Old lens, new lens

[pklein]

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Last weekend I took a few M8 shots of some friends as we hiked in a Seattle park along the water in the late afternoon. Among those pictures were two, similarly lit, of the same three people, but taken with two different lenses. The size of the faces on the images are almost the same, inviting comparison.

 

One lens was an old Canon Serenar 50/1.8 from the 1950s, recently CLAed by DAG. The other was a current 35 Summilux ASPH.

 

Take a look at these 100% crops of a face. Put them side by side if you can. This is not a resolution contest. It's simply a comparison of how the lenses draw, under similar (not absolutely identical) conditions.

 

Here is the old Canon 50/1.8, 1/90 at f/11

http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/temp/L1001098-1to1-50-1_8Canon-w.jpg

 

And here is the 35 Summilux ASPH, 1/180 at f/8.

http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/temp/L1001109-1to1-35LuxAsph-w.jpg

 

Both were processed in Capture One with the same white balance (5000K), and with sharpening at the first "notch." Both are one stop down from their best aperture. Both shots used an IR filter (I have a 40mm lens hood/Series VI filter holder for the Canon, and the 39mm B+W IR filter fits in nicely).The warmer picture (the Canon) was actually taken about an hour earlier, so the warmth is in the lens, not the time of day. Canon 1/90 at f/11, Lux Asph 1/180 at f/8, both one stop narrower than their probable best apertures.

 

On the M8 sensor, the Lux is resolving a little bit more detail in the hair. But that's not what's really important. The Canon has less microcontrast, and there's a definite "glow" to the image. It's also a much kinder lens. The Lux ASPH is mercilessly sharp and contrasty.

 

I suspect that at least one aspect of the elusive "Leica Glow" has to do with the way that bright areas diffuse slightly into adjacent dark areas, as seen in the Canon picture. An optical "flaw," but one that has a very pleasant effect under the right circumstances.

 

On film, my favorite 50mm lens, the DR Summicron, draws very much like the Canon. Which makes me all the more eager to try the latter on the M8. Anyway, Sean Reid is right, those old designs make great sunny-day lenses. And they are a lot kinder to people over 25!

 

--Peter

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[luigi bertolotti]

Simply said.. the perennial question of "portrait" lenses... a question of taste and the "mood" one likes to transmit in the portrait itself... I have seen here in the forum excellent portraits made with modern ultrasharp M8 lenses like Cron asph 75... but also pleasant BW portraits with Hektor 73 of 75 years ago... or the Summarex 85 of 50 years ago or so... I never tried the various Nikon/Canon LTM lenses, but surely many of them share the famed "Leica glow"...

[carstenw]

I prefer the newer lenses to old lenses for most portrait situations, since you can leave them wide open and get some glow, or stop them down and get them sharp. Personally I would be disappointed in a lens which is that soft at f/11.

[lars_bergquist]

If lack of 'glow' is your complaint, then the best solution could well be a good, light effect soft attachment. This way you can have the 'glow' when you want it – also regulated by the working aperture – and a tack sharp lens when this is what you need. Also, such a 'filter' weighs and bulks less than an additional lens in your kit. B+W have a 'Soft Focus Pro' filter which seems to be able to largely duplicate the effect of older lenses from the 1950's.

 

The old man from the Age of the Imagon

[pklein]

Remember one thing: These are 1:1 (actual pixels) crops of much larger frames. I could also note that the slight softness at 1:1 is no worse than you would get with many DSLRs and an anti-aliasing filter.

 

And at f/11 we're entering diffraction territory, so the old Canon lens may be better than this a bit more opened up. I used f/11 to be sure I was stopped down beyond any focus shift issues. One thing the M8 has taught me is that most if not all lenses f/2 and faster have some focus shift. The question is whether it's photographically significant at the desired print size.

 

Anyway, if things go as I hope, I may be able to use my DR soon. Other lenses may be technically superior when tortured by Vincent Price on Erwin Put's optical bench. But I really like the way the DR draws. I've heard from several people that the Canon 50/1.8 and the Rigid/DR draw very similarly, I couldn't resist checking the Canon out.

 

--Peter

[carstenw]

How do you plan to get your DR working on your M8?