Which non-modern rendering 50?

[ardbeg]

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Finally had the opportunity to go out shooting with the 50 Hektor. Very interesting rendering. Also very malleable in post. Two shots both wide open, one directly out of camera (M10), second edited for black point, contrast, and converted to black and white.

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Edited March 30, 2020 by ardbeg

[ardbeg]

One more.

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[james.liam]

Contrast seems to high. 

[ardbeg]

First is a silver tone conversion preset which bumps contrast. Underlying contrast is only bumped about 5%. The second b&w is about 15% bump.

Edited March 30, 2020 by ardbeg

[ardbeg]

For reference, non silver tone conversion looks like this:

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[ardbeg]

So, I've gone on a bit of a buying spree lately acquiring a few more vintage 50mm lenses beyond just the Hektor, namely a Jupiter 3, a FED Industar 10, and an Elmar 3.5 Red Scale. The FED and the Jupiter arrived today. Had the opportunity to shoot the Jupiter (posted below). I like the Sonnar rending very much. The FED will likely require some CLA attention. Glass is clean but focus and aperture are very stiff so haven't been able to shoot with that one yet. The Elmar arrives later this week. I'm done acquiring lenses for a very long while now.

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[shirubadanieru]

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In case you prefer less vintage, but also not clinically sharp, other great options to consider that balance modern coatings w/ a nice, less clinical rendering are:

- Elmar-M 50mm f2.8
- Summarit 50mm f2.5

not 50mm but still worth mentioning:
- UC Hexanon 35mm f2
- Rollei 40mm f2.8

[BradS]

5 hours ago, shirubadanieru said:

In case you prefer less vintage, but also not clinically sharp, other great options to consider that balance modern coatings w/ a nice, less clinical rendering are:

- Elmar-M 50mm f2.8
- Summarit 50mm f2.5

not 50mm but still worth mentioning:
- UC Hexanon 35mm f2
- Rollei 40mm f2.8

I’m surprised to see the 50mm f/2.5 Summarit mentioned here. This is a very sharp modern planar type lens. Perhaps, you meant the old 5cm  f/1.5 Summarit? 

[otto.f]

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Edited April 7, 2020 by otto.f

[wlaidlaw]

My favourite of the many (mostly Leica) 50mm lenses I own is the Summilux III. Mine is the e46 LTM special edition version. Before I bought this I was warned about horrendous aperture shift, soft corners  and vignetting. Well maybe the optical cell was tweaked for the Special Edition lenses as I have had no problems with any of those. Sure it is not as clinically sharp as the ASPH Summilux IV I used to have but it is quite good enough for film, even enlarged to 18" x 24" for exhibition prints. It also works well on digital on my M240. 

I personally would never buy a period Russian lens as unless you stop them well down, they cannot focus properly at all distances on a Leica RF body. They all use a different system to Leica with a different thread pitch (Zeiss pitch) focusing helicoid and a curved RF cam, which on FED/Zorki etc Russian cameras, then transmits distance to a curved tongue in the camera, rather than the roller on Leica type cameras. The lenses can be altered to focus but this involves building up the RF cam in the lens with brazing and then having it accurately reground on a follower type precision milling machine. Far better to buy the Japanese LTM lenses, which do focus correctly on a Leica body and for the most part, cost a fraction of the price of the equivalent Leica lens. 

Wilson

Edited April 7, 2020 by wlaidlaw

[ardbeg]

1 hour ago, wlaidlaw said:

My favourite of the many (mostly Leica) 50mm lenses I own is the Summilux III. Mine is the e46 LTM special edition version. Before I bought this I was warned about horrendous aperture shift, soft corners  and vignetting. Well maybe the optical cell was tweaked for the Special Edition lenses as I have had no problems with any of those. Sure it is not as clinically sharp as the ASPH Summilux IV I used to have but it is quite good enough for film, even enlarged to 18" x 24" for exhibition prints. It also works well on digital on my M240. 

I previously owned (and later sold) a Summilux pre-ASPH black paint. Very lovely lens rendering. I sold it however when I acquired a Noctilux f1 as I found the rendering to be very similar to the Noct at f1.4-f4 (however vignetting is better corrected on the Lux). Also, given it was a bit of a pseudo-collector's lens, I ended up subconsciously babying it rather than shooting it. I'm sure it will be rare to see another one but I'm happy with the Noct. I've been focusing now on 50s with dissimilar rendering so between the Leicas and the Russian lenses I've got a representative Hektor, Sonnar, Tessar, Elmar, etc.

1 hour ago, wlaidlaw said:

I personally would never buy a period Russian lens as unless you stop them well down, they cannot focus properly at all distances on a Leica RF body. They all use a different system to Leica with a different thread pitch (Zeiss pitch) focusing helicoid and a curved RF cam, which on FED/Zorki etc Russian cameras, then transmits distance to a curved tongue in the camera, rather than the roller on Leica type cameras. The lenses can be altered to focus but this involves building up the RF cam in the lens with brazing and then having it accurately reground on a follower type precision milling machine. Far better to buy the Japanese LTM lenses, which do focus correctly on a Leica body and for the most part, cost a fraction of the price of the equivalent Leica lens. 

As I have an M10 with the EVF, I haven't had too much problem with the Jupiter wide open. I concur on the slight thread mismatch with the M39 to M adaptor but at close to middle focus distances at f1.5 and 2, rangefinder focus and EVF confirmation were pretty well aligned. Moving to infinity focus, it is definitely shifting out of proper rangefinder focusing alignment but I'm typically doing landscape at far focus where smaller f-stop dof is compensating. So, the Jupiter was a risk which paid off. The FED may be a lost cause (or I should say the CLA may cost more than the lens did) but I'll likely see if I can get it functional. If I can't, there is the Elmar which, while not technically a Tessar, has a similar element design.

Edited April 7, 2020 by ardbeg