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Sell Leica 50mm APO for Leica 35mm 1.4 Summilux FLE?


Jan1985

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I have been a Leica user for 25 years and learned this the hard way: If you are not sure whether you want to sell a Leica lens then don’t because one day you’ll buy it back at a much higher price. Also if you really want a lens but it exceeds your budget so you settle for a typical 3rd party brand with good reviews (i.e. ooh so sharp and contrasty), eventually you’ll sell it at half price and buy what you wanted anyway. 

Edited by rtai
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On 8/24/2022 at 2:34 AM, phototrope said:

I'm curious to know what you didn't like about the FLE ?  (Also might be relevant to the original topic)

Sorry to be so slow in responding.

I found the FLE harsh, particularly in the out of focus treatment.  I never liked the double bokeh around bright objects (I’m sure there’s a technical name for it), so while it was bitingly sharp in the central focus area, the out of focus was unpleasant and distracting.

The pre-asph suffers from flare, and the famous “Leica glow” is just an aberration to me.  But, if you get the flare under control it is sharp stopped down a bit, and the out of focus areas are lovely and smooth.  The APO 35 Summicron looks lovely, and just as smooth, but too expensive - I still might sell off some lenses to get the APO 35 … hard decision.

Were it me, I wouldn’t sell my lovely black chrome APO 50 Summicron for a 35 FLE.  Each to their own …

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On 8/25/2022 at 4:45 PM, IkarusJohn said:

Sorry to be so slow in responding.

I found the FLE harsh, particularly in the out of focus treatment.  I never liked the double bokeh around bright objects (I’m sure there’s a technical name for it), so while it was bitingly sharp in the central focus area, the out of focus was unpleasant and distracting.

The pre-asph suffers from flare, and the famous “Leica glow” is just an aberration to me.  But, if you get the flare under control it is sharp stopped down a bit, and the out of focus areas are lovely and smooth.  The APO 35 Summicron looks lovely, and just as smooth, but too expensive - I still might sell off some lenses to get the APO 35 … hard decision.

Were it me, I wouldn’t sell my lovely black chrome APO 50 Summicron for a 35 FLE.  Each to their own …

I m sticking with my 35 cron asph v1 for now, just sold the FLE for the same reason though sometimes i miss that 1.4 opening 

but i wont part with 50 apo too and 35 apo, despite being more versatile, it’s price still out of my range.. probably can make use that close focus ability 

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Yeah, when I look at the lenses I have, I won’t part with my 50s, and I use the 21, 28s & 75 - so, it would mean selling the Distagon and Summilux pre-asph to get the APO … might be worth it.  Not sure how much I’d have to make up.

Edited by IkarusJohn
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I love the FLE, for me it is the most consistent Leica lens I have owned. You can shoot it straight into the sun as the way it handles flare is beautiful, especially compared to the Summicron ASPH. The handling is good, too not too big or too heavy. Down side for me is the loose aperture ring. I owned the 50 apo and went back to the standard 50 Summicron as I couldn’t see enough of a difference in the pictures I take. 

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2 hours ago, bdjackson said:

I owned the 50 apo and went back to the standard 50 Summicron as I couldn’t see enough of a difference in the pictures I take. 

If handling flare is an important consideration, as you described, seems the standard 50 Summicron might be problematic in that regard.  That’s one of the reasons I use the 50 Summilux ASPH instead.  I also prefer it to the 50 APO for various other reasons.

Jeff

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I generally like the look of the flare from the 50 Summicron and I don’t remember liking the Apo more in this regard. The 50 Lux ASPH definitely handles direct sunlight more effectively with less veiling but I don’t like the handling as much as I do the Summicron. 

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On 8/23/2022 at 11:44 AM, rtai said:

I have been a Leica user for 25 years and learned this the hard way: If you are not sure whether you want to sell a Leica lens then don’t because one day you’ll buy it back at a much higher price. Also if you really want a lens but it exceeds your budget so you settle for a typical 3rd party brand with good reviews (i.e. ooh so sharp and contrasty), eventually you’ll sell it at half price and buy what you wanted anyway. 

Well yeah, that’s why I do not mess with cosina, voigtlander, chinese etc.  the saved money versus Leica goes into bigmacs or some similar garbaggio, and the lenses always get sold later on in favor of the real thing.

And when you switch fot tge real thing, you’re stuck with files and negatives shot with a lens that you ALWAYS wished you didn’t own versus the teal thing.

 

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33 minutes ago, Capuccino-Muffin said:

Well yeah, that’s why I do not mess with cosina, voigtlander, chinese etc.  the saved money versus Leica goes into bigmacs or some similar garbaggio, and the lenses always get sold later on in favor of the real thing.

And when you switch fot tge real thing, you’re stuck with files and negatives shot with a lens that you ALWAYS wished you didn’t own versus the teal thing.

 

I am actually quite impressed with the latest Voigtlander offerings. The 21/1.4 is a really nice lens and I have the 50/1.0 Nokton coming. I use Voigtlander for color and Leica lenses on my M10M. What I meant to say was to get what you want because it’ll happen eventually just in a roundabout way.

Edited by rtai
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On 8/25/2022 at 2:45 AM, IkarusJohn said:

Sorry to be so slow in responding.

I found the FLE harsh, particularly in the out of focus treatment.  I never liked the double bokeh around bright objects (I’m sure there’s a technical name for it), so while it was bitingly sharp in the central focus area, the out of focus was unpleasant and distracting.

The pre-asph suffers from flare, and the famous “Leica glow” is just an aberration to me.  But, if you get the flare under control it is sharp stopped down a bit, and the out of focus areas are lovely and smooth.  The APO 35 Summicron looks lovely, and just as smooth, but too expensive - I still might sell off some lenses to get the APO 35 … hard decision.

Were it me, I wouldn’t sell my lovely black chrome APO 50 Summicron for a 35 FLE.  Each to their own …

For indoor or low-light use, the OOF rendering fine for me.  An unexpected strength of the lens is its formidable sharpness at f/16 outdoors.  

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This test, at f/1.4, shows the unpleasant OOF. But the FLE isn’t a lens I would want for such a shot.

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The 35/1.4 FLE has not the smoothest bokeh but could be worse.

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Bokeh is a fascinating topic. I never thought about it until I got into Leicas. Whenever I watch a movie I notice how the cinematographer can completely blur the background in a pleasant way isolating the scene. I gain a higher appreciation for the art.

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1 minute ago, rtai said:

Bokeh is a fascinating topic. I never thought about it until I got into Leicas. Whenever I watch a movie I notice how the cinematographer can completely blur the background in a pleasant way isolating the scene. I gain a higher appreciation for the art.

How ugly :D. Just kidding but Gaussian blur is the opposite to what i like personally. I expect backgrounds to soften not to hide the reality but again this is subjective obviously :cool:.

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1 hour ago, graphlex said:

This test, at f/1.4, shows the unpleasant OOF. But the FLE isn’t a lens I would want for such a shot.

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The issue I had was that I found it inconsistent, whereas my other Leica lenses are consistently smoother.  I’m not that much of a fan of the 35mm field of view that I really needed the FLE.  Actually considering selling the 35’s I have and not bothering with the focal length at all.  I prefer the 50mm, 28mm and 21mm combination …

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