Summicron on film and on digital. The Asph is perfect on both. The old version at f=2 is a tad less sharp on digital than it could be while there is a nice "glow" on film. Up to now I have not be able to fully simulate this look on digital in post. In the end I prefer the old lens on film and the new one on digital. At slower stops there ist no difference that I can really see and each is great in it's own way.

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That lens does not "make sense" in either of those two worlds ;) But that's just my personal (slightly provocative) opinion :)

 

I agree, and Barnman also asked this same question (you might want to look it up) in the lens forum and also in this forum and the bottom line was that a few people are under an illusion that it makes sense to sink this much money into a lens that is going to give you good detail confined to a small 35mm negative when that same fortune can be applied to the purchase of any number of compact medium or large format cameras  and lenses that will give you materially better resolution due to the sheer size advantage of the negative.

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As above. It was a favourite article that cropped up ( no pun) in "Amateur Photographer" UK every few years. Lots of test shots from 35mm expensive lenses and cameras and one from TLR usually a Seagull, so cheap it was almost disposable, of course the 120 negative won every time. Then again it is not for every situation but if you want to pull all the quality from that kind of lens you are tripod shooting anyway, and using a chart as a subject !!

In digital, so far, Medium Format has also held a size advantage, at a cost, Phase One now at 100MP.

Edited by chris_livsey
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Ultra high resolution 35mm, does anyone other than test shooters do it? Genuine question but in all of my (to much) time spent on the internet I haven't yet come across a single example of a photographer using that stuff for a creative body of work i.e. real photography as opposed to testing stuff out.

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Ultra high resolution 35mm, does anyone other than test shooters do it? Genuine question but in all of my (to much) time spent on the internet I haven't yet come across a single example of a photographer using that stuff for a creative body of work i.e. real photography as opposed to testing stuff out.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/pierre/works/12693-organ-pipes-01

 

tech pan 35mm with Pentax 15mm.

Digital replaced the need for it.

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Found a "good" deal on a 50MM APO so I will be slapping it on my M6 until my M240 comes back from New Jersey. I don't have a regular 50mm summicron to compare it against but I do have a 35mm cron ASPH that I can compare it against if that helps. Will keep you posted next week or so after I shot a couple of rolls and develop them!

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  • 2 weeks later...

It is the same about micro film: In theory a high resolution (600lp/mm) but practical a problem in harsh light. So on the moment you want to shoot the picture of the year, you can not because the conditions have their limitation.

I have put some work in the past for these films however the best compromize (IMO) is a partial Orthopan film, clear layer and medium/slow speed: Fuji Acros 100.

A bonus is the 120 seconds reciproke time you will have with this film. On a Leica M with film: 170lp/mm. Only 10 lp/mm less then a famous APX-25 film. But normally iso 80 for N=0 development. A regular cubical type iso 100 film has 140lp/mm. A color film (C-41) 70lp/mm and a good slide film 100lp/mm.

If you look at the best Zeiss or Leica optics: 350lp/mm in the middle (Maybe valid for that APO). I can tell you: It is all in the margin because using that APO on F=8 gives (much) less lp/mm then a regular Leica lens at F=2,8.

 

So I can suggest you Chris advise:

 

I would rather be a photographer who makes photographs and occasionally takes test shots than a photographer who takes test shots and occasionally makes photographs.

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Wandering slightly OT has anyone seen reports of the OTUS 55mm on film, that would fall into the same category?

Interesting point. I have bothe a Summicron Apo 50 and an Otus 55. I'll try shooting something similar with them on my M6. Focusing by zone at large apertures may be a limiter, though. I don't have any of my film SLR's with me.

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I suspect almost everyone back in the day went through a 35mm-F/64 phase. I certainly did but was lucky to learn quick that 4x5 based images look the way they do for several reasons, and film resolution was perhaps the least important. Here is something from the late 1980s. A Kodak Tech Pan negative of the East face of Long's Peak in Colorado. Developed in Technidol or Perfection, printed at about 24x on 5x7 paper, scanned tonight at 2400 DPI. I imagine the ultimate resolution is there but geez, I'd die of old age before I finished spotting a 36x24 inch print. 35mm film can create tremendous images but there's additional tools these days. I'm OK with that.

 

s-a

Edited by semi-ambivalent
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  • 2 weeks later...

I've shot several rolls with my APO 50 + M6.  A mix of Portra 400, Cinestill 800T, Ilford HP5+ 400.  The rolls are processed but I'm still deciding on what to do for scanning.  I'll post some once they're scanned.

 

I bought the lens for my M246 but I figured it would be interesting to try it w/ film, though not necessarily beneficial.

 

I think the quality of the lens can still be captured on film but without a high end scanner + operator I doubt it will really matter.  Either way I love the lens and using it on my M6 is a pleasure, though the extra stop of the summilux is probably more practical since I seem to be mostly shooting in the evenings/night in the city, these days.

Edited by Joshua Lowe
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