Has anyone tried the 50mm APO on the M-10

[pnoble]

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50mm APO on M10

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSzEI-eDMGZ

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSsMTORDi7q

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSsMGiBDn0t

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSpiKwjDMoX

 

 

Striking portraits, the first three. All natural lighting?

[pnoble]

BTW, I do have an APO 50mm mated to my M10, both very recently purchased, being respectful of the focus of this particular thread. I have been strictly 35mm f1.4 FLE to date (on an M9). Quite thrilling to hold in my hand such extraordinary engineering (and product design) and I hope to do both justice.

 

I found Fireboy's portraits inspiring with respect to my personal nascent interest in B&W portraiture! 

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[danhefner]

you must be preaching to your American audience Jeff............ keep going ya'll

 

That's "y'all," not "ya'll."  FYI.

 

Personally, I think the APO 50 Chron will really shine with the eventual monochrom version of the new M10.  That lens was released with the original monochrome, and with this new very sensitive sensor, watch out when Leica released the model without the Beyer array!

[Jeff S]

That's "y'all," not "ya'll." FYI.

 

Personally, I think the APO 50 Chron will really shine with the eventual monochrom version of the new M10. That lens was released with the original monochrome, and with this new very sensitive sensor, watch out when Leica released the model without the Beyer array!

That's Summicron... no H. And not Cron, please.

 

And Monochrom, capital M, no E

 

And Bayer, not Beyer.

 

Jeff

Edited April 30, 2017 by Jeff S

[tom0511]

I sold the 50/1.4asph and the Noctilux after I had the 50APO.

The 50 APO is my favorite lens for the M. I have used it with the M 240 and now use it with the M10. Its great. Is it worth the money over a 50 Summicron (non APO)? No idea.

I dont use the Summilux. If I shoot low light I use the 35FLE which is easier to nail focus than with a 50mm lens on the M.

[otto.f]

What's there to try!?

 

The Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm Asph is an excellent lens, even on the M10. End of report.

Oh what a nice and sympathetic answer! that's why we're here together in a forum

[microview]

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No artistic pretensions whatsoever, but this exposure with the 50APO at f2 shows as 1/6s (hand held of course), so the detail on the back of the grille of this original Quad electrostatic speaker surprises me. As does, incidentally, the jpg number [L1007583] as this was only about the fifth exposure I had made, since this was my first evening with the M10 and its battery after initial charge.

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Edited May 5, 2017 by microview

[pnoble]

Another object of beauty!

[Pobble]

The Apo-Summicron 50 on the M10 produces superb results, even at very high ISOs. Noticeably better than many current Leica lenses. 

 

For the record, I started with a Leica 3C and have used every M except the M5 and M8 and virtually every lens, excepting heavy ones because I've worked in situations where everything had to be carried for weeks in rough terrain.

 

 

[Fireboy]

Striking portraits, the first three. All natural lighting?

 

Correct - from the big window.

[dugby]

No artistic pretensions whatsoever, but this exposure with the 50APO at f2 shows as 1/6s (hand held of course), so the detail on the back of the grille of this original Quad electrostatic speaker surprises me. As does, incidentally, the jpg number [L1007583] as this was only about the fifth exposure I had made, since this was my first evening with the M10 and its battery after initial charge.

 

 

....is that a Quad ESL 57 ?

[M11 for me]

I think that it would be usefull to report about differences between the 50mm Lux and APO Cron both taken at the same aperture. Can one see a difference? I don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere. If so I appologize.

 

Why do I ask this? I think that both the Lux and the Cron are APO-Lenses. The Lux is just not declared as APO.

[microview]

....is that a Quad ESL 57 ?

 

It certainly is!

[Steve Spencer]

I think that it would be usefull to report about differences between the 50mm Lux and APO Cron both taken at the same aperture. Can one see a difference? I don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere. If so I appologize.

 

Why do I ask this? I think that both the Lux and the Cron are APO-Lenses. The Lux is just not declared as APO.

 

Peter Karbe, who designed both lenses, has said somewhere (perhaps in an interview with Oovergard?) that the lux could have had an APO label, but they wanted to be conservative with the use of the label. Despite that statement it is clear both in that context and in comparing the two lenses that the cron AA has better colour correction than the lux. I think a simple way to say it is the lux has excellent colour correction and the cron AA has exceptional colour correction. There is a strict technical definition of APO (that the curve describing the best plain of focus mapped by wavelength of light crosses in three places) which probably isn't met by even the cron AA, however, so calling Leica conservative in their use of the APO label is really only relative to other companies and it may be better to say they take fewer liberties with that label.

[M11 for me]

exactly! Just the question about being conservating in using the APO label but still being APO might mean that there are some technically measurable differences but no practical implications. In that context the statement that the Lux could carry the APO label should to be seen.

 

Furter there are strong marketing considerations too. Who would buy the Cron if it is not better than the Lux and both would be labeled APO?

 

But as long as there are no real visible differences in the rendering of the 2 lenses it makes probably little sense to go for the APO Cron when the Lux is APO as well. And what is more important: the Lux is as good in practice as the Cron.

 

This last sentence is actually to be discussed . . . .

 

By the way: I own the Lux.

Edited May 11, 2017 by Alex U.

[01af]

The Summilux-M 50 mm Asph is an excellent lens but the Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm Asph is even better.

 

Example: Shoot a high-detail scene, such as a landscape or cityscape from long distance (50 m/150 ft or more) with the Summilux at f/2.8. Inspect the fine detail at image height 10 - 11 mm (0 mm being the center, 12 mm the upper & lower edges in landscape orientation, 18 mm the left & right edges, and 21.6 mm the farthest corners). There, you'll find some blur that looks like camera shake but isn't. The Apo-Summicron is free from that.

 

Moreover, the Apo-Summicron has finer bokeh and less lateral chromatic aberrations than the Summilux. And generally, it has an etheral quality of clarity and transparency that's hard to describe with words ... as if the image just appears on the sensor all by itself, with no lens involved.

 

I was using the Summilux-M 50 mm Asph for about four years as my primary standard lens, so I'm fairly confident that I'm able to assess its qualities properly. For three years now, I am using the Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm Asph instead, and it most definitely is the finer lens.

[Steve Spencer]

exactly! Just the question about being conservating in using the APO label but still being APO might mean that there are some technically measurable differences but no practical implications. In that context the statement that the Lux could carry the APO label should to be seen.

 

Furter there are strong marketing considerations too. Who would buy the Cron if it is not better than the Lux and both would be labeled APO?

 

But as long as there are no real visible differences in the rendering of the 2 lenses it makes probably little sense to go for the APO Cron when the Lux is APO as well. And what is more important: the Lux is as good in practice as the Cron.

 

This last sentence is actually to be discussed . . . .

 

By the way: I own the Lux.

 

Well, that is opening a whole can of worms and has been discussed pretty extensively. The cron AA does have some advantages over the lux. First, and I think this is the most important difference is use, the cron AA has a very flat field of focus, whereas the lux has some wavy field curvature. The field curvature isn't extreme and it doesn't affect all shots but it is there and it something that has to be understood and worked around. Second, The cron AA is a bit sharper and better corrected for aberrations. The lux still has a bit of spherical aberrations (and some like what this does for the bokeh), but the especially strong colour correction and spherical aberration correction together with very high sharpness create what I see as a special look in the cron AA. I believe it is this combination that people call clarity. Third, and this matters to me, the cron AA is brilliant at close focus and if you use it with the macro adapter it makes an excellent close up lens. The lux is quite a bit inferior for this usage. 

Full disclosure, I own the cron AA, and it is my favourite lens. I find the look to be very special, and although I fully acknowledge why people would like the look of the lux, which is also beautiful and it is a stop faster, I am very happy with the cron AA even at the much higher price.

[tom0511]

The Summilux-M 50 mm Asph is an excellent lens but the Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm Asph is even better.

 

Example: Shoot a high-detail scene, such as a landscape or cityscape from long distance (50 m/150 ft or more) with the Summilux at f/2.8. Inspect the fine detail at image height 10 - 11 mm (0 mm being the center, 12 mm the upper & lower edges in landscape orientation, 18 mm the left & right edges, and 21.6 mm the farthest corners). There, you'll find some blur that looks like camera shake but isn't. The Apo-Summicron is free from that.

 

Moreover, the Apo-Summicron has finer bokeh and less lateral chromatic aberrations than the Summilux. And generally, it has an etheral quality of clarity and transparency that's hard to describe with words ... as if the image just appears on the sensor all by itself, with no lens involved.

 

I was using the Summilux-M 50 mm Asph for about four years as my primary standard lens, so I'm fairly confident that I'm able to assess its qualities properly. For three years now, I am using the Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm Asph instead, and it most definitely is the finer lens.

 

I would agree. I also have used a Summilux for many years and then switched first to Summicron than Summicron APO. I would like to add that the Lux Asph (at least my sample) had a slightly warmer temperature/slightly reddish. The APO 50 renders blues and colors in a way I love.

I also fnd it to be sharper/to show more microdetail.

[Jeff S]

I own the Summilux ASPH, but rented the APO for a week to compare. I agree that, in some circumstances, the APO delivers technically superior results. Whether those differences ('clarity' , etc) are important to the user is of course subjective.

 

I did, however, prefer the operation of the Summilux, despite the smaller APO with its nifty hood, since the latter had a very loose aperture ring (possibly sample variation but seems to be increasingly common with recent lenses), as well as more difficult fine focusing due to lack of a fully knurled focus ring like the Summilux.

 

Jeff

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[pnoble]

I got an APO 50mm with my M10 and haven't taken it off so far. My only issue with this optically extraordinary lens is the loose aperture ring. In my view a design flaw, plain and simple. Just moving the camera into or out of the bag is enough to accidentally move the aperture to one or other extreme, resulting in lots of accidental f16 shots.