p.19 #1 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Fred Miranda wrote:
Juha, you should try to get the MS Optics 50/1 ISM. I just received mine in Silver and it has become my favorite MS Optics lens.
Based on the reviews I read, I was expecting heavy vignetting and soft results wide open, but this lens actually performs very similarly to the Leica 35mm f/1.4 Lux Pre-asph, just in a 50mm FL. If you zoom in to 100%, you can see fine detail just like with the Leica. The spherical aberration lowers contrast and adds a beautiful glow to the image. Coma is also not corrected, which contributes to the lens's unique rendering.
I took a few shots during a short walk today right after receiving the lens. I used my M10-P Safari at ISO 200, so some highlights are blown since all images were shot wide open at f/1. I also didn't correct for vignetting so you can see how well-controlled it is. Honestly, it's even better than the Leica 50/1 Noctilux in that regard. I didn't use the included hood to see how it handles flare and I love the veiling is produces against the sun....Show more →
This is a rather amazing illustration of what this lens can do. I have had a nagging interest in MS-Optics for some time, and I rather wish I hadn't noticed this thread ....
The rendering in some of the close focus shots seems a little reminiscent of the pre-asph 50mm Summiluxes -- and perhaps the f/1.5 Summarit even more so. Is the bokeh what you were expecting, this being an f/1.0 lens?
(That question absolutely isn't meant to imply any criticism whatsoever of the lens or the images, by the way. Quite the reverse. The rendering seems to me quite charming, and the lack of vignetting is also surprising.)
If I might ask one other question: where did you manage to find it? My impression has always been that MS-Optics lenses that are no longer available new are pretty hard to come by.
p.19 #2 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Fred Miranda wrote:
Juha, you should try to get the MS Optics 50/1 ISM. I just received mine in Silver and it has become my favorite MS Optics lens.
Based on the reviews I read, I was expecting heavy vignetting and soft results wide open, but this lens actually performs very similarly to the Leica 35mm f/1.4 Lux Pre-asph, just in a 50mm FL. If you zoom in to 100%, you can see fine detail just like with the Leica. The spherical aberration lowers contrast and adds a beautiful glow to the image. Coma is also not corrected, which contributes to the lens's unique rendering.
I took a few shots during a short walk today right after receiving the lens. I used my M10-P Safari at ISO 200, so some highlights are blown since all images were shot wide open at f/1. I also didn't correct for vignetting so you can see how well-controlled it is. Honestly, it's even better than the Leica 50/1 Noctilux in that regard. I didn't use the included hood to see how it handles flare and I love the veiling is produces against the sun....Show more →
Hi Fred, it certainly looks very nice based on your samples! Thanks for sharing your impressions. It seems you got a very nice copy too. I'd certainly love to pick one up if I ever see one at a an acceptable price. I haven't seen one in several months. Map Camera has had a used copy a couple of times in the past but they tend to go fast and the prices have been going up over time.
p.19 #3 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Fred Miranda wrote:
Juha, you should try to get the MS Optics 50/1 ISM. I just received mine in Silver and it has become my favorite MS Optics lens.
Based on the reviews I read, I was expecting heavy vignetting and soft results wide open, but this lens actually performs very similarly to the Leica 35mm f/1.4 Lux Pre-asph, just in a 50mm FL. If you zoom in to 100%, you can see fine detail just like with the Leica. The spherical aberration lowers contrast and adds a beautiful glow to the image. Coma is also not corrected, which contributes to the lens's unique rendering.
I took a few shots during a short walk today right after receiving the lens. I used my M10-P Safari at ISO 200, so some highlights are blown since all images were shot wide open at f/1. I also didn't correct for vignetting so you can see how well-controlled it is. Honestly, it's even better than the Leica 50/1 Noctilux in that regard. I didn't use the included hood to see how it handles flare and I love the veiling is produces against the sun....Show more →
It looks quite different from the rendering of the Sonnetar 50mm 1.3, you can keep both.
But how I wish Mr. Miyazaki would mass produce theses lenses, it’s not the collector part that draws me even though the peculiar aspect of the production has its charms.
p.19 #4 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
MS-Optics posted some of my sample photos taken with the Lumitar 50/3.5 in their Instagram
I gave links to my 3 Lumitar photo Albums to Miyazaki-san's grandson last week and told him they can freely use those in their Website or SNS.
There was a question posted in the comments by user called sonnargauss:
"Where can we buy directly from MS Optics? The MKdirect51 website still says Japan-only".
MS-Optics account replied:
"MS-OPTICS is where the lenses are made, and MK Direct is where they are sold. If you are overseas, you can buy directly from MS-OPTICS. To do so, please contact us via DM or msopticsmiyazaki @ gmail.com !"
So it seems like there may still be a path to buy directly from them for overseas customers as well, just dealing directly with MS-Optics (most likely with Miyazaki-san's grandson) instead of via MKDirect. I'm not sure how it works in terms of pricing etc. but it could be a useful option to check out.
p.19 #5 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Juha Kannisto wrote:
MS-Optics posted some of my sample photos taken with the Lumitar 50/3.5 in their Instagram
I gave links to my 3 Lumitar photo Albums to Miyazaki-san's grandson last week and told him they can freely use those in their Website or SNS.
There was a question posted in the comments by user called sonnargauss:
"Where can we buy directly from MS Optics? The MKdirect51 website still says Japan-only".
MS-Optics account replied:
"MS-OPTICS is where the lenses are made, and MK Direct is where they are sold. If you are overseas, you can buy directly from MS-OPTICS. To do so, please contact us via DM or msoptics @ gmail.com !"
So it seems like there may still be a path to buy directly from them for overseas customers as well, just dealing directly with MS-Optics (most likely with Miyazaki-san's grandson) instead of via MKDirect. I'm not sure how it works in terms of pricing etc. but it could be a useful option to check out....Show more →
That is really helpful and good to know. Thank you for posting it. I can no longer resist the temptation so have, this morning, written to MS-Optics directly to ask whether they could sell me various of their no longer available lenses. Fingers crossed!
(And it’s nice to see them posting some of your photographs. I can well understand why they would wish to do that )
p.19 #6 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Andrew CD wrote:
That is really helpful and good to know. Thank you for posting it. I can no longer resist the temptation so have, this morning, written to MS-Optics directly to ask whether they could sell me various of their no longer available lenses. Fingers crossed!
(And it’s nice to see them posting some of your photographs. I can well understand why they would wish to do that )
Thanks! I don't know if they can still make their no longer available lenses (maybe some of them are possible at least if they are still listed in MKDirect site and especially if not marked as Sold Out there yet). Anyway, should be worth asking
I do hope they would make some re-runs of some lenses that I missed myself (like 50/1.0, original 35/1.4...). I did manage to pick up a nice collection of 19 unique lenses in the last few years though and I'm looking forward to more new ones
p.19 #7 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
By the way, their correct gmail.com address is msopticsmiyazaki @ gmail.com without the spaces. There was something missing from the address when I copied it from their Instagram post to my forum post above, after the forum filtered parts of it & I tried to fix it by adding spaces to avoid the filtering. I've fixed it in my post above but it wasn't correct at first. Please note if somebody already used the address.
p.19 #8 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Juha Kannisto wrote:
MS-Optics posted some of my sample photos taken with the Lumitar 50/3.5 in their Instagram
I gave links to my 3 Lumitar photo Albums to Miyazaki-san's grandson last week and told him they can freely use those in their Website or SNS.
There was a question posted in the comments by user called sonnargauss:
"Where can we buy directly from MS Optics? The MKdirect51 website still says Japan-only".
MS-Optics account replied:
"MS-OPTICS is where the lenses are made, and MK Direct is where they are sold. If you are overseas, you can buy directly from MS-OPTICS. To do so, please contact us via DM or msopticsmiyazaki @ gmail.com !"
So it seems like there may still be a path to buy directly from them for overseas customers as well, just dealing directly with MS-Optics (most likely with Miyazaki-san's grandson) instead of via MKDirect. I'm not sure how it works in terms of pricing etc. but it could be a useful option to check out....Show more →
p.19 #11 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Juha Kannisto wrote:
Thanks! I don't know if they can still make their no longer available lenses (maybe some of them are possible at least if they are still listed in MKDirect site and especially if not marked as Sold Out there yet). Anyway, should be worth asking
I do hope they would make some re-runs of some lenses that I missed myself (like 50/1.0, original 35/1.4...). I did manage to pick up a nice collection of 19 unique lenses in the last few years though and I'm looking forward to more new ones
That’s some collection! Sounds wonderful. This is a fascinating thread (although I haven’t yet read all of it). I’ve been trying to better understand the characteristics of these delightful lenses, so your rather amazing albums have been invaluable (the many other sample images, too). I’ve also tried to learn more from Miyazaki-san’s MTF graphs and designs notes. And @BastianK ‘s reviews are more than helpful, as always.
Although I’ve been intrigued by the lenses for some time, my impression was that those that are out of production are pretty difficult to buy, particularly outside of Japan and, in this instance, I was reluctant to resort to on-line auction sites. But an e-mail direct to MS-Optics is a great option — they are clearly an excellent company to deal with — so thank you again for posting that that had become possible for foreigners.
Having gleaned what I could from the many samples, reviews and other information that I’ve studied, I had come to the conclusion that I’d most like to try using the reasonably wide Gauss-based designs with a decent amount of spherical aberration but that don’t have the most field curvature. The 2/24 Aporia and the 1.3/36 Apollon seem to fit the bill perfectly. The photos taken with these, in your albums and by other people, are just lovely. I also happen to greatly like Sonnar lenses, so the 1.3/50 Sonnetar would be a nice companion for my late 1930s / early 1940s Carl Zeiss Jena 1.5/50.
p.19 #12 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Andrew CD wrote:
That’s some collection! Sounds wonderful. This is a fascinating thread (although I haven’t yet read all of it). I’ve been trying to better understand the characteristics of these delightful lenses, so your rather amazing albums have been invaluable (the many other sample images, too). I’ve also tried to learn more from Miyazaki-san’s MTF graphs and designs notes. And @BastianK@ ‘s reviews are more than helpful, as always.
Although I’ve been intrigued by the lenses for some time, my impression was that those that are out of production are pretty difficult to buy, particularly outside of Japan and, in this instance, I was reluctant to resort to on-line auction sites. But an e-mail direct to MS-Optics is a great option — they are clearly an excellent company to deal with — so thank you again for posting that that had become possible for foreigners.
Having gleaned what I could from the many samples, reviews and other information that I’ve studied, I had come to the conclusion that I’d most like to try using the reasonably wide Gauss-based designs with a decent amount of spherical aberration but that don’t have the most field curvature. The 2/24 Aporia and the 1.3/36 Apollon seem to fit the bill perfectly. The photos taken with these, in your albums and by other people, are just lovely. I also happen to greatly like Sonnar lenses, so the 1.3/50 Sonnetar would be a nice companion for my late 1930s / early 1940s Carl Zeiss Jena 1.5/50....Show more →
Thanks very much, Andrew! I agree that 2/24 Aporia, 1.3/36 Apollon and 1.3/50 Sonnetar are all great options. I'm afraid Apollong might not be possible to get from MS-Optics these days as they've marked it as Sold Out in the MKDirect pages and I heard from Miyazaki-san's grandson a long time ago that they were running out of parts for that one. Also the 2nd hand prices of that lens have been climbing up quite much. On the other hand Aporia and Sonnetar are not marked as Sold Out in MKDirect pages, although they are out of stock. I think MS-Optics might still have enough parts to make some of those on-demand... Not sure though.
I enjoyed shooting with the new Lumitar 3.5/50 again on 3 different days last week around Yokohama and Ebisu on my lunch breaks: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qWmdmXcKbkhrfAsn6
It's quite a good performer for stopped down f8 shots, and I used it a lot for that type of shooting this time. I also like it's wide open character quite a bit.
p.19 #13 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Juha Kannisto wrote:
Thanks very much, Andrew! I agree that 2/24 Aporia, 1.3/36 Apollon and 1.3/50 Sonnetar are all great options. I'm afraid Apollong might not be possible to get from MS-Optics these days as they've marked it as Sold Out in the MKDirect pages and I heard from Miyazaki-san's grandson a long time ago that they were running out of parts for that one. Also the 2nd hand prices of that lens have been climbing up quite much. On the other hand Aporia and Sonnetar are not marked as Sold Out in MKDirect pages, although they are out of stock. I think MS-Optics might still have enough parts to make some of those on-demand... Not sure though.
I enjoyed shooting with the new Lumitar 3.5/50 again on 3 different days last week around Yokohama and Ebisu on my lunch breaks: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qWmdmXcKbkhrfAsn6
It's quite a good performer for stopped down f8 shots, and I used it a lot for that type of shooting this time. I also like it's wide open character quite a bit....Show more →
Thanks for posting all these samples Juha.
The Lumitar wide open looks a bit too well-corrected for my taste (especially considering what I usually expect from MS Optics lenses). If I'm after that kind of rendering, I might just reach for the Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO instead.
p.19 #15 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Fred Miranda wrote:
Thanks for posting all these samples Juha.
The Lumitar wide open looks a bit too well-corrected for my taste (especially considering what I usually expect from MS Optics lenses). If I'm after that kind of rendering, I might just reach for the Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 APO instead.
Yes, apparently the uncoated version will look softer and more old school but I didn't go for that version... I do like the Lumitar a lot but I agree that it's fairly close to a well performing normal lens and not the most characterful from the MS-Optics lineup. It has a certain similarity to Xenomax but with a touch more character.
p.19 #16 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Juha Kannisto wrote:
Yes, apparently the uncoated version will look softer and more old school but I didn't go for that version... I do like the Lumitar a lot but I agree that it's fairly close to a well performing normal lens and not the most characterful from the MS-Optics lineup. It has a certain similarity to Xenomax but with a touch more character.
Yes, the SC version might allow a bit more veiling, but the rendering is still much smoother compared to other MS Optics lenses. It seems to have a different and better-corrected look, which definitely has its place too.
p.19 #19 · MS-Optics lenses Image and Discussion Thread
Andrew CD wrote:
Nice! I do like the out of focus rendering in the foreground.
You must be delighted to have found one. Does it live up to expectations? (I’d be willing to bet that it does …. )
I’m really delighted, even more than I thought I would be. I really wanted that lens but the rarity of it plus the crazy prices of the ones that popped here and there so scarcely though made me abandon the thought of owning one.
A few years back I bought a very cheap Samyang 85mm 1.4, I never had a lens over the focal length of 50mm and it was a revelation for street photo, so fun.
Since I made the leap to m lenses, I found the options in the 75/85mm range a bit lacking to my taste.
75mm is not the most convenient everyday focal length and I had doubts looking so heavily for that lens, still the size of it and the rendering really change the game for me.
When you really dig a lens you work around it more than you’re frustrated by it.
The Sonnetar does live up to my expectations, it’s small, quite beautiful with its industrial efficient design, the rendering is great, I was a bit fearful as I read on this forum that a lot of people were saying that it needed some adjustment or that it was very fragile. My copy looks like it had some adventures but feels quite sturdy, so that’s good.
)
