90mm Apo Summicron R

[scott kirkpatrick]

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Interesting... We choose just about the opposite lenses for two kinds of work. I do my more documentary work with the Summarit-M 75mm because it is so sharp everywhere, and the 90R for portraiture because it has that lovely softness with sharp insides when wide open.

But your 90R is early Mandler, I guess.  Pre APO.  I use the APO 90 R for sharpness, and the Mandler 80 R for heads and faces.  It's probably foolish to associate a single name with a lens design (there is a large team doing this), but the Summarits were released by the Karbe team in Solms/Wetzlar, and they have always aimed for precise rendering.

Edited February 22, 2018 by scott kirkpatrick

[ramarren]

But your 90R is early Mandler, I guess.  Pre APO.  I use the APO 90 R for sharpness, and the Mandler 80 R for heads and faces.  It's probably foolish to associate a single name with a lens design (there is a large team doing this), but the Summarits were released by the Karbe team in Solms/Wetzlar, and they have always aimed for precise rendering.

Yes, but what was "opposite" that intrigued me was that I used the 75 for what you used the 90 for, and vice versa. Stopped down to f/5.6 or so, the rendering is identical on either, it's the field of view that was curious.

 

My impression of the lens designer name is that in Walter Mandler's day, he basically called the shots on the basics of the design and how it imaged in testing, despite that several other engineers were involved. It was his aesthetics that controlled what went to production. I think the Karbe team is a little more consensus oriented in their design process, that's the contemporary way of doing things, but someone still has to call the shot and say "accept" or "reject"—I saw that even in computer software development and particularly UI design.

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[scott kirkpatrick]

Yes, but what was "opposite" that intrigued me was that I used the 75 for what you used the 90 for, and vice versa. Stopped down to f/5.6 or so, the rendering is identical on either, it's the field of view that was curious.

 

 

I agree.  Focal length translates most directly into working distance.  For documentary and environmental stuff, I actually use several focal lengths, but for people without too much of their surroundings the 80R or 75Ms are nice.  I would think the 90 would put me a little too far away and compress a bit too much.  I've played with 120s and they feel too long for faces.

[Likaleica]

I love the 90 apo R lens but I had real problems with vignetting and coma on the SL when only stacked adapters were available.  In fact, when I bought my SL all I used was the 90 apo R.  However, because of the vignetting problem I reluctantly sold it and got the 90 apo M which has been marvelous on the camera.  Optically, they are identical if you look at the technical data sheets, and the M versions are substantially more affordable.

[Leicaiste]

I love the 90 apo R lens but I had real problems with vignetting and coma on the SL when only stacked adapters were available. In fact, when I bought my SL all I used was the 90 apo R. However, because of the vignetting problem I reluctantly sold it and got the 90 apo M which has been marvelous on the camera. Optically, they are identical if you look at the technical data sheets, and the M versions are substantially more affordable.

The vignetting problem was only there with the first version of the SL firmware.

 

The vignetting correction was wrong for the R.

 

With the next firmware upgrade the problem disappeared.