Looking for an M-Friendly “Character” lens at 50mm

[paulleica]

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Take the Voigtländer Nokton 50mm 1.5. It has character at apertures of 1.5 and 2.0, yet is still sufficiently sharp on the M11. It is the lens I use most often. I prefer it to the Apo lens for most subjects.

Edited August 1 by paulleica

[Ecar]

1 hour ago, Stef63 said:

Too many 50s in the drawer… Most of them are not RF-coupled, so I rely on the Visoflex — which also means focus shift isn’t really an issue.

Among non-Leica lenses, two of my absolute favorites are:

• Pentax Takumar 50mm f/1.4 (8-element) – smooth rendering, great color, and that vintage glow wide open.

A Shoten adapter would provide RF coupling for this one.

[ldhrads]

Find a decent Summarit 50/1.5 it's a great lens.

[Riccardo.asselta]

Se cerchi carattere in un obiettivo ti consiglio il Summicron Rigid 50mm (la nuova versione LLL ha un controllo qualità discutibile potrebbe capitarti un esemplare calibrato male) non ha problemi di Focus Shift è nitido quanto basta ma ha una resa cinematografica unica. Un’alternativa sarebbe il Sonnar che ha molto carattere  ma devi convivere con il problema dello spostamento della messa a fuoco e soprattutto con una certa instabilità dei risultati dovuti proprio al suo eccessivo carattere.

[gtownby]

On 8/1/2025 at 12:48 AM, LocalHero1953 said:

Elmar 5cm f/3.5 in LTM mount + LTM/M adapter. 
THE classic. Readily available for low prices.

I had the Zeiss ZM C Sonnar 50mm f/1.5 for a while. It had focus shift, and mine was calibrated at f/2. I used it on the M240. 
You don't say which camera you want to use it on, but assuming it has liveview, you can check the focus shift and understand how it behaves. Once I had done this this, then, when just using the rangefinder, I got in the habit of leaning forward or back a bit for shots that were risky (e.g. wide open, close range).

I have the Bertele on order🙂.

Hey, Local Hero and all -

I'm buying the lens for my Leica MP and will also likely use it on my Nikon ZF. I just received the CV 50mm Heliar Classic 1.5 from CameraQuest and I've done a few "ruler" tests on the ZF. There's some definite shift at close focusing distances between f/1.5 and f/4. Of course, on a mirrorless, focus shift means absolutely nothing to me as I always choose my aperture before focusing. 

The proof will come when I go out tomorrow with the MP and a half a roll of Portra to do some portraits of my wife* and flowers at f/1.5-2, and then some street scenes at f/8-11. I'm hoping that the general consensus proves true that focus shift is less of an issue with film and/or I can learn how to "lean out" at close distances, if necessary. Besides, my style when shooting 35mm film is to use a lot of grain, with "feeling" more important than critical sharpness. 

And (I hope I don't get flamed for this) the CV 50mm Heliar Classic looks drop-dead gorgeous on the Leica MP BP.

All: Thanks so much for the enthusiastic discussion after my OP. If I decide against keeping the CV Heliar, your comments on the pre-asph Summilux versions will be my Ebay roadmap.

-- GTO

* I always, ALWAYS take some portraits of her after shelling out household money for a new lens.