Fred Miranda wrote:
Here are a few portraits from the Sony A7CR UT + Leica 50/1.5 Summarit:
Great shots! I had one for a short time, I regret selling it. I go back and forth with older lenses.
How do you compare and liking it to the Heliar 1.5, the glow is more abundant and halation too I guess primarely.
Thank you! I think it has slightly lower contrast compared to the Summiluxes, but the MTF performance is very similar to the Summilux v1, and it also has similar character. I believe Leica collectors undervalue it because it doesn't fit into the typical Leica naming conventions since it's an f/1.5 Summarit, while Summarit lenses are usually slower than f/2. These last images were straight out of the camera and, to me, have that Hollywood glamour look from the '50s. We should start a thread about this lens. I developed a 3D hood that is perfect for it, but I also purchased the original Summarit hood, which looks very cool on the lens.
Sonnar-7 wrote:
Great shots! I had one for a short time, I regret selling it. I go back and forth with older lenses.
How do you compare and liking it to the Heliar 1.5, the glow is more abundant and halation too I guess primarely.
I plan to compare them side by side, but I believe the CV 50/1.5 Heliar has higher contrast and better resistance to veiling flare, even though it's also single-coated. It seems sharper with slightly less glow too. Here’s a portrait taken with the Heliar:
LEICA M10-RVoigtlander 50mm f/1.5 Heliar Classic lens50mmf/1.41/60s160 ISO0.0 EV
Fred Miranda wrote:
I plan to compare them side by side, but I believe the CV 50/1.5 Heliar has higher contrast and better resistance to veiling flare, even though it's also single-coated. It seems sharper with slightly less glow too. Here’s a portrait taken with the Heliar:
The dreamy rendering is there too, although similar but different.
That lens is really better than expected or what the general consensus of it still is. I feel like retesting it more lately.
That glowy modern look/rendering is scarce to come by.
Historically, Leica used the design of Schneider’s Xenon 50/1.5 in order to compete with Zeiss’ 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar in mid 1930’s. The Summarit 50mm f/1.5 is a coated version of the Xenon and it is not Leica’s design, released in 1954. The first version of the Summilux 50mm f1/4, released in 1959, is a modified version Xenon/Summarit to reduce aberration and other optical characters. The real Leica design fast 50mm is the second version of the Summilux 50/1.4 released in 1961.
I personally really like the Summarit, very unique character and soft rendering style are special, especially on monochrom digital Leica Ms. I do notice that there are similar render styles between the Summarit 50 and Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 Heliar Classic. I prefer to use Heliar Classic for color images and Summarit for B&W. And Heliar focus much close to 0.5 m whereas Summarit to 0.9 m on M bodies
ocean2059 wrote:
Historically, Leica used the design of Schneider’s Xenon 50/1.5 in order to compete with Zeiss’ 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar in mid 1930’s. The Summarit 50mm f/1.5 is a coated version of the Xenon and it is not Leica’s design, released in 1954. The first version of the Summilux 50mm f1/4, released in 1959, is a modified version Xenon/Summarit to reduce aberration and other optical characters. The real Leica design fast 50mm is the second version of the Summilux 50/1.4 released in 1961.
I personally really like the Summarit, very unique character and soft rendering style are special, especially on monochrom digital Leica Ms. I do notice that there are similar render styles between the Summarit 50 and Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5 Heliar Classic. I prefer to use Heliar Classic for color images and Summarit for B&W. And Heliar focus much close to 0.5 m whereas Summarit to 0.9 m on M bodies...Show more →
Yes, according to my Leica pocket book, Leica noticeably improved the lens’ performance with the Summilux version 2. This version, which had one of the longest production runs, features a much stronger center than previous versions. However as you can see from the @lifeandmylens 's samples on this thread, v1 had the most character in the rendering.
Both the Summarit and Summilux V1 have center performances between 30-40 at 40 lines per millimeter (lp/mm), so fine detail measurement, reaching 33 and 38 respectively while the Summilux V2’s center performance jumps to about 55 in the scale. In terms of contrast, the Summilux V2 reaches 100 on 10 lp/mm, whereas the Summilux V1 is about 78, and surprisingly, the Summarit performs a bit better than the V1 at 93.
The Xenon version performs similarly to the Summarit but with even lower contrast and more flare due to its uncoated elements. It's known to perform about the same as the Summarit but I don't have its MTF graph.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Yes, according to my Leica pocket book, Leica noticeably improved the lens’ performance with the Summilux version 2. This version, which had one of the longest production runs, features a much stronger center than previous versions. However as you can see from the @lifeandmylens@ 's samples on this thread, v1 had the most character in the rendering.
Both the Summarit and Summilux V1 have center performances between 30-40 at 40 lines per millimeter (lp/mm), so fine detail measurement, reaching 33 and 38 respectively while the Summilux V2’s center performance jumps to about 55 in the scale. In terms of contrast, the Summilux V2 reaches 100 on 10 lp/mm, whereas the Summilux V1 is about 78, and surprisingly, the Summarit performs a bit better than the V1 at 93.
The Xenon version performs similarly to the Summarit but with even lower contrast and more flare due to its uncoated elements. It's known to perform about the same as the Summarit but I don't have its MTF graph....Show more →
Yes, you're correct that center resolution of the Summarit 50mm f/1.5 is excellent. Here is one that I just took with my M9.
I'll be posting the comparison soon. I used my Sony A7CR "UT" to compare the Leica 50/1.5 Summarit and the Voigtlander 50/1.5 Heliar. Surprisingly, the Leica appeared sharper at the center (seems like I have an excellent copy of the Summarit). When focusing using 'peaking,' the Summarit showed higher peaking levels. The Voigtlander had higher overall contrast at f/1.5, but I prefer the more film-like look of the Leica samples.
The bokeh ball shape of the Voigtlander is more similar to the Summilux V2 (more rounded) compared to the Summarit and Summilux V1, which have a more conical shape.
I still need to upload the images to Lightroom, but I'll post a quick side-by-side comparison soon..
Not to hijack the the very informational thread, which I am enjoying, thank you very much...
We can take further discussion of my newb question elsewhere, if needed to go any further?
When you guys do "one offs" to LightRoom, how are doing this via catalog?
I generate separate catalogs from events.
I guess you can generate separate catalog to cover "misc"?
Fred Miranda wrote:
I still need to upload the images to Lightroom, but I'll post a quick side-by-side comparison soon..
Here are a few more shots from the Leica M10-R with the Leica 50mm f/1.5 Summarit. The Leica 50mm f/1.4 Lux pre-ASPH (v1) has a similar rendering to this lens.
I’ve kept the original rendering with minimal post-processing, using the Adobe Standard profile. I used the original Summarit lens hood, which I believe is essential for this lens.
Such a great thread- @fredmiranda Great shots with the Summarit- I tried to love the copy I had I just couldn’t for whatever reason. You are doing it justice for sure!!
Just to add more examples of the 50 Lux that @lifeandmylens did such a great job showing-
All shot with the 50 Lux Pre-ASPH V3
Recent Hawaii trip- All with yellow filter-
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/9.51/250s200 ISO+1.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/9.51/320s125 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/9.51/320s125 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/1.71/200s6400 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/1.41/400s125 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/3.41/250s2500 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/2.41/250s200 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M11 MonochromSummilux-M 1:1.4/50 lens50mmf/1.71/250s1250 ISO0.0 EV
RustyRus wrote:
Such a great thread- @fredmiranda@ Great shots with the Summarit- I tried to love the copy I had I just couldn’t for whatever reason. You are doing it justice for sure!!
Just to add more examples of the 50 Lux that @lifeandmylens@ did such a great job showing-
All shot with the 50 Lux Pre-ASPH V3
Recent Hawaii trip- All with yellow filter-
These are great and show how different the lens renders at different apertures. I have a VII….similar characteristic to the VIII and wide open is just magical for softer portraits (great example is origami angel pic above). Once you stop it down, extremely sharp. Bokeh doesn’t have the rigidness of the ASPH at the f/2-f/4 range.
My favorite of the ones above is the pic of the dry aging, this lens + monochrom are meant for eachother
RustyRus wrote:
Such a great thread- @fredmiranda@ Great shots with the Summarit- I tried to love the copy I had I just couldn’t for whatever reason. You are doing it justice for sure!!
Just to add more examples of the 50 Lux that @lifeandmylens@ did such a great job showing-
All shot with the 50 Lux Pre-ASPH V3
Recent Hawaii trip- All with yellow filter-
Are the first images from the Grand Wailea in Maui? It was our favorite hotel in Hawaii when our kids were little. Love the tones!
Here are a few shots from the M10-R with the Summarit 50/1.5, using Monochrome settings with high contrast to emulate the M10 Monochrom look. I only adjusted the Tone Curve and B&W Mix.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Here are a few shots from the M10-R with the Summarit 50/1.5, using Monochrome settings with high contrast to emulate the M10 Monochrom look. I only adjusted the Tone Curve and B&W Mix.
The flare on this lens looks great! Love the structured flare to it. Looks somewhat predictable- Also love the high contrast look paired with a lower contrast style lens.
