One reason you may not hear much about this lens may be that it fouls the mirror on full-frame Canon cameras. You will need to shave the mirror on the 5D or 1Ds series bodies to be able to use this lens on them. You may use it on the 5D Mark II without modifying the mirror if you only use it with live view.
Its drawing style is similar to that of Summilux R 80 mm. It's not bitingly sharp wide open. It does have that glow and a very nice out-of-focus rendering. But it sharpens up considerably as you close the aperture to about f/2.8. Here is a link to a sample picture using that lens.
Looking at the serial number, it appears that the ROM contacts were added later on. There was only one optical formulation of this lens, so the fact that the lens did not come with ROM originally does not matter. ROM doesn't mean anything when the lens is adapted to a Canon camera anyway.
It's pretty much a sister lens to the R 80 as they behave about the same. SA softness wide open (the Leica 'glow'), sharp at F2, extremely sharp ('landscape lens' sharpness) stopped down.
I bought mine about 15 years ago and mainly used it on film. I still have the R 35/1.4 in the bizarre hope/wish/dream that one day there will be a full frame mirror less camera. "Tell him he's dreamin..." (for the Aussie "The Castle" lovers).
It's a very nice lens, soft Bokeh, not harsh. I almost bought a FF Sony just because of this lens but the Sony's don't have Live View so that's a deal breaker.
JohnJ wrote:
It's a very nice lens, soft Bokeh, not harsh. I almost bought a FF Sony just because of this lens but the Sony's don't have Live View so that's a deal breaker.
JJ
Funny as I was shopping hard for this lens for use on my Sony a900 a while back.
You can always use split prism or simply MF screen from Sony. A900 OVF is as big as 1DsMK3 so focusing isnt that hard. Only downside is that you need to Leitax it for Sony. For 1DsMK3 only adapter should be fine, 5D will require mirror shaving maybe..
Mescalamba wrote:
You can always use split prism or simply MF screen from Sony. A900 OVF is as big as 1DsMK3 so focusing isnt that hard. Only downside is that you need to Leitax it for Sony. For 1DsMK3 only adapter should be fine, 5D will require mirror shaving maybe..
The lens won't clear a DsIII and, honestly, as much as I love this lens (and love shooting it on the R8 it came attached to), I can't say it's worth the mirror shave. The last model Summicron is about half the weight and significantly smaller, every bit the lens, and a fraction of the price (half or less). I'm hanging on to it in the hopes that we'll see a good full-frame mirrorless before my eyes are shot and because I do still love shooting film.
Yeah, you can get out to about 3m or a little more if the lens isn't too warm, but after that to infinity, the mirror hangs. There's a few Leica R lenses that hold that distinction. The second version Elmarit 19, the 15/2.8 ASPH, the Elmarit 24, the 21-35 ASPH, and I think the 35-70/2.8 ASPH requires the removal of a shroud or a mirror shave. I've also heard of problems with the late model Summilux 50 (E60), but that may be model dependent.
as I´m very satisfied with my 18mm Distagon and my 100 Macro Planar, (also with my old CY Distagon 21) I think I´ll go for the Zeiss ...
It´s cheaper new than the Leica used ...
there is no modification necessary ...
native Canon Mount ...
And I think that the image Quality of the Leica is not much better ... maybe slightly different ... but not better ...
even tough, the lens looks really beautiful ...
I had this lens for a little while. It was like everyone says, a little soft wide open and nicely sharp stopped down. I probably didn't use it long enough, but it didn't really strike me as 'magical' like the 80mm f/1.4 Summilux, which I still have. Probably why I sold it.
Summilux-R 50/1.4 E60 does hit the mirror on 5D Mark II at focusing distances past 100 ft or so. No harm to camera or lens though. I saw threads were people suggested a reversible procedure of removing something from the lens to make it 5D II-friendly.
Welcome! Ladies and Gentleman, from this gentleman I will buy my next lens, the 35 Lux-R, adapted for Nikon, slightly modified, with no mirror problems.
