I have always liked the draw and images very much of the 50/1.5 Summarit. I didn’t know it shared an optical formula with the my Noct 50/1 (v2). The Noct has proven to be a top 3 lens of all time for me. I love it for video too.
I’d be very curious to see a Noct 50/1 vs 50 Summait.
My only complains are its size and price. I don’t like to travel with such expensive glass.
Well, I'm getting the Summarit soon and will compare to the Noct 50/1.
nehemiahphoto wrote:
I am curious to see this one when they were both shot at the same apertures
The other thing that would make this thread even better would be to compare the R 50 Luxes. I always like the draw of both of them.
I wonder if we would prefer the M pre-aspherical versions or R’s. I prefer the 80 Lux to the 75.
But at the same apertures, I think they will be different beasts. The Noct 50/1 at f/1.4 is a different lens in my opinion, losing many of the characteristics that make it unique. However, it would still be interesting to see how both perform wide open and at similar apertures.
I just received the Leica 50mm f/1.5 Summarit. It's a beauty and reminds me of the Voigtlander 50/1.5 II Nokton with its double ring for focusing. The lens is compact, with a length of only 45mm, but it's quite dense due to its brass construction (320 grams), which is still half the weight of the Noct 50/1. It has a 41mm filter thread.
I tested it on the Leica M11, and it's aligned perfectly with the rangefinder, which is impressive for a lens produced in the 1950s, according to my serial number. There's no haze or scratches -- looks lovely.
Here are some samples I took about 30 minutes ago in the neighborhood. I used my Sony A7R II UT for these shots because I wanted to see the rendering in the EVF for this test. (All wide open at f/1.5)
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/6400s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/2500s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/2500s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/6400s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/2000s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/500s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/5000s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/4000s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/5000s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/8000s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/6400s100 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7RM2TECHART LM-EA9 lens50mmf/2.01/3200s100 ISO-0.7 EV
nehemiahphoto wrote:
Really interesting and I dig a couple of them quite a bit.
They appear higher contrast the I would have thought. Did you add contrast in post?
I assure you, the lens has low contrast because of its coating. The higher contrast you’re seeing in the images is probably due to the profile I used, such as Adobe Color or a Fuji profile. I'll double-check to confirm. There is quite nice glow in the highlights as well. I've seen in my indoor images but they are boring so far.
Here are some of the earlier samples showing images straight out of the camera using the Adobe Standard profile. I agree, different profiles can significantly affect contrast and colors. This is more representative of the lens's natural behavior.
When shooting against the light, the lens produces a pleasing veiling flare that results in a low-contrast image. However, when the subject faces the light source, the contrast increases and the colors become more vivid.
This lens was just a bit to much character for me but I can see why people would enjoy it! I did prefer it more on Black and White then I did in color but neither where a match for me-
I printed a 3D hood for my Leica 50mm f/1.5 Summarit today. Normally, I don't use hoods on my lenses, but this one really needs it.
The dedicated "SOOMP" Leica hood is huge, so I chose a Cosina-inspired minimalistic hood design instead. Leica also often uses short, compact built-in hoods in many lenses so I thought it was a good idea. I measured a hood extension that avoids vignetting while being long enough to be effective.
What’s great about this design is that it’s super light at just 3 grams and attaches to the outside of the lens, allowing me to still use a filter.
Yuri helped me create a much cooler hood for this lens. Usually, I don’t care about hoods, but it makes a big difference when shooting against the light. I’ll post pictures showing it and share the code.
Nice initial shots, Fred. I really enjoy my Summarit. I particularly like it for moody BWs. It also can give very impressionistic close ups with a short extender.
I have found this comparison helpful many times, and now it has grown to quite a list of lenses. The link to the Noct f/1 unfortunately sends you to the f/0.95 page, rather than the original Noct f/1 page, which had some fairly gorgeous BW images.
Grenache wrote:
I have found this comparison helpful many times, and now it has grown to quite a list of lenses. The link to the Noct f/1 unfortunately sends you to the f/0.95 page, rather than the original Noct f/1 page, which had some fairly gorgeous BW images.
Yeah, that's the only one I could find, and the picture below is on the page you originally shared.
Grenache wrote:
Thanks for linking that page, but it is still not the original from several years ago with the jaw dropping (at least for me) f/1 images.
The BW images in the field about midway down on this page are some of the images from the original post he had. Pure magic.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Here are some of the earlier samples showing images straight out of the camera using the Adobe Standard profile. I agree, different profiles can significantly affect contrast and colors. This is more representative of the lens's natural behavior.
When shooting against the light, the lens produces a pleasing veiling flare that results in a low-contrast image. However, when the subject faces the light source, the contrast increases and the colors become more vivid.
I also own this lens, and it has the most vibrant and unpredictable bokeh of all rangefinder lenses I have used so far. One big and rarely documented benefit of this lens is its 3D rendering with unique glow in lit areas when using a close-up lens attached to this Summarit f/1.5. Hood is often a must outdoors when using this lens - I got the original lens hood with screw-tightening.
Grenache wrote:
I have found this comparison helpful many times, and now it has grown to quite a list of lenses. The link to the Noct f/1 unfortunately sends you to the f/0.95 page, rather than the original Noct f/1 page, which had some fairly gorgeous BW images.
I absolutely love the Noct 50/1 for B/W images. It’s just sublime. The more I see of this 50/1.5, it would be a very nice stand in for the 50/1 Noct. I hate traveling with a 5 thousand dollar lens. And shooting it in tough environments.
