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APO Summicron-M 75/2, 80/1.4 Summilux R or Contax Planar 85/1.4 for portrait lens

wlaidlaw

By wlaidlaw
in Leica M Lenses

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wlaidlaw

wlaidlaw

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I think the Summarits 75 and 90 draw very very different from their Summicron colleagues, much more so than the 35 and 50 do

 

That is my experience too. My 75/2.5 Summarit (a very early one, from the first week of release), has extremely flat rendition and it really is very difficult to make a photograph taken with it look interesting. It seems to compress the foreground and background. As I said before, all I ended up using it for was technical photos, copying and macro work on a Novoflex bellows. I have twice borrowed a friend's 75 APO Summicron, which I thought it was a wholly different kettle of fish and really did provide the traditional Leica punch and sparkle to a picture. 

 

Wilson

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otto.f

otto.f

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If that's your taste, go for it; I borrowed it too and found it a bit clinical. But this in my context: owning the APO Summicron 90 and the Summilux 75, the Summicron 75 has no surplus value for me. As a travel or street lens it might be a good bridge between these two for a lot less weight

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cpclee

cpclee

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I have not found the 75 AA to be clinical.  It is actually one of my favorite all time portrait lenses.  At f2.0 it is very resolving but with a gentle touch to the contrast and the highlights melt beautifully.  Its APO qualities were unmatched until I tried the new (and yet to be released) 50/1.4 SL.  

 

I had the 80/1.4R in the past and it's a great lens.  But personally I'm not partial to the dreamy bokeh and preferred to use that lens at f2.8 or slower.  At 1.4 my copy was extremely soft. 

 

Picture shot with 75 AA + Ricoh GXR

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mmradman

mmradman

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I have not found the 75 AA to be clinical. It is actually one of my favorite all time portrait lenses. At f2.0 it is very resolving but with a gentle touch to the contrast and the highlights melt beautifully. Its APO qualities were unmatched until I tried the new (and yet to be released) 50/1.4 SL.

 

I had the 80/1.4R in the past and it's a great lens. But personally I'm not partial to the dreamy bokeh and preferred to use that lens at f2.8 or slower. At 1.4 my copy was extremely soft.

 

Picture shot with 75 AA + Ricoh GXR

Cute kid.

Anyone older than 3 years, especially female, would benefit from softer portrait lens.

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cpclee

cpclee

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Here are two more.  First one taken with the 75 AA wide open; second one taken with the 75 summarit.  Between the two, I prefer the 75 AA at wide open for portraits because the contrast is noticeably gentler and the lens has more character.  But either works.

 

Personally I don't mind highly resolving lenses for portraits so long as not excessively contrasty at wide open, which the 75 AA is not.  Softening, if necessary, can always be applied in post processing or optically through something like a zeiss softar.  None of these pictures were softened though.   

 

 

Cute kid.
Anyone older than 3 years, especially female, would benefit from softer portrait lens.

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cpclee

cpclee

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75 summarit 2.4

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adli

adli

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For me, the 80 R-Lux is the perfect portrait lens on the SL, but it is very soft wide open. Attached is a picture taken with it a night out in Beirut about a week ago. If you are into tack sharp lenses with high contrast, the 75 APO cron is more the way to go, but I hardly use mine. Boils down to matter of taste.

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Guest

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The Zeiss Softar filters (on a 2/75 or 4/90 "Macro") are out of fashion.

They'd be without a disadvantage on a M, because they don't interfere with the focusing (of the rangefinder).

Not to mention the softening in PP.

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frank_dernie

frank_dernie

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Mladen,

 

Sadly the 80mm R Summiluxes are no longer half the price of a used coded 75mm Summicron. I assume people are buying them to use on SLs. The cheapest decent looking one I can now find is around £1350. I can get a decent Summicron for around £1550. 

 

Wilson

 

PS. Sorry just spotted that you were comparing R Summilux price with 75mm M Summilux price not 75 APO Summicron price and of course you are correct. I would not consider a 75mm Summilux as it is really just a longer f1.0 Noctilux and as such is a "one trick pony", albeit the wide open imaging is a pretty good trick. The aperture shift makes it difficult to use as an RF lens at mid apertures. The Summicron M is a good all round performer. 

 

W.

 

The 80/f1.4 is my favourite R lens, overall but it is pretty well identical, optically, to the 75/f1.4 M, (and the same optical family of pre-asph 50/f1.4). Whilst focusing difficulty is similar between Noctilux and 75/f1.4, optically they are a completely different layout/design.

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The 80/f1.4 is my favourite R lens, overall but it is pretty well identical, optically, to the 75/f1.4 M, (and the same optical family of pre-asph 50/f1.4). Whilst focusing difficulty is similar between Noctilux and 75/f1.4, optically they are a completely different layout/design.

Pictures (of cause taken wide open) look different, too.

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