75SL squirly bokeh?

[tom0511]

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I own this lens and find that it sometimes can show a squirly and contrasty bokeh, which can be a little distracting for portraits under certain condition. 

I find the SL50/1.4 better in this regard.

Do you share this experience?

Do you share this experience?

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[Chaemono]

Yes and yes. Scott tried to get to the bottom of it here https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/294745-sl-summicrons-vs-other-summiluxes/

You basically have four options, well five now, actually. Avoid these situations, use 50 Summilux-SL (though more distortion for close up portraits), the 90 Summicron-SL, the 75 Noctilux-M (best bokeh of all), or the Lumix S 50/1.4. But the bokeh of the latter is slightly different to the Summilux SL. I’m doing some bokeh studies between the two right now and will post them later in the image thread. The 50 Summilux-SL has bokeh as pleasing and smooth, at least behind the focus point, as the 75 Noctilux-M. 😁

[tom0511]

I prefer the 75mm focal length over 90mm, but for a short tele I want a nice bokeh... so I will have an eye in which situations this funky bokeh shows up and then eventually swich to the 90 Summicron.

Now I am curious how the 50 Summicron will render (compared to the 50/1.4).

The images I saw from the 35 (in the internet) look good.

 

[Chaemono]

vor 32 Minuten schrieb tom0511:

The images I saw from the 35 (in the internet) look good.

 

If you’re referring to background blur; that’s probably because of the minimum focus distance of 27 cm vs. 60 cm for the 50 Summilux-SL. 

[tom0511]

Fact is that even though I dont like the bulk and weight of the 50/1.4 SL I really like how the lens renders. My idea to buy the 75 was to own a smaller lens which allows me to leave 50 and 90 at home. I do get the feeling that I accept the bulk of the 50 SUmmilux because I like the rendering so much.

I have however to be careful to not make a conclusion about the 75 to fast, its a fine lens for sure as well.

[Chaemono]

I’ll post many pictures from the event in #398 here https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/295240-s1r-s1-leica-lens-image-thread/page/20/?tab=comments#comment-3726718 with the 75 and the 90 SL probably in a dedicated thread later. They were the wrong lenses to take along today but both made for some nice portraits. 😁

 

[IkarusJohn]

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On 4/21/2019 at 10:43 PM, tom0511 said:

Fact is that even though I dont like the bulk and weight of the 50/1.4 SL I really like how the lens renders. My idea to buy the 75 was to own a smaller lens which allows me to leave 50 and 90 at home. I do get the feeling that I accept the bulk of the 50 SUmmilux because I like the rendering so much.

I have however to be careful to not make a conclusion about the 75 to fast, its a fine lens for sure as well.

I’m sticking with the 50 Summilux-SL.

I had considered the 35 Summicron-SL, but have gone off the idea.  When I look at the SL system, I have zooms covering 16 to 280, and the 50.  My M primes are very crowded in the 28 to 75 range, and I’m reluctant to duplicate focal lengths without a clear purpose.  So, taking a step back, what primes would I add to my SL system and why?

The 50 is a really fantastic lens, and pairs well with the 16-35 zoom.  I doubt I’ll add a wide prime.  Looking back at my previous lenses in different system, the only lens I miss is a fast medium prime telephoto. I loved my Nikkor 180/2.8 IFED telephoto. An SL version of a lens like that (between 135 and 200), 2.8 and compact would suit me just fine.

[thighslapper]

11 hours ago, IkarusJohn said:

An SL version of a lens like that (between 135 and 200), 2.8 and compact would suit me just fine.

I fear those will prove to be mutually exclusive ...... unless it's all plastic and there are major compromises on image quality. 

[IkarusJohn]

Probably.

What interests me is that the Elmarit-R 180/2.8 ROM is so much bigger than the Nikkor 180/.8 ...  I agree it probably won’t be small.  I will probably end up getting the Summicron-SL 135 ...

[panoreserve]

vor 51 Minuten schrieb IkarusJohn:

Probably.

What interests me is that the Elmarit-R 180/2.8 ROM is so much bigger than the Nikkor 180/.8 ...  I agree it probably won’t be small.  I will probably end up getting the Summicron-SL 135 ...

Using SL 50 & SL 75 and liking them both (as well as the georgeous SL 35) I fear an theoretically upcoming SL Summicron 135 (f 2.0!) won't be compact. In no way.

[caissa]

Bokeh is a personal (non-scientific) impression. I never noticed that the SL75 has a bad or the SL50 an exceptionally good bokeh. (Maybe others have “a better antenna” for that ?)  I find the SL 75 the lens that I usually prefer to the SL50, and I never noticed an unpleasant bokeh. But I am sure in competent hands the SL 50 is also a great lens. ( I have seen photos of children (toddlers) or young people with this lens that I found amazing.) This lens (SL50) is suitable to show the purity and delicacy of young faces. 

 ( For me usually the old manual R 50 f2 is the normal lens I like best. I like its size, IQ, and a Summicron is good enough - I rarely use f1.4 .  Maybe I like it because I learned using it, when I was young. And I know the lens in the meantime very well.)

[Stuart Richardson]

If you want an idea of the size of a likely 135mm lens, have a look at that 180mm APO Elmarit R and then add AF motors and possibly stabilization, or at the 120mm APO Macro Summarit S. My guess is that they might base an SL telephoto on either of those lenses, as they are exceptionally well corrected. My guess would be that it would be roughly the size of the 120mm S APO Macro, but lighter. Speaking of which, that might be a good next SL system lens -- a 100-120mm APO Macro. Leica does them extremely well and they are outstanding performers at all distances, but maybe since they just released the 90mm APO Summicron SL, they might wait a bit.

Either way, don't expect something like the 100mm 3.5 Canon Rangefinder lens...

https://d1ro734fq21xhf.cloudfront.net/attachments/00XZlc-295493584.jpg

[IkarusJohn]

When I referred to compact, I was thinking in preference to the 90-280 zoom. Already having the 50 Summilux-SL, I’m reasonably relaxed about lens sizes. The zoom is huge, so anything smaller provides a useful alternative.  I don’t see a 180 prime being that big, nor do i think a 135mm, even with AF, being as big as the Elmarit-R 180/2.8 ROM I had previously.  Time will tell.

A macro would be nice, I’d have to say.

[tom0511]

If you want a more compact tele the 70-200 Pana could be an option.

After more "research" I think the bokeh of the 75 can be squirly under certain conditions. In other conditions (I think distance to background is one factor) it can render really nice. I still think focal length aside I slightly prefer the 50 Summilux rendering.

[thighslapper]

24 minutes ago, tom0511 said:

If you want a more compact tele the 70-200 Pana could be an option.

After more "research" I think the bokeh of the 75 can be squirly under certain conditions. In other conditions (I think distance to background is one factor) it can render really nice. I still think focal length aside I slightly prefer the 50 Summilux rendering.

This is present with several of the SL lenses (zooms included) and does seem to be a function of aperture, distance and in particular the distance of the focal point from the background. 

It seems similar to effects seen with Petzval lenses where with the lens wide open and the focal point midway between the camera and background the bokeh becomes very distorted and odd.