M 50 mm summilux “upgrade” to APO

[Robert Blanko]

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So far, I never stumbled across the reportedly unpleasant bokeh of the Summilux, as I usually use it either at 1.4 if I want to have a nice bokeh or at 5.6 or 8 for landscape or other „documentary“ photos. 

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[darkinners]

I had the Summilux 50 ASPH first and when I bought the APO50m, I sold my 50lux because it's too heavy (mine was a silver brass version weights 420 gram+)

After 1 year or so, I kinda miss the look of the the 50lux asph, then I bought a new one again last year. 

However for 50mm, 90% of the time I use the APO50. it's light, excellent image quality, very good handling. Just some times I would use the 50lux asph or 50lux V2, if I want that specific look. So I cannot say I regret to sell the 50lux asph, I can totally live without it but it's nice to have kind of thing. 

 

edit: I also shoot with M10-R now, 50lux asph or even 50lux v2 are still sharp enough for the 40MP but if you compare to APO50 though, APO50 is clearly much much sharper, if you pixel peep the difference is not subtle. However I personally don't pixel peep. the ASPH and V2 are both sharp enough to me. 

Edited March 13, 2021 by darkinners

[SJH]

Just a thought but I was pondering adding the APO to my 50lux BC but in the end I bought the Voigtlander 50mm APO, I have to say I’m very impressed and it now means I can choose a lens for the subjects I’m addressing. The only downside is that the Voigtlander is pretty much the same size so larger than the Leica APO but it’s very very close in terms of sharpness etc. Nearly all of my lenses are Leica’s (and I have the SL APO f2 lenses for example to compare to) but this new Voigtlander is exceptionally good and works very well with my M10M in particular as well as my M10R. I prefer the 50lux BC overall as it’s more sympathetic to people shots in my view so in the end I couldn’t really see the value in getting the Leica APO as well once I’d tried the Voigtlander.

I now have a Lux ‘APO” and an APO f2 50 for only £1k more, this works very well for me and therefore I didn’t have to chose one over the other!!

Edited March 13, 2021 by SJH

[microview]

Wondered when the VC would get mentioned: I am really enjoying mine

[padam]

https://wild-places.com/2013/01/25/quick-test-of-the-apo-summicron-2-050mm-asph/

https://wild-places.com/2013/01/26/more-tests-of-the-apo-summicron-m-2-050mm-asph/

[Gobert]

45 minutes ago, microview said:

Wondered when the VC would get mentioned: I am really enjoying mine

Can’t say I am impressed about the results in de VC50 topic.

I had the idea to buy one, but I have decided to save some more money and buy the Apo 50.

[darylgo]

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On 3/12/2021 at 4:24 AM, David_miller70 said:

For reference I’m shooting on a M10-R at the 40+ MP

Hi David,

I don't believe I see anywhere what subject matter you shoot.  And that to me is an important consideration.  I shoot both and the Summilux is my choice for overall shooting.

The 50/2 Apo combined with the M10-R will always give you the sharpest image available with the M, good microcontrast, beautiful imaging for landscape, maybe street and less likely for people.   

What I find with the M10-R is that it makes every lens perform better except the Noctilux f1, a lens that defines chromatic aberrations.  

The Summilux has more moderate contrast shot at f1.4 and from f2.8 to f11 is more like the 50/2 Apo, while never achieving the state of the art imaging of the 50/2 Apo.  

The Summilux gives me more choices,  I love shooting it wide open to get a softer image, and while it is technically not able to achieve what the 50/2 Apo does the images never disappoint me.  

One last thing, there are rumors of a new 50mm Summilux, there's also rumors of many new lenses being introduced by Leica and while the time frame is unknown Leica is releasing new products with more frequency despite the hurdles of the past year.  Perhaps the new 50mm, if it does exist will be a Summilux with Apo Summicron performance.  

 

[microview]

On 3/13/2021 at 10:40 AM, Gobert said:

Can’t say I am impressed about the results in de VC50 topic.

I had the idea to buy one, but I have decided to save some more money and buy the Apo 50.

I am getting better colour (on M10R) than seen in some other VC 50 apo lanthar postings

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[Gobert]

This one is OK. But I have the feeling that the results differ from time to time. Sometimes I have the feeling that the sliders in PP are used too much. But that seems not to be the case.