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Archive 2007 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

Frank-Starling
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p.1 #1 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

What would you take and why on a 5D? (have the Canon 50 mm f1.4)

I want it t be sharp at maximum aperture. Is doesn't have to be expensive...and f2 is Ok when it's sharp wide open.

Thought about the Zeiss Planar f1.4 ZF and the Leica summicron f2 but the latter costs up to 2-3 times as much, does it is worth it?

Peter

Mar 05, 2007 at 11:18 PM

eddyboy
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p.1 #2 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

well, for starters you don't have to buy a new or newer lens with the ROM contacts. (speaking of leica)..There are many leicaflex versions of the summicron 50 f 2 going all the way back to the early 60's. I have four or five of the old un's that are very, very good. I have one of the newer ones made for the "R" series that is superb. But, unless you're just looking to have fun with vintage lenses, what's wrong with your Canon 1.4?? Stopped down to 2.0 or 2.8 it can't that bad a dog??

Mar 05, 2007 at 11:29 PM

pgmj
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p.1 #3 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

You can find a used 50mm Summicron-R for a very reasonable amount of money. I don't think buying a new one is worth 3-4x the cost.

Mar 06, 2007 at 09:32 AM

Pham Minh Son
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p.1 #4 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

I guess I am not the only photographer studies the Frank-Starling Mechanism.

Don't forget the cheap Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.7/50.

-Son

Mar 07, 2007 at 01:22 AM

DrPablo
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p.1 #5 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

Pham Minh Son wrote:
I guess I am not the only photographer studies the Frank-Starling Mechanism.

I wouldn't say I study it except insofar as it's needed to circulate my antibiotics and white cells

Mar 07, 2007 at 01:27 AM

slungu
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p.1 #6 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

eddyboy wrote:
well, for starters you don't have to buy a new or newer lens with the ROM contacts. (speaking of leica)..There are many leicaflex versions of the summicron 50 f 2 going all the way back to the early 60's. I have four or five of the old un's that are very, very good. I have one of the newer ones made for the "R" series that is superb.

Now this is always a question with the Leicas. What version of the lens is desirable and can you get an older lens that will deliver ? For the long lenses 90/180 2.8 the newer versions are reported to be better, the 60mm is the same, but I don't know about the 50mm and the 35mm. I know that there has been a change in the optical formula of the 35, but how are the results ? Anybody there to make a list about the desirable versions ?

Other than that, I can also recomend the 50mm 1.7 Planar, even if I don't use the 5D. Great little lens, light and sharp - I'm starting to get a "second chance" love with it.

Regards, Stefan

Mar 07, 2007 at 09:36 AM

SJMD
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p.1 #7 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

Frank-Starling Mechanism

Man I had forgotten all about that - I may need an afterload reduction.

Stefan thanks for the info

steve

Mar 07, 2007 at 10:45 PM

Derek Stanton
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p.1 #8 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

Frank,
I've tried the ROM version of the Leica 50mm Summicron, via adapter, on the 5D. I compared it with the Canon 50/1.4, and decided it wasn't worth the bother. The Canon was At Least as sharp as the Leica, from f2 to f5.6. And, the Canon's output was more consistently sharp because of focus. Manually focusing the Leica was not as reliable as the Canon's AF. The Canon is really only weak from 1.4 to 1.7, which the Summicron doesn't even offer. Treat the Canon as an f2 lens, and you should not be missing anything, assuming you have a good sample.

My firm feeling, having used a few different lenses via adapters, is that you don't gain anything/enough by using other manufacturers' glass with an adapter. It might be fine if you're trying to save money, and already own those lenses. But, the inconvenience, and the unreliability, coupled with zero benefit as far as image quality is concerned... i'm just not doing it anymore. If this idea is still in your head, you may want to try the reportedly superior Leica E60 ROM 50mm SummilLUX-R, which is supposed to be the best SLR 50 ever. I'm sure it'll be better wide open than the Canon, but then again, i would still trust the Canon's AF to compensate. And, if you're going to spend the $1500+ to get the newest Leica, you might want to consider the new Canon 50/1.2L, which is supposed to be better than the 1.4 at wider apertures. I just ordered one.

If f1.4 is very important to you, the 50L is your best bet. If you shoot slowly, and/or use a tripod, the manual focus, adapted solutions may work for you, but be sure to bracket your focus, and/or check the magnified LCD review to be sure you are within critical focus.

Mar 10, 2007 at 03:38 PM

SoundHound
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p.1 #9 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

My Canon 50mm F1.4 wasn't all that good at F2.0 so I bought a 50L and it's much better at 1.4 to 2.0.

Mar 10, 2007 at 04:44 PM

Grandin
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p.1 #10 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

Derek Stanton wrote:
Frank,
I've tried the ROM version of the Leica 50mm Summicron, via adapter, on the 5D. I compared it with the Canon 50/1.4, and decided it wasn't worth the bother. The Canon was At Least as sharp as the Leica, from f2 to f5.6. And, the Canon's output was more consistently sharp because of focus. Manually focusing the Leica was not as reliable as the Canon's AF. The Canon is really only weak from 1.4 to 1.7, which the Summicron doesn't even offer. Treat the Canon as an f2 lens, and you should not be missing anything, assuming you have a good sample.

My firm feeling, having used a few different lenses via adapters, is that you don't gain anything/enough by using other manufacturers' glass with an adapter. It might be fine if you're trying to save money, and already own those lenses. But, the inconvenience, and the unreliability, coupled with zero benefit as far as image quality is concerned... i'm just not doing it anymore. If this idea is still in your head, you may want to try the reportedly superior Leica E60 ROM 50mm SummilLUX-R, which is supposed to be the best SLR 50 ever. I'm sure it'll be better wide open than the Canon, but then again, i would still trust the Canon's AF to compensate. And, if you're going to spend the $1500+ to get the newest Leica, you might want to consider the new Canon 50/1.2L, which is supposed to be better than the 1.4 at wider apertures. I just ordered one.

If f1.4 is very important to you, the 50L is your best bet. If you shoot slowly, and/or use a tripod, the manual focus, adapted solutions may work for you, but be sure to bracket your focus, and/or check the magnified LCD review to be sure you are within critical focus.

I agree that Canon 50/1.4 should be treated as a lens with slightly less max aperture (maybe around f/1.8) due to hazy looking images and a little lack of contrast, thats why I bought the 50/1.2 L which I'm very happy with (a lens I use wide open, most of the time).

I do not agree with the problems aquiring focus on manual lenses through adapter though, I have tried a number of Carl Zeiss lenses on my 5D with cheap autofocus confirmation adapters and I think its easy to nail focus even on lenses such as Sonnar 135/2.8 wide open (with quite narrow DOF).

I did a lot of research on getting alternative focus screens for my camera but I ended up getting an autofocus confirmation adapter, which is a very good solution. It seems I can use this feature to around f/8.

Mar 10, 2007 at 10:39 PM

Jonas B
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p.1 #11 · 50 mm on 5D: Zeiss or Leica?

I agree with Johan and Derek about the EF50/1.4 and the poor performance (ghosting, flare, haze, whatever) at f/1.4 and also at f/1.8. The EF50/1.2L performs a lot better here.
The big problem with the 50L is the focus shift that can be seen between f/2 and f/5.6. The problem here is not related to the AF (or poor MF skills of any sort) but to the fact that the focus plane moves slightly back and away. It is not compensated by the DOF until at f/5.6 so I cannot fully recommend the 50L. Maybe Canon comes up with a fix or not, we don't know about that right now (for a lot of more info on this the "Hands on..." -thread in the Canon forum explains it all. Start at page 150 or so to save time...

So, where does that leave us? The EF50/1.4 performs well with regards to resolution when stopped down. The bokeh is never great. The 50L _is_ great but you have to focus bracket and work slow to get those great results unless you stick to f/1.2 or f/1.4...

The Summicron 50/2 is a good lens that does nothing wrong, but it is slower and, frankly, a bit boring imho. Like a Volvo or something; there really isn't much to complain about but does it make your heart move faster?

Pentax has a good line of 50mm lenses but they all show low contrast and flare wide open (paired with quite some axial CA). You also need to modify them for use with the 5D.

The Zeiss Planar 50/1.4... I was interested in this a while ago when I searched for options but never liked the bokeh. A warning sign for sample variations.

Nikon, I haven't tried any but from samples I have seen they lack in resolution and contrast at large aperture openings.

Zuiko 50/1.2 is a pretty nice lens. It vignettes more than the others wide open, lack a bit in contrast and resolution til' stopped down a fair bit. The bokeh is maybe better than the EF50/1.4 but not as good as the 50L. Still, a good performer imo, and better than the Zuiko 50/1.4 (compared to a late multicoated version).

The Summilux 50/1.4? This lens is maybe *the 50mm* to have, assuming manual focusing and metering and stopping down is okay. The latest version (E60) is expensive (Hey Derek, if you know how to get one for USD 1.500 please let me know!) but reported to be a fair bit better than the earlier ones.

To me the 50mm is important as it is my most used focal length. The search for a "perfect" fast 50 one goes on. From what I've seen the E60 Summilux might be it. Worth the money? Hardly. A "fixed" EF50/1.2L would be great. Oh well...

imho,

Mar 11, 2007 at 12:18 AM

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