Review: The New Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm F2 ASPH.

[jonoslack]

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On 3/4/2021 at 3:10 PM, wattsy said:

Odd 'zebra' pattern in the flare in these two photos, Jono. An artefact of the APO correction or some other phenomenon?

 

On 3/5/2021 at 5:16 AM, adan said:

Good catch.

The rainbow-order (and purity) of the color bands screams "diffraction" to me. And I note in the diagram that there are a massive number (well, 5, including a triplet) of large cemented surfaces, with curves that have to fit hand-in-glove to really high tolerances (wavelengths, not 1/mm).

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I'm thinking even slightly uneven cemented joins would produce color patterns akin to Newton rings, oil-slick-on-wet-pavement patterns, or even plain old diffraction gratings.

I would not think it has anything to do with APO (or even ASPH) construction directly - although obviously the glass was designed to fit together that way for some overlying optical purpose.

(Images linked from wikimedia)

It might even be a one-off, since Jono was using an early pre-announcement lens, made (possibly) while the production was still getting zeroed in.

Hi There Ian, Andy Scott

Okay - I"ve spent the last few days trying to repeat this phenomena with my new production lens, and I have simply failed - as far as I could I've shot the same scenes in the same light, and I haven't managed to do it (with hundreds of shots into the sun).

So it seems to me that there are two possibilities

1. it's a really rare phenomenon which only happens under a very strange set of circumstances

2. It was a problem with the prototype lens I had back in September.

Here is a shot from this morning:

[hey_giulio]

There is a lot of purple in the left, on the big tree trunk

[helged]

1 hour ago, hey_giulio said:

There is a lot of purple in the left, on the big tree trunk

That is flare. 

[cirke]

It may be the perfect lens for SL2 ?

Edited March 10, 2021 by cirke

[Daniel C.1975]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb cirke:

It may be the perfect lens for SL2 ?

Hmm, despit of wanting a small package and / or a manual lens I see no reason to choose this one over the summicron-sl 35 - which btw would be the most perfect lens ever, if it would have the size of the Sigma 3.5 24 Contemporary. 
But if wishes where horses ....

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Daniel C.1975

[cirke]

1 minute ago, Daniel C.1975 said:

Hmm, despit of wanting a small package and / or a manual lens I see no reason to choose this one over the summicron-sl 35 - which btw would be the most perfect lens ever, if it would have the size of the Sigma 3.5 24 Contemporary. 
But if wishes where horses ....

 

I bought the SL2  to replace a M body and if by chance one day there is M with EVF I would sell it at once

[jonoslack]

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13 hours ago, jonoslack said:

 

Hi There Ian, Andy Scott

Okay - I"ve spent the last few days trying to repeat this phenomena with my new production lens, and I have simply failed - as far as I could I've shot the same scenes in the same light, and I haven't managed to do it (with hundreds of shots into the sun).

So it seems to me that there are two possibilities

1. it's a really rare phenomenon which only happens under a very strange set of circumstances

2. It was a problem with the prototype lens I had back in September.

Here is a shot from this morning:

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

11 hours ago, hey_giulio said:

There is a lot of purple in the left, on the big tree trunk

 

10 hours ago, helged said:

That is flare. 

Hi There - I think in the context of these remarks it's worth putting up a couple of shots

As you can imagine, I did first of all underexpose the image quite a lot, and the shadow detail (and the purple) are recovered from the shadows.

1 here is the original, unmodified Image

as you can see - there isn't any obvious flare here - for the original image I had simply lifted the shadows by about 3 stops! and done nothing else

2. Here I have lifted the shadows more carefully (sometimes it's worth taking another couple of minutes doing PP

Worth mentioning that I've done nothing at all with CA (no need, the APO glass seems to have dealt with any nicely)

So, although I've no doubt that it was flare causing the purple, it was unnecessary, and it's only a miracle lens which would produce absolutely no flare when shooting right into the sun through branches - we are talking torture test here!

Best

 

[jonoslack]

59 minutes ago, Steven said:

This morning I woke up and my first thought was "I wanna see that chicken picture again" 🤪🐔

Hah! I hope they didn't disappoint - I'd take more, but it's pissing down with rain here today!

[Danner]

On 3/9/2021 at 7:24 AM, jonoslack said:

Rick - you inspired me.

Here are some chicken pics from the 35 APO Summicron - taken this morning, all at f2 . . 

Here is Clint

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and another of the young beau

 

Here he is with his new fling Dotty

 

And here he is with Dotty and Stella

 

Wow!  Your focusing skills are very high 🙂

[jonoslack]

24 minutes ago, Danner said:

Wow!  Your focusing skills are very high 🙂

Thank you Danner. very low in this case (lying on my side)!  I think it was about a 60%hit rate

[mmradman]

6 hours ago, Steven said:

An M with EVF 😍😍🤤🤤🤤🤤

Steven, please keep advocating, you seem to talk lot of sense on ths forum and sure thing vote with your wallet.

[Herr Barnack]

7 hours ago, Steven said:

This morning I woke up and my first thought was "I wanna see that chicken picture again" 🤪🐔

😄

Is there a gallery show brewing?  It's starting to sound like @jonoslack has happened upon a potential market niche in need of filling.

I can envision two meter wide fine prints of Jono's chicken hanging in corporate board rooms around the globe...

[jdlaing]

4 minutes ago, Herr Barnack said:

😄

Is there a gallery show brewing?  It's starting to sound like @jonoslack has happened upon a potential market niche in need of filling.

I can envision two meter wide fine prints of Jono's chicken hanging in corporate board rooms around the globe...

Only in Colonel Sanders’ office.

[jonoslack]

4 minutes ago, Herr Barnack said:

😄

Is there a gallery show brewing?  It's starting to sound like @jonoslack has happened upon a potential market niche in need of filling.

I can envision two meter wide fine prints of Jono's chicken hanging in corporate board rooms around the globe...

Good Thinking - It's a must, and I can also envisage a line of jackets with mock chicken shit on the shoulders!

Best

Jono

[Herr Barnack]

17 minutes ago, jonoslack said:

Good Thinking - It's a must, and I can also envisage a line of jackets with mock chicken shit on the shoulders!

Best

Jono

Obviously a new Hermès collection in the making. 

Orange silk jackets with rubber chicken shit epaulets will be burning up the fashion show runways this spring!

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Herr Barnack

[jdlaing]

59 minutes ago, Herr Barnack said:

Obviously a new Hermès collection in the making. 

Orange silk jackets with rubber chicken shit epaulets will be burning up the fashion show runways this spring!

 

Whoa.......you forgot Elephant hide. The jacket should be Elephant hide in honor of another member here.

[Rick]

Jono,

I showed those chicken photos to my wife and she was so impressed.  You've convinced us.  Looks like I'm going to jump on board - we're going to get a chicken! 

I believe you have a future in exotic chicken sales!

[jdlaing]

1 hour ago, Rick said:

Jono,

I showed those chicken photos to my wife and she was so impressed.  You've convinced us.  Looks like I'm going to jump on board - we're going to get a chicken! 

I believe you have a future in exotic chicken sales!

Google Atwater’s Prairie Chicken. Those are nice.

[Herr Barnack]

1 hour ago, jdlaing said:

Whoa.......you forgot Elephant hide. The jacket should be Elephant hide in honor of another member here.

That's a little too S&M for my comfort.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[hey_giulio]

23 hours ago, jonoslack said:

 

1 here is the original, unmodified Image

as you can see - there isn't any obvious flare here - for the original image I had simply lifted the shadows by about 3 stops! and done nothing else

2. Here I have lifted the shadows more carefully (sometimes it's worth taking another couple of minutes doing PP

So, although I've no doubt that it was flare causing the purple, it was unnecessary, and it's only a miracle lens which would produce absolutely no flare when shooting right into the sun through branches - we are talking torture test here!

 

Wow! That is for sure a very detailed and interesting comment and explanation!

Thanks for the additional clarifications, Mr. Slack, and by the way I really appreciate your work.

Considering your experience, which between the M-APO50 and the M-APO35 represents a bigger step forward compared to their non-apo counterpart (i.e. the summicron 50 and the summicron 35 asph, respectively)?

Thanks again.

Best