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"No love for the 75 APO-Summicron-M?"


james.liam

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Love the lens for its quality and easy handling, but struggle at times with focusing: I blame my poor eyesight?  The sample shot below is a typical experience for me when focusing on difficult subjects. Hence I usually take several and hope for the best that one comes out good.  Took three shots of the motif of my desk lamp ( 70+cm distance F2/60sec, hand held) of which this was the sharpest.  

  

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I recently picked up the 75 cron APO and at first found it very hard to focus and was a bit worried about my purchase. But with the 1/4x viewfinder magnifier, I have really learnt to love this lens. I don't like to shoot with live view at all, much prefer the rangefinder, and with practice over the last few months, I've come to really love this lens. 

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Recent photo overlooking downtown Los Angeles with the MP240 and 75mm Summicron 

http://www.photobasecamp.com

 

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The only other thing to comment about this lens is that it can flare substantially with bright light sources just outside the image area and this can nearly 'white out' an image. The hood isn't up to much, and when I had one I had intended to buy a longer generic hood to try to minimise this problem but never got around to it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have had both the 75mm Summarit (2.5 version), and still have the Summicron. I used to travel a lot and on one trip the Summarit got damaged. Just dinged inside a bag somehow. It was fixed by Leica, so only a few scratches lasting. I subsequently got the Summicron. It is notably heavier but also more durable. Mine has not skipped a beat and the pictures are truly outstanding. I prefer them to the 50mm Summilux asph by some way, although they are derived from the same optical design. The only times I have issues focusing have been at, or near, minimum focusing distance and at wide aperture. Which stands to reason when your DoF is measured in millimetres. So I avoid this unless I really have to - and then it becomes 50/50. But that is not a fault of the lens. I couldn't recommend it enough.

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On a recent trip to Australia and New Zealand, my Summicron 35 and Summicron 75 APO were my most used lenses. 

Here is a shot taken with the 75. It's a great lens.

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.

 

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Here is another shot captured with my M10 and Summicron 75 APO.

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.

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On 3/27/2019 at 6:51 AM, budjames said:

Here is another shot captured with my M10 and Summicron 75 APO.

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.

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stupendous.

the 75mm APO, I presume?

 

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The 75 Summilux has always been tempting but it's a big and heavy not something I'd take for a jaunt. That is the whole Barnack philosophy; the Noctiluxes and the 75 Summilux seem to contradict the whole point of the M experiment (not to mention the cost for each comparable to a small used car). 

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13 hours ago, Torontoamateur said:

stupendous.

the 75mm APO, I presume?

 

Yes. Next my my Summicron 35, my 75 APO is my most used lens.

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.

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22 hours ago, james.liam said:

The 75 Summilux has always been tempting but it's a big and heavy not something I'd take for a jaunt. That is the whole Barnack philosophy; the Noctiluxes and the 75 Summilux seem to contradict the whole point of the M experiment (not to mention the cost for each comparable to a small used car). 

I whole-heartedly agree with this. As time goes on new lenses have drifted further away from this mobile philosophy. With the rangefinder, everything makes sense in combination with smaller lenses and slower apertures. Really fast lenses ought to be focused through the lens for greatest accuracy. Big, fast lenses block the rangefinder viewfinder. Slower lenses account for focusing errors in the system (compared with TTL), and allow for subjects which are slightly off centre , for example. Plus the practicality of a small, nimble system. I wish there was more effort with regard to high quality, small lenses today...

Edited by Mark T
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I come down on both sides of the size issue. Small is good, but I also often shoot in light that requires a bare minimum of f/2 to keep the subject movement under control (and that's also in the Leica rangefinder philosophy. "If you can see it, you can shoot it.")

The 75 Summilux did squeeze in under the competition (Contemporary Nikon 85 f/1.4 took 72mm filters; Zeiss Planar 85 f/1.4, 67mm; 75 Lux, 60mm). Weighs the same as the current AF-G Nikkor, without having to resort to a plastic shell ;) ).

Nevertheless, I've added a Voigtlander 75 f/1.8 Heliar Classic as my "carry-around" 75mm (mentioned it a few posts back). And pull out the Summilux only when I really need f/1.4, or the slightly tighter close-focus limit and field-flatness (studio work) or the few extra lppm in the corners at f/5.6. Saves about 175g over the Summilux (427g), with almost-equally pretty drawing.

And again, that is not a new thing for Leica rangefinders - back in the 70s, columnist and M-user Bill Pierce remarked that he carried a 135 f/2.8 and a 90 f/2.0 - unless he was absolutely sure he wouldn't need the speed - in which case he took a 90 Tele-Elmarit and 135 f/4.

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The Heliar is not without its quirks - it is a rebirthing of the 1931 73mm f/1.9 Hektor design, with modern multi-coating. And (speaking of Barnack) 20g lighter than the Hektor! Pretty darn sharp at f/1.8 near the center, but strong curvature of field. In the shot above, the "plane" (huh!) of focus is on her eye , but also on her near coat cuff and the near edge of her pig-tail). If you want sharp-corner-to-corner landscapes (or rule-of-thirds compositions), use f/8 or smaller. A touch of long. CA (green halo along her nose).

But thanks to the simple 2-2-2 (6 elements, three groups) design, very flare-resistant.

Center detail - no sharpening applied:

More:

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/289481-concerning-the-voigtlander-75mm-f18-heliar-classic/

 

Edited by adan
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  • 2 weeks later...

The 75/2 is a phenomenal lens with a fatal flaw - it's damn near impossible achieve focus wide open at near distances. 

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7 hours ago, Kwesi said:

The 75/2 is a phenomenal lens with a fatal flaw - it's damn near impossible achieve focus wide open at near distances. 

https://s3h5x8b3.stackpathcdn.com/uploads/monthly_2019_04/image.jpeg.5c32eb7d23e50a185820fa15bce9224c.jpeg

Mine focuses normally at near distances and so does my 90/2 apo. Both have been calibrated for digital though. Nice pic BTW. The player's head looks sharp and the relative softness of his right hand gives a feeling of movement. 

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Thanks lct,

i spent my summer photographing chess players in Harvard Square a few summers ago. The 75 Apo was perfect for capturing the intensity of the game.

I had mine calibrated for the M240. Shown here on the Typ 246

Watching the chess match

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Edited by Kwesi
clarity
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On 3/4/2019 at 6:07 AM, SiggiGun said:

It is a very good lens but without Liveview very difficult to focus if wide open. The 75lux is less "perfect" in a modern sens, but much more simple to focus. 

That’s seems counter-intuitive in that the DOF is far shallower. 

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30 minutes ago, james.liam said:

That’s seems counter-intuitive in that the DOF is far shallower. 

I use sometimes my wife's Apo-Summicron-M 75mm, it's very nice lens but somewhat difficult to focus with it's short throw and

for me better use the rangefinder to focus finely, with EVF the changing "sharpness" is too quick/steep and judging the "best sharpness point" is very hard.

With my Summilux-M 75mm, in EVF the sharpness point is very gentle and progressive helped by the long focus throw.

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1 hour ago, james.liam said:

That’s seems counter-intuitive in that the DOF is far shallower. 

Comes partly from the focus throw as suggested by a.noctilux above and also from the fact that the 75/1.4 is softer so differences between sharp and blurred areas is less visible. Also there is more DoF behind the focus point than in front of it with the 75/1.4 contrary to the 75/2. 

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5 hours ago, james.liam said:

That’s seems counter-intuitive in that the DOF is far shallower. 

Mathematically and ideally true - but the spherical and chromatic aberrations of the 75 'lux tend to spread out the "zone of readable sharpness." Or as lct says, the difference between sharp and blurred areas changes more slowly.

I made this test last time I switched between a 75 'cron and a 75 lux, and had both available at once.

Which lens produces a larger "field" of "readably sharp" letters?

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Answer  - the Summilux, because the SA means that while the light coming through the center of the lens is focused at, say .75 m, the light coming through halfway out to the edge of the aperture is focused at .76m, and light from the extreme edges is focused at .77m. A sharp image from each of those distances ends up layered on top of "fuzzy" images from the other parts of the lens radius, expanding the effective DoF. And the CA is doing something similar, focusing "red there" and "green-cyan here."

In this side view, the 75 Lux is spreading out the lights rays across a zone of "pretty sharp" as in the top or bottom examples, while the 75 'cron behaves more like the "perfect, SA-free" lens in the center, focusing everything in a tighter area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_aberration#/media/File:Spherical-aberration-slice.jpg

I found out fairly early in my M experience that the 1980 Mandler lenses, with quite a bit of residual SA, (a.k.a.  "Leica Glow") were easier to focus "acceptably" with an RF at f/1.4-2 than the crisp, tightly-imaging APO/ASPHs. At least with longer focal lengths.

(Extra credit - a similar effect occurs with leaf-shutter lenses used at large apertures, fast shutter speeds and natural light (not flash). Because during the exposure the shutter "irises" in and out from f/infinity (as the shutter just starts to open with a pinprick opening) to full f/2.8 or f/4, and then back to f/infinity. We get layered depth-of-fields from an infinite number of different aperture sizes during one exposure - which is part of what gives shallow-focus MF pictures a different look.)

In short, what the textbooks tell us about perfect, ideal lenses doesn't always hold true in the real world of imperfect, far-from-ideal lenses, or "other factors" such as shutter types.

Edited by adan
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