Advice needed on first prime for SL2

[Masha Vesset]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

On 3/22/2020 at 5:17 PM, Jared said:

First, I would recommend picking your desired focal length for the SL prime.  50?  90?  Or compromise at 75mm?  Whichever you end up with, you can adapt your Canon lens to cover the other.  So, do you shoot mostly environmental shots?  Head and shoulders?  Do you need speed for control over depth of field or for additional lighting options?  I’d first sort out the focal length, then give thought to which lens.

If you do mostly head and shoulders shots, I would strongly recommend the 90mm Summicron SL.  The additional compression you will get over a 50mm will help keep shoulders and noses from becoming too prominent, and f/2 will give you a depth of field that is easily narrow enough to make all but the closes backgrounds fade away.  You could look at the 90mm Summicron M as well, but it isn’t small enough or light enough for me to want to trade away autofocus.  

If you want a single lens to replace both your Canons, the obvious choice is the 75mm Summicron SL.  Not quite as much compression as the 90mm, but that can be a good thing if you want to include a little environment or if you tend to do waste-up type shots rather than head and shoulders.  You get a more reasonable working distance for this type of shot than you would with 90mm.  Based on the charts, it’s not quite as good a lens as the 90mm, but “ultimate resolution and contrast” are not exactly the key requirements for portraiture, so I wouldn’t worry about any optical differences between the two.  Pick the focal length that suits your style better.  Look through your existing Canon images and 24-120 images to see what focal length you tend to shoot at and make sure you include your typical cropping.  As with the 90mm lenses, you could also look at an adapted M mount lens.  Again, though, I don’t think the size and weight advantages are big enough for me to want to give up autofocus.  Maybe with the Summarit, but going to f/2.4 may be giving away a little too much bokeh, plus, that lens has just been discontinued. There is also a 75 Noctilux, not just the Summicrons.  I have no experience with it but would imagine it’s difficult to maintain accurate focus.  Even slight movements of photographer and model will push eyes outside the razor thin depth of field.

If you do mostly environmental portraits, either a 50mm or 35mm would be appropriate.  You mentioned 50mm, so I’ll stick with that.  The 50mm Summilux SL is absolutely fantastic except in the extreme corners, and who cares about extreme corners in a portrait lens.  Really lovely, swirly bokeh wide open.  The only challenges are the price and the size.  OK, it’s a little slow focusing as well, but that’s hardly a problem for portraiture.  Maybe if you had models who liked to twirl a lot that would be a problem, but otherwise not an issue.  The second choice would be the Summicron SL.  You mentioned you tend to shoot your Canons wide open, though, and while f/2 gives you plenty of separation on a 90mm or a 75mm, it’s maybe not what you are looking for on a 50mm.  I’d stick with f/1.4 lenses for portraits at this focal length.  The 50mm Summilux M is a wonderful lens, MUCH smaller And lighter than the SL version, and has enough depth of field that, unlike the 75mm or 50mm Noctilux, you probably wouldn’t need to worry about slight movement of the photographer or model moving eyes outside the limited depth of field.  It would be a good choice if you don’t mind giving up autofocus.  It makes the SL/SL2 a great “carry around” camera.  Optically, it’s quite good (was once considered the reference for all 50mm lenses), but it’s not in the same league as the SL Summilux.  That’s the price you pay for compactness.  Pictures will be a bit lower contrast than with the newer AF lens.  Probably a lot like what you are used to with the 1.2 Canon, though I have never spent any time with that lens.  Should be a bit sharper even wide open, but not “bitingly” sharp like the Summilux SL.  Personally, I’d avoid the Noctilux just because of the ultra narrow depth of field, just as with the 75mm Noctilux.  Other photographers swear by it, though, and it’s actually a bit smaller and lighter than the 50mm Summicron SL, so not a bad match size wise on the SL2.  Where it seems to dwarf the M cameras, it actually works quite well on the SL series.  Just not to my personal taste.

My recommendation would be either the 90mm Summicron SL or the 50mm Summilux SL if you plan to adapt one of your Canon lenses.  If you want a replacement for both, compromise on the 75mm Summicron SL and just crop a bit for head and shoulders shots.  Plenty of megapixels to play with, so that’s not exactly a problem.

Thank you so much, this is so helpful!