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80mm Summilux - more versions ?


slungu

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I have the latest 50 lux and not so sure I see the magic in this one. Definitely a great lens but just does not have the mojo the 80 lux does.

 

I had the previous 50 'lux for a while (E55, I'll buy another when I can) and loved its bokeh and color rendition. Not as sharp as the current lens but sometimes ultimate sharpness isn't the most important imaging characteristic.

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I have heard similar descriptions of the current 35 Lux. I think the rest are much sharper and have less of that dreamy-but-sharp look. The 50 Lux is also meant to be great, but sharper I think. The teles are all razorblades.

 

I have the 35 and 80 lux and find they perform almost identically. You can almost interchange descriptions of each lens with very few differences between them. They have the same dreamy bokeh, yet are both amazing sharp near their optimum apertures. The tonal gradation from these lenses is far better than I've seen from any Canon glass, but maybe the Zeiss lenses are similar.

 

I have to disagree about the sharpness of these lenses wide open. Yes, the 80 is still OK in the centre when wide open, but it quickly losses sharpness near the edges. The lens is much better at f2, which I consider to be a minimum but that's a personal choice. The Canon EF 85/1.2 is noticeably sharper wide open than the 80 lux. But the 80 renders a far better image at most other apertures, in my opinion. I also had the Zeiss (Contax/Yashica) 85/1.4, I didn't really like it.

 

I also tried the R 50/1.4 E60 and was somehow unimpressed by it. Not sure what I was looking for but I definitely didn't find it. I might get one of the E55's and see what happens, they are cheap enough these days.

 

JJ

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I have to disagree about the sharpness of these lenses wide open. Yes, the 80 is still OK in the centre when wide open, but it quickly losses sharpness near the edges. The lens is much better at f2, which I consider to be a minimum but that's a personal choice. The Canon EF 85/1.2 is noticeably sharper wide open than the 80 lux. But the 80 renders a far better image at most other apertures, in my opinion. I also had the Zeiss (Contax/Yashica) 85/1.4, I didn't really like it.

 

 

JJ

 

 

I had both the canon 85 f/1.2 and my 80 lux at the same time trying to decide which to keep. I shot a scene of ferns with lots of detail throughout so I could test for both sharpness and bokeh. I found that at f/1.4 the Leica was both sharper throughout all the frame, center to corner, but still had softer and dreamier bokeh. The decision of which to keep was very easy for me. So my tests results were contrary to yours. I didn't keep the test images otherwise I'd post them here. Besides testing for sharpness, I did some tests with the two lenses on a walk at Golden Gate park and shot things like a single tree sitting in the middle of a grassy field. At all apertures the images shot with the lux had more pop - giving the tree and field depth. The canon images looked good too but seemed a bit flatter and less real. These tests were done with a 5D so the sensor was the same. On my DMR the lux really shines. There are significant differences in the color of the two lenses as well, with the lux providing a richer color. I understand that the canon 85 f/1.2 is a very special lens. I guess that makes the Leica 80mm lux in a class of its own.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks for inspiring me guys. I just got my example and took a few test shots. A lovely lens with a very pleasing look. :)

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  • 4 months later...
Yes !

 

 

Stop planning and move towards a decision.

A great lens to step into another dimension

of photography.

 

 

Best

 

:)

 

Thanks, I will buy for sure , just planninng if buy in Germany or USA......... I travel to NY in 2 weeks.

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Great, wish you good luck to get hold of a good dealer. You won´t regret this purchase.

 

It´s not just a wonderful lens for portraits and all kinds of low-light trials. Close ups, wide open, for flowers i. e. also work like a charm. Although not recommended: even more so with the help of a E67 closeup-lensattachement, b+w, offers these besides others.

 

Have a safe journey.

 

 

Best

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Check out the 90/80/75 post posted recently. There ware long debates about the different 90 lenses for M and R as well as comparsions of 80 to 90 for R, 75 lux to 80 lux, etc.

 

I cannot find that post.

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I too own both the Canon 85/1.2 and Summilux 80mm and run both on my 1DSs. Out of the two I far prefer the Summilux - IMHO it even handles far better! Wide open it hasn't got quite the bite of the Canon but handles contrasty situations exceptionally well and at f/4~8 give probably the best performance of any reflex lens that I own (the nearest is Canon's 100 macro surprisingly). I was gutted to see an adittedly bot mint but perfectly usable 80 Summilux in a shop window at £450 a couple of days ago - it had been reduced so presumably wasn't selling!

 

On this thread the 35/1.4 Summilux R was mentioned - is there any way that this lens can be used on Canon without major surgery to the camera's mirror? Is the rear element simply too close to the Canon's mirror to avoid mirror surgery?

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I have to say that the Lux isn't soft at f/1.4. It has this unique look, with a basically sharp image sort of overlaid with a glow. Beautiful for the right subjects.

 

Dr Mandler at his best.

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  • 3 years later...
HAS ANYONE COMPARED THIS LENS TO THE ZEISS PLANAR ZE F/1.4?

 

I happen to know LUF member "V_kids" from Nikon forum who has extensive exerience of using both lenses. Try to PM him.

 

I have used Zeiss briefly but settled for Leica as more satisfying.

 

Here is one example at f1.4 shot on Nikon D700

 

Summilux R 80 - Test 1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Also at f2.8

 

Zdravko | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Mladen,

 

That is also my experience. I'm selling my 85mm F/1.4 Zeiss Planar and wondering if I should replace it with the 80mm Summilux? I suspect that wide open, in terms of sharpness there is little difference. That "glow" quality of the Summilux is what's starting to catch my attention.

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  • 1 year later...
Guest umshausumzu
Mladen,

 

That is also my experience. I'm selling my 85mm F/1.4 Zeiss Planar and wondering if I should replace it with the 80mm Summilux? I suspect that wide open, in terms of sharpness there is little difference. That "glow" quality of the Summilux is what's starting to catch my attention.

 

My prefered combination: SL2 + 1,4/85. You will be lucky.

Claus

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