Looking to buy a new fifty. Voigtlander 50mm 1.2 or 1.5 VMII?

[LarsHP]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

On 6/4/2021 at 1:15 PM, hiphopopotamus said:

This is a great thread - I'm likely to be pulling the trigger on the 1.5 II in the coming days, primary use will be portraiture - in particular low light portraiture, but it will also be my standard carry around 50 on my M9M (my other lenses are 24 elmarit, 35 VM1.4II, 75 Summarit). Before my Leica days, my favourite lens (possibly ever) was a contax Zeiss 50 1.4 planar on a contax RTS body - so much character that just rendered portraits beautifully. But I recently sold all of my contax stuff when re-investing in the M system.

Given my love for that lens, I'd been settled on replacing it with the Zeiss C sonnar, as people seem to talk about this "characterful" lens in the same way I felt about my contax planar. However, I then had a little spanner thrown at me when I saw some of the images from the nokton 1.2, and now a massive spanner thrown at me having seen some of the 1.5 II shots.

I think I'm now settled on the 1.5II, but wanted to throw to the community before plonking the money down: given my intended uses - can anyone convince me why the Zeiss or nokton1.2 is a better choice than this 1.5II?

Getting the f/1.2 or f/1.5 v2 is probably about if you need or want the f/1.2 aperture or not.

To me, the Nokton f/1.2 Asph is one of my favorite lenses ever because it's a brilliant all-rounder: In terms of DoF, it sits between a Noctilux and a Summilux, but with a small size and low weight (particularly for what it is). Sharp enough wide open and reference class sharpness stopped down. Wide open at short distances, it has a nice glow and the sweetest and most beautiful bokeh. Stop it down one stop, and the glow is practically gone. At medium distances it's nothing short of impressive, even wide open. It has a bit of field curvature, which in some cases is an advantage and others a drawback. As with all very fast lenses, it has some color fringing in the out of focus areas. I may buy another 50mm, but I doubt I will sell the Nokton f/1.2.

Harpomatic made a great fast 50mm comparison review. The thread about it is here:

 

 

[Product Details]

Complete Overview 50mm Leica M-Mount Lenses

50 mm F1.0 Nokton (Amazon | B&H) – 50 mm F1.2 Nokton (Amazon | B&H) – 50 mm F1.5 Heliar classic (Amazon | B&H) – 50 mm F1.5 Nokton Vintage MC / SC (Amazon | B&H) – 50 mm F2.0 Apo Lanthar (Amazon | B&H) – 50 mm F3.5 Heliar Vintage (Amazon | B&H)

[Dennis]

Thinking again about the 50/1.5 II I realized it's a 43mm thread. It would combine very well with my 2.8/35 ZM and CV 35/14 II MC.

Any other 43mm thread lenses (any brand, but RF coupled) for M mount? There are not so many I guess. 43mm, it's right in the middle between the more popular 39mm and 46mm. Am I right? Just guessing.

P.s except the 35/2 and the 50/2 ZM

Edited June 6, 2021 by Dennis
added the PS. Cause I'm not interested on those lenses

[Harpomatic]

3 minutes ago, Dennis said:

Thinking again about the 50/1.5 II I realized it's a 43mm thread. It would combine very well with my 2.8/35 ZM and CV 35/14 II MC.

Any other 43mm thread lenses (any brand, but RF coupled) for M mount? There are not so many I guess. 43mm, it's right in the middle between the more popular 39mm and 46mm. Am I right? Just guessing.

If I’m not mistaken the Zeiss Tele-Tessar 85mm F4, and I’m positive about the Planar 50mm F2 and Biogon 35mm F2 (same lens barrel).

The Summilux 50mm 1.4 version 2 as well but with the 0.5 pitch instead of 0.75, making it difficult to fit modern filters. 
 

[Alexander-HH]

+ the current Summilux 50 / 1.4 ASPH Black Chrome 

[Lee S]

On 6/6/2021 at 11:10 PM, Dennis said:

Thinking again about the 50/1.5 II I realized it's a 43mm thread. It would combine very well with my 2.8/35 ZM and CV 35/14 II MC.

Any other 43mm thread lenses (any brand, but RF coupled) for M mount? There are not so many I guess. 43mm, it's right in the middle between the more popular 39mm and 46mm. Am I right? Just guessing.

P.s except the 35/2 and the 50/2 ZM

Dennis, 

I have the 35mm/2.8 C-Biogon, CV 35mm/1.4 II and CV 50mm/1.5 II. 
 

Great minds think alike. I enjoy them all. 

[Dennis]

1 hour ago, Lee S said:

Dennis, 

I have the 35mm/2.8 C-Biogon, CV 35mm/1.4 II and CV 50mm/1.5 II. 
 

Great minds think alike. I enjoy them all. 

Great trio. How do you feel about your 50-1.5 II? Because I'm sure you love the 35 MC 🙂 Mine arrives on Friday 🙏

[Lee S]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

12 hours ago, Dennis said:

Great trio. How do you feel about your 50-1.5 II? Because I'm sure you love the 35 MC 🙂 Mine arrives on Friday 🙏

It’s a gem of a lens and fits in well with my and light and small ethos. I usually just slip it in my pocket and have one of the 35’s on the camera. 

 

For its size it’s performance is fantastic, sharp and modern. Trade off is high vignetting wide open, which doesn’t bother me. If they do a version 3, I would like a focus tab or nub, also the coloured green text on the letters ‘MC’ was an interesting design choice for something that’s designed for retro cameras lol. 

[kivis]

I have the CV 1.5 VMII in black. Wow, I really can not tell the difference between it a Leica 'Lux.

[kivis]

[6bit]

On 2/8/2021 at 7:16 PM, Dennis said:

CV 1.5II 

TT 50/1.4

TT 50/0.95

7A 1.1

CV 1.2III

Which do you think is the less glow and better performance wide open, or just a half stop more?

I prefer the 1.5ii. 
 

the 7Artisans 1.1 is my least favorite lens. 
 

I do not have the TT 1.4/50mm. 

[Dennis]

44 minutes ago, 6bit said:

I prefer the 1.5ii. 

I have more "urgent" lens to buy. 21mm, and maybe my third 35mm, that is so important for me. But I want to get the new CV 50/1.5 II, I really like the IQ, size and weight. Then decide if I sell or not my 50/2 Summicron v5... I can have many 35mm, or more than one 21mm, but I'm sure I only need one 50mm. 

I really like how the CV 1.5 II performs. But if It has a similar or better rendering, plus half extra stop, I sell the Summicron and I pay back all my new CV lenses 🙂 Time will tell

 

[6bit]

The new CV 21mm is really nice. 
 

outside the nocti, the 1.5/50 ii is my favorite 50. YMMV. 

[graphlex]

On 6/6/2021 at 4:10 PM, Dennis said:

Thinking again about the 50/1.5 II I realized it's a 43mm thread. It would combine very well with my 2.8/35 ZM and CV 35/14 II MC.

Any other 43mm thread lenses (any brand, but RF coupled) for M mount? There are not so many I guess. 43mm, it's right in the middle between the more popular 39mm and 46mm. Am I right? Just guessing.

P.s except the 35/2 and the 50/2 ZM

50 Summilux black chrome. 

[jonnyboy]

Looking to get a new fast 50 indeed. My eyes actually pointed at the 50mm 1.5 Sonnar byt Zeiss (big fan of the 35 Distagon!) but I saw I could get the Voigtlander 50mm 1.5 II for pretty much the same price. Anyone tried them both?

 

[LarsHP]

42 minutes ago, jonnyboy said:

Looking to get a new fast 50 indeed. My eyes actually pointed at the 50mm 1.5 Sonnar byt Zeiss (big fan of the 35 Distagon!) but I saw I could get the Voigtlander 50mm 1.5 II for pretty much the same price. Anyone tried them both?

 

Check out this (comprehensive) review:

https://www.47-degree.com/focus-shift/leica-m-50mm-lens-comparison-part-1

[Datsch]

1 hour ago, LarsHP said:

Check out this (comprehensive) review:

https://www.47-degree.com/focus-shift/leica-m-50mm-lens-comparison-part-1

+1 on this excellent review. After I read it last year I got the 1.5 II as my first (and still only) lens.

[lct]

1 hour ago, jonnyboy said:

Looking to get a new fast 50 indeed. My eyes actually pointed at the 50mm 1.5 Sonnar byt Zeiss (big fan of the 35 Distagon!) but I saw I could get the Voigtlander 50mm 1.5 II for pretty much the same price. Anyone tried them both?

Yes but only the SC version of the Nokton. I decided to buy it because i was after a compact f/1.4/1.5 lens for gentle portraits with less focus shift than the Sonnar that was and remains one of my favorite lenses for this purpose. Good move from this viewpoint, the CV doesn't exhibit disturbing focus shift on real word tests. It has also a 0.7m MFD vs 0.9m for the Sonnar. More flare than the latter too but the difference is not huge.  Bit of glow on the Nokton at f/1.5 but not huge either. Only issue is CA which can be annoying on the Nokton at f/1.5 and remains significant down to f/4 on high contrast subjects, while that of the Sonnar is moderate at the same apertures. All in all the Sonnar has more character and i still prefer it in LV mode for this reason but in RF mode the Nokton is now my favorite for gentle portraits besides the less compact Summilux 50/1.4 v3.

[colonel]

After using the Voigtlander 35mm APO, my view has fundamentally shifted on what 50 I should get. 

Although the 1.5 ii is great I want to have no glow at 1.4, and with the voigtlander 1.2 the glow has almost completely gone at 1.4. Also the 1.2 is sharper until around f4.

The 35mm APO has shown me that I only used 1.4 on 35mm for low light, but tended to shoot at f2 or f2.8 at night anyway to maintain sharpness. With the APO I don't care, as its flat field with micro-contrast across out of the gates at f2.

So now I am thinking that if I am OK at f2 I would prefer the 50 APO. If I want to use 1.4 for isolation or 1.2 dreamy then it's the 50mm 1.2. At 50mm isolation is more important to me then wider angle so it remains in the running.

At the moment I have ordered the 50mm 1.2 and also the 50mm APO and will decide which one to flip later. Probably the only way to really decide

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[jonnyboy]

Interesting. To be honest, I already have a 'relatively' fast 50, the Summicron V4 although I could do with extra stops when shooting film.

I'm also looking at some fast vintage 50, both Summarit & the old Zeiss Sonnar have both plenty of character!

Budget is tight, these days, I wish I could get a Summilux...

[hdmesa]

8 hours ago, colonel said:

After using the Voigtlander 35mm APO, my view has fundamentally shifted on what 50 I should get. 

Although the 1.5 ii is great I want to have no glow at 1.4, and with the voigtlander 1.2 the glow has almost completely gone at 1.4. Also the 1.2 is sharper until around f4.

The 35mm APO has shown me that I only used 1.4 on 35mm for low light, but tended to shoot at f2 or f2.8 at night anyway to maintain sharpness. With the APO I don't care, as its flat field with micro-contrast across out of the gates at f2.

So now I am thinking that if I am OK at f2 I would prefer the 50 APO. If I want to use 1.4 for isolation or 1.2 dreamy then it's the 50mm 1.2. At 50mm isolation is more important to me then wider angle so it remains in the running.

At the moment I have ordered the 50mm 1.2 and also the 50mm APO and will decide which one to flip later. Probably the only way to really decide

Separation at f/2 with the CV 50 APO at near distances is incredible. It separates in a different way than an f/1.4 non-APO lens. It doesn't rely on bokeh but on the striking contrast between planes of focus.