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Leica Apo-Summicron-SL2.0/35mm - average performer?


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I wonder a bit what difference the camera body makes. I noted that the well established German magazine Color Foto awarded the APO-Summicron-SL 2/50 100 points when tested on a 47 MP Panasonic. This fell well short of the 112 ponts awarded to the Panasonic 1.4/50, tested on the same body. The Panasonic lens is no doubt a good perforer (I just bought one) but performing quite a lot better than the APO SL 2/50 - I don’t think I buy that. Is it due to the camera body?

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2 hours ago, Ivar B said:

I wonder a bit what difference the camera body makes. I noted that the well established German magazine Color Foto awarded the APO-Summicron-SL 2/50 100 points when tested on a 47 MP Panasonic. This fell well short of the 112 ponts awarded to the Panasonic 1.4/50, tested on the same body. The Panasonic lens is no doubt a good perforer (I just bought one) but performing quite a lot better than the APO SL 2/50 - I don’t think I buy that. Is it due to the camera body?

I compared the Panny 50S wide open to the 35 SL... huge difference wide open at 100%. Both on the S1R. 35 SL is just RAZOR sharp with mind blowing detail... The 50S was very nice... and granted, 100% isn't really necessary for normal viewing... but I was really surprised. I'm thinking the 50 APO SL would resolve the same as the 35.

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Edited by Donzo98
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14 minutes ago, Donzo98 said:

I compared the Panny 50S wide open to the 35 SL... huge difference wide open at 100%. Both on the S1R. 35 SL is just RAZOR sharp with mind blowing detail... The 50S was very nice... and granted, 100% isn't really necessary for normal viewing... but I was really surprised. I'm thinking the 50 APO SL would resolve the same as the 35.

 

Nice..... interesting to hear your thoughts and I hope you're right,  my SL 50 should arrive tomorrow, would really like some of the light you have in the above image to try it out🙃but that's not looking very likely sadly.

 

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1 minute ago, Boojay said:

Nice..... interesting to hear your thoughts and I hope you're right,  my SL 50 should arrive tomorrow, would really like some of the light you have in the above image to try it out🙃but that's not looking very likely sadly.

 

Looking forward to reading your review.... did you get the 50 APO SL or 50 SL SX?

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2 minutes ago, Donzo98 said:

Looking forward to reading your review.... did you get the 50 APO SL or 50 SL SX?

The Summicron, will be mainly using M glass on my SL2 but decided I would have one of the Summicrons for AF, was so hard for me to decide which but I've always "seen" better at 50mm.

Underscore and bold, is a reminder to me!!!!  

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3 minutes ago, Boojay said:

The Summicron, will be mainly using M glass on my SL2 but decided I would have one of the Summicrons for AF, was so hard for me to decide which but I've always "seen" better at 50mm.

Underscore and bold, is a reminder to me!!!!  

I think you will shocked by the amount of detail rendered by the 50 APO SL. The AF is pretty snappy too... at least on the S1R it is. SL2 should be great too. 

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1 hour ago, Boojay said:

The Summicron, will be mainly using M glass on my SL2 but decided I would have one of the Summicrons for AF, was so hard for me to decide which but I've always "seen" better at 50mm.

Underscore and bold, is a reminder to me!!!!  

Sounds similar to my thoughts, ie, SL2 + M lenses, but the “one” SL lens will likely be the 50mm. I find it very natural to bond with a 50mm after years of mainly using that focal length on Ms - a great general use lens for portraits / landscapes / etc etc.
The MTF charts suggest all the SL primes are exceptional, the 35mm version at f2 being exceptionally extraordinary. By mid apertures, they all look similarly class leading, even against all other Leica lenses.

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Am 24.1.2020 um 15:07 schrieb jplomley:

From those that actually own the lens and have used it extensively, is there any negative feedback to report? Did it meet or exceed your expectations? Or did the lens not perform as anticipated? 

I have been using the lens very intensively since it was launched. I can not find any optical errors that are relevant to photography.
For me it's the best lens I've ever used. So I can't really understand and believe the DXO test.

Here I have described the lens and show many pictures.

Test Leica APO Summicron SL 35

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vor 13 Stunden schrieb Donzo98:

I compared the Panny 50S wide open to the 35 SL... huge difference wide open at 100%. Both on the S1R. 35 SL is just RAZOR sharp with mind blowing detail... The 50S was very nice... and granted, 100% isn't really necessary for normal viewing... but I was really surprised. I'm thinking the 50 APO SL would resolve the same as the 35.

 

Are you talking about comparing a Summicron-SL, either the 35 or the 50, to the Lumix S 50/1.4 wide open for sharpness?

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1 hour ago, Chaemono said:

And you are saying that the 35 Summicron-SL and, probably, the 50 Summicron-SL are sharper than the Lumix S 50/1.4 wide open?

Yes... and, of course, I'm not surprised. Just surprised by how much difference there was.

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13 minutes ago, Chaemono said:

Are you thinking about the M10 Monochrom by any chance?  The APO 50 Summicron-M is incredible with it. 
....😂

 

Nah... no interest an am M body.

Did you happen to test the Panny 50S Pro against the 50 SL SX??

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APO SL50mm f2 @f2 with Leica SL2 at Venice Carnival. A perfect environment for this monster lens 🙂

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It says :

No locations to display. The content may not have been saved yet or may have been deleted.

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How can I delete file and post and then retry ?

thanks 

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vor 1 Stunde schrieb Donzo98:

Nah... no interest an am M body.

Did you happen to test the Panny 50S Pro against the 50 SL SX??

Yes, I did.  The Lumix lens is sharper in the center and in the corners but comes with a bit of a jittery bokeh.

Edited by Chaemono
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On 2/19/2020 at 9:40 PM, Donzo98 said:

I compared the Panny 50S wide open to the 35 SL... huge difference wide open at 100%. Both on the S1R. 35 SL is just RAZOR sharp with mind blowing detail... The 50S was very nice... and granted, 100% isn't really necessary for normal viewing... but I was really surprised. I'm thinking the 50 APO SL would resolve the same as the 35.

 

If the difference is huge, you must have received a poor copy of the Panasonic lens. It is more or less universally argued that it is razpr sharp at all f stops (but some vignetting wide open). In the Color Foto test, the Panasonic 1.4/50 obtained the same score at the Summicron SL 2/35 (and well above the SL 2/50). Makes me wonder if the camera body and optimization firmware is more important than we have thought so far.   

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3 hours ago, Ivar B said:

If the difference is huge, you must have received a poor copy of the Panasonic lens. It is more or less universally argued that it is razpr sharp at all f stops (but some vignetting wide open). In the Color Foto test, the Panasonic 1.4/50 obtained the same score at the Summicron SL 2/35 (and well above the SL 2/50). Makes me wonder if the camera body and optimization firmware is more important than we have thought so far.   

The difference was very noticeable at 100% crop. I had thought maybe trying another copy might be reasonable as well.

I doubt it’s the body or firmware since I was using the S1R... which should be optimized for the Panny lenses. 

It's not bad at all... here's a sample shot... it's just as good as the 35SL :)

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Edited by Donzo98
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