leonasj wrote:
charles.k ,why you use 50cron r?light small sharp ? how it is sharp vs cron 50 m you had or nikon 58g?
Hi Leonas I have had the M 50 Nocti f/1.0 (Mandler), M 50 Cron IV ( Mandler), M 50 Lux Asph, M 50 Cron DR with respect to Leica 50mm M lenses. Always the lenses I come back to and love shooting are the Mandler lenses. All of the Mandler lenses are surprisingly sharp at the point of focus and having superb focus roll off. These lenses have a low micro contrast and in harsh lighting they extend your DR.
The reason for the 50 Cron R (Mandler) 1984 is the rendering is unique, sharp yet there is a glow in the focus roll off. The 50 Cron R is very cost effective. Surprisingly too the performance of the 50 Cron R I feel is enhanced on the D850. This is unique as most adapted lenses perform less than optimum.
With respect to the 58G, this an excellent lens and so is the superb 50 Art. The 58G is a specialist lens and very unique in its style. I am 50mm shooter so I love having unique style of rendering in each of the 50's.
charles.K wrote:
Hi Leonas I have had the M 50 Nocti f/1.0 (Mandler), M 50 Cron IV ( Mandler), M 50 Lux Asph, M 50 Cron DR with respect to Leica 50mm M lenses. Always the lenses I come back to and love shooting are the Mandler lenses. All of the Mandler lenses are surprisingly sharp at the point of focus and having superb roll out of focus roll off. These lenses have a low micro contrast and in harsh lighting they extend your DR.
The reason for the 50 Cron R (Mandler) 1984 is the rendering is unique, sharp yet there is a glow in out of focus roll off. The 50 Cron R is very cost effective. Surprisingly too the performance of the 50 Cron R I feel is enhanced on the D850. This is unique as most adapted lenses perform less than optimum.
With respect to the 58G, this an excellent lens and so is the superb 50 Art. The 58G is a specialist lens and very unique in its style. I am 50mm shooter so I love having unique style of rendering in each of the 50's.
I agree with everything Charles says here, but I thought I would add that the R 50 cron II (the one Mandler designed) is optically almost identical to the M 50 cron IV and V (that Mandler also designed; these two M versions share the same optical formula but different housings, and the V is often called the pre-AA now or the pre-Asph). Mandler designed the R and M lens at almost the same time and they are very similar.
For your next R (Mandler) lens I would suggest the 80 f/1.4. It is a lovely lens and very similar to the M 75 f/1.4 I know you had (Mandler just tweaked the R 80 f/1.4 design to make it more compatible with a rangefinder when he created the M 75 f/1.4). I know you were disappointed with the M 75 lux on your Sony, but the R lenses with their much longer registration distance are much less sensitive to thickness of the cover glass. I think you would love the R 80 lux and the R 80 luxes are real historical bargains right now.
charles.K wrote:
Hi Leonas I have had the M 50 Nocti f/1.0 (Mandler), M 50 Cron IV ( Mandler), M 50 Lux Asph, M 50 Cron DR with respect to Leica 50mm M lenses. Always the lenses I come back to and love shooting are the Mandler lenses. All of the Mandler lenses are surprisingly sharp at the point of focus and having superb roll out of focus roll off. These lenses have a low micro contrast and in harsh lighting they extend your DR.
The reason for the 50 Cron R (Mandler) 1984 is the rendering is unique, sharp yet there is a glow in out of focus roll off. The 50 Cron R is very cost effective. Surprisingly too the performance of the 50 Cron R I feel is enhanced on the D850. This is unique as most adapted lenses perform less than optimum.
With respect to the 58G, this an excellent lens and so is the superb 50 Art. The 58G is a specialist lens and very unique in its style. I am 50mm shooter so I love having unique style of rendering in each of the 50's.
charles.K wrote:
Hi Leonas I have had the M 50 Nocti f/1.0 (Mandler), M 50 Cron IV ( Mandler), M 50 Lux Asph, M 50 Cron DR with respect to Leica 50mm M lenses. Always the lenses I come back to and love shooting are the Mandler lenses. All of the Mandler lenses are surprisingly sharp at the point of focus and having superb roll out of focus roll off. These lenses have a low micro contrast and in harsh lighting they extend your DR.
The reason for the 50 Cron R (Mandler) 1984 is the rendering is unique, sharp yet there is a glow in out of focus roll off. The 50 Cron R is very cost effective. Surprisingly too the performance of the 50 Cron R I feel is enhanced on the D850. This is unique as most adapted lenses perform less than optimum.
With respect to the 58G, this an excellent lens and so is the superb 50 Art. The 58G is a specialist lens and very unique in its style. I am 50mm shooter so I love having unique style of rendering in each of the 50's.
Agree with you about 50cron. Its Bokeh can be busy(but never ugly IMO) as JohnJ pointed early. the more I use it the more I like the lens. It has just right amount of SA to the image make the focus transition nice at f2.
BTW, you may tested it as well, in my last test, this 30 years old design is sharper than 58G and 50mm f1.8G cross frame after f2.8 on D810. It doesn't get much better than this.
Steve Spencer wrote:
I agree with everything Charles says here, but I thought I would add that the R 50 cron II (the one Mandler designed) is optically almost identical to the M 50 cron IV and V (that Mandler also designed; these two M versions share the same optical formula but different housings, and the V is often called the pre-AA now or the pre-Asph). Mandler designed the R and M lens at almost the same time and they are very similar.
For your next R (Mandler) lens I would suggest the 80 f/1.4. It is a lovely lens and very similar to the M 75 f/1.4 I know you had (Mandler just tweaked the R 80 f/1.4 design to make it more compatible with a rangefinder when he created the M 75 f/1.4). I know you were disappointed with the M 75 lux on your Sony, but the R lenses with their much longer registration distance are much less sensitive to thickness of the cover glass. I think you would love the R 80 lux and the R 80 luxes are real historical bargains right now. ...Show more →
Thanks Steve. I am keeping eye out for a 80 Lux R The 75 Lux M was one of my favorite lenses on the M9/M240 and with longer registration distance this may now be superb on the D850.
Also having had both the M 50 Cron IV and DR on the A7r, A7s and A7rII, the lenses were OK but never really great. Same for the M 50 Lux Asph. As you know I moved them all on.
The 50 Cron R however on the D850 is completely different. Maybe with the much longer registration distance the optics behave very differently and the 50 Cron R is a superb lens IMO.
leonasj wrote:
sharpest of those your lenses is m 50 lux asph even at 1.4?
The sharpest of my lenses on the D850 is the 50 Art even at f/1.4. I do feel if we are comparing lenses we need to consider which body we are using. The M 50 Lux Asph on the M240 is truly superb and is one of the sharpest lenses. I have not tried the R 50 Lux yet.
All said the 50 Cron R specifically on the D850 is a surprise package
zhangyue wrote:
Agree with you about 50cron. Its Bokeh can be busy(but never ugly IMO) as JohnJ pointed early. the more I use it the more I like the lens. It has just right amount of SA to the image make the focus transition nice at f2.
BTW, you may tested it as well, in my last test, this 30 years old design is sharper than 58G and 50mm f1.8G cross frame after f2.8 on D810. It doesn't get much better than this.
Love these shots Michael I agree I really like the bokeh as it is unique, full of Mandler character and not harsh. As you mentioned this lens is sharp surprisingly when you need it.
As Steve mentioned that with the much longer registration distance with the 50 Cron R the optical performance is completely different than when I tried adapt M lenses to the Sony A7 series. It is possible that with D850 may augment and even enhance the performance of R lenses. This may open a door for an all new array of lenses well suited for the D850
charles.K wrote:
The sharpest of my lenses on the D850 is the 50 Art even at f/1.4. I do feel if we are comparing lenses we need to consider which body we are using. The M 50 Lux Asph on the M240 is truly superb and is one of the sharpest lenses. I have not tried the R 50 Lux yet.
All said the 50 Cron R specifically on the D850 is a surprise package
i had sigma art50 on D810 and 85art was sharper for 50art,but m50lux asph is sharper for art50 p.s. want to buy r 35-70/4 for my SL use pn fishing trips,for photos landscape ,fish ,fishing equipment etc,sometimes need macro photos.how sharp this lens any use it?or better sharper use apo50 and crop if need for macro?
@Peire Nice flower set! I shot bunches of blooms this summer with the Sony 100/2.8 STF wide open. Here, the STF gives a DOF of f/4 but the blur is completely unstructured. Both renderings have their place. I presume your Macro Elmar is the barrelled version. Those dying for sharpness can heed Erwin Puts: "Stopping down to 1:8 improves the quality significantly with high overall contrast and a clear definition of extremely fine detail over a larger part of the picture area. Stopping down further just extends the depth of field and improves the corners a bit." Not bad for a 1968 design!
leonasj wrote:
both 60 and 100 elmarits macra far superior to this piece
Not quite.I got the 60/2.8 Elmarit and it is not any sharper.Only colour rendition is a tad more vivd and oof blurr a litle smoother.See it for yourself:
rico wrote:
@Peire@ Nice flower set! I shot bunches of blooms this summer with the Sony 100/2.8 STF wide open. Here, the STF gives a DOF of f/4 but the blur is completely unstructured. Both renderings have their place. I presume your Macro Elmar is the barrelled version. Those dying for sharpness can heed Erwin Puts: "Stopping down to 1:8 improves the quality significantly with high overall contrast and a clear definition of extremely fine detail over a larger part of the picture area. Stopping down further just extends the depth of field and improves the corners a bit." Not bad for a 1968 design!...Show more →
Thank you rico.My Macro Elmar 100 is barelled.And my point of view on sharpness is exactly as yours.
BTW: At times I am very close to buying Apo Macro Elmarit R 100/2.8,but having that Elmar and many other fine macro lenses of similar fl makes me waiting still.
Shot late this afternoon with the 50 Cron R and D850. I noticed that yesterday my infinity at f/5.6 was properly focused at the cusp of 10m. I had focused closer to infinity and was not correct at the beach.
Question for those that are experienced. Do you shim the 50 Cron R to suit so that infinity coincides on the barrel? At the moment for close to medium the focus point is accurate on the D850 but for infinity it is not as accurate. I probably just need to set at the value on the lens. Appreciate all your experiences here
I have had the M 50 Nocti f/1.0 (Mandler), M 50 Cron IV ( Mandler), M 50 Lux Asph, M 50 Cron DR with respect to Leica 50mm M lenses. Always the lenses I come back to and love shooting are the Mandler lenses. All of the Mandler lenses are surprisingly sharp at the point of focus and having superb focus roll off. These lenses have a low micro contrast and in harsh lighting they extend your DR. 
