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90mm summicron good at 2.8


raphaelmatto

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hi Leica folks,

 

I'm after my third M-mount lens. I have the newest version of the 50 'cron & the hexanon 50 f2 -- both are wonderful.

 

I'm looking to buy either a hex 90 f2.8, or a 90 cron pre asph ($500 - $700 range). my question is: does the bokeh on the 90 cron clear up by 2.8? In my experience no lens gives good bokeh wide open -- and trolling flickr reveals -- of course -- some pretty ugly bokeh with this lens wide open. what interests me is how many stops down a lens requires before the bokeh clears up. my 50 1.4 nikkor (f mount) needs to be set two stops down to 2.8 before it becomes usable. on the other hand, my nikkor 85 1.8 is good by 2.8 (1 & a halfish stops), and my M-mount f2 50s clear up after one stop at 2.8 as well.

 

yeah, so is the 90 cron usable by 2.8? if not, I'll probably just go with the 90 hex, because I'm sure it's fine by f4.

 

(I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect that generally lenses with huge amounts of glass require more stopping down then lenses that are built more comfortably within physical limits).

 

similarly, if you've had experience with many of these lenses, is the nikkor f mount 85 1.4 ais usable by f2, or does it need to be stopped down to 2.8?

 

Cheers,

Raphe

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I don't have a problem with how the pre-ASPH 90'cron draws at f2, sure its sharper by f4, but it's bokeh is pleasing IMHO.

 

If you want a pin sharp 90 get an Elmarit-M 90/2.8 (the one that has just been discontinued). Excellent at f2.8, outstanding at f4.

 

- Carl

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hi Leica folks,

 

I'm after my third M-mount lens. I have the newest version of the 50 'cron & the hexanon 50 f2 -- both are wonderful.

 

I'm looking to buy either a hex 90 f2.8, or a 90 cron pre asph ($500 - $700 range). my question is: does the bokeh on the 90 cron clear up by 2.8? In my experience no lens gives good bokeh wide open -- and trolling flickr reveals -- of course -- some pretty ugly bokeh with this lens wide open. what interests me is how many stops down a lens requires before the bokeh clears up. my 50 1.4 nikkor (f mount) needs to be set two stops down to 2.8 before it becomes usable. on the other hand, my nikkor 85 1.8 is good by 2.8 (1 & a halfish stops), and my M-mount f2 50s clear up after one stop at 2.8 as well.

 

yeah, so is the 90 cron usable by 2.8? if not, I'll probably just go with the 90 hex, because I'm sure it's fine by f4.

 

(I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect that generally lenses with huge amounts of glass require more stopping down then lenses that are built more comfortably within physical limits).

 

similarly, if you've had experience with many of these lenses, is the nikkor f mount 85 1.4 ais usable by f2, or does it need to be stopped down to 2.8?

 

Cheers,

Raphe

Actually, all Leica lenses are designed to be used wide open without any second thoughts. I don't quite follow your post. Bokeh clearing up? I only gets better as you open up the aperture to its maximum...
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...does the bokeh on the 90 cron clear up by 2.8? In my experience no lens gives good bokeh wide open -- and trolling flickr reveals -- of course -- some pretty ugly bokeh with this lens wide open....

Which version of the 90/2 do you refer to? Would you have any link to support this statement? Just curious as i only have an R version of this lens which bokeh is quite smooth i must say.

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Get the Apo 90 Summicron Asph. It has a much smoother bokeh wide open than the earlier non-asph version.

 

I actually really like the bokeh of the traditional spherical optics wide open. This is a case where your mileage may vary.

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Well, the "quality" of bokeh is intrinsically a very personal taste... but I think that, in general, if one likes a certain lens' bokeh, so better when it'skept wide open.

In this sense, I prefer my Tele Elmarit 90 to my Summicron 90 pre-asph; also the bokeh of the old Summarex 85 is fascinating (a sort of "crayon-effect" on colors) but is a lens really difficult to focus wide open...reserved for static subjects.

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Wow. I actually prefer the 90 'cron pre-asph's bokeh to the asph version in most cases (there's always something that messes up a lens that has even outstanding OOF qualities).

 

I also prefer the smoother (lower) contrast wide open, since it's easy to add contrast in post but hard to gain the detail the smoother contrast brings.

 

But that's me :) If you can find a good latest model Cron 90 pre-ASPH for $500 - $700 and it's in CLA-d trim, then I'd jump on it.

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haha, okay.. well, everyone has different oppinions on this topic :) .. but I guess I'm only looking for oppinions from folks who have also found that the quality (not the amount) of bokeh is poor on any lens wide open.

 

Cheers,

Raphael

It seems you are only looking for confirmation of your own opinion. -Which is ummm..slightly eccentric, at least as far as the lenses dicussed in this forum is concerned.

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Here is an example of bokeh at f2.8 for three 90mm lenses. Personally I like the Elmarit-M and Summicron-M better than the Tele-Elmarit, but you can't beat the latter for size and weight.

 

 

Tele-Elmarit:

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Elmarit-M

 

 

Summicron-M vII (slight miss on the point of focus)

 

And the Summicron-M at f2:

 

- Carl

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These are a few examples that I shot last week when I was in Hawaii.

M8/Leitz Canada 90mm Summicron pre-asheric. All shot at f2.

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