Canon 50/1.4 vs Summicron 50 pre asph (well not really a vs)

[AntonioF]

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I own a Canon 50/1.4 that I use on my M6; I rarely go to F 1.4 and when I do it it is for experimenting. I’m ok with it, also because I mostly shoot with a Summicron 35 asph. Now that said, I was wondering if a Summicron 50 pre asph would perform much better than the Canon at 2-2.8-4. I can’t find anything useful online. Those who owns the Canon say it’s a great lens, those who own the Cron say it’s a great lens as well, of course. Anybody who compared the two lenses?

Ciao

 

 

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[Ernstk]

I own the Canon (version 2) and used to own a rigid Summicron.

 

I love the Canon for its wide open look. Many people have compared it favourably to the Summilux 50 pre asph.

 

The Summicron may be a fraction sharper but there's not much in it and it costs quite a bit more than the Canon.

 

If it was my choice (which it isn't!) I would stick with the Canon and have the ability to use it at 1.4, even if you don't do that very often.

 

Ernst

[romanus53]

I owned the Canon and compared it to the rigid Summicron. At the mentioned f-stops I was impressed by ist sharpness and resolution. Wide open I was not overwhelmed but the first version of the Summilux wasn't that good at f 1.4 either. Conclusion: if your Canon is in good shape and you don't mind ist diameter  -keep it. IF you find a good Cron at your local dealer you might take some test shot for comparison. I think such a Situation is close to real life and if you can't see any differences they might be academic. But remember: you can not own too much 50ies.

[AntonioF]

Thanks. The Canon is clean and in a really good shape. It’s a type 2. The Cron is such a legendary lens all over the internet that it generates a lot of GAS [emoji28] Maybe I should wait. The Canon costed around 300 euro from Japan. The Cron is a type 5 and it is priced 1200 euro at a store.

 

 

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[romanus53]

Cron v5 is different but if you are playing with old glass it's all about condition. Cron v2 was optimized for max Resolution than came a Paradigma-shift to micro-contrast which was considered as important for sharpness (Glatzel at Zeiss, Nikon etc.). You can tweak some contrast in pp but you cannot remove any flare. Apart from that older lenses are sharp in the center and less in the field, and stopping down improves all that. So enjoy the Canon!

[AntonioF]

.... But remember: you can not own too much 50ies.

 

At the end, I capitulated and I bought it ...