carstenw
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 p.244 #2 · Leica M/X/T/S/Q/CL/SL Picture Thread | |
Okay, here is a mini-review of the Leica APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH, since apart from Charles' great portraits, there are almost no images here, and I was asked in a PM for my opinion. Unfortunately, I have no M9, and no access to one, so these photos were made with the slightly too long and uncomfortable Leica M8 angle of view of a 120mm lens. IMO, the main characteristics which make me like this lens so much still come through, but I expect that it would gain a lot in character and would not lose a lot in performance on full frame.
I see a lot of people here who really enjoy the 90 Cron, and IMO this lens has nearly all the charm of the older lens, while adding a lot of modern performance, adding up to a total which is significantly better than the older lens in many cases. In some sense, I see this lens as opposed to the 75 Cron, which for my taste is too sterile and finicky, and is more to be compared to the 50 Lux ASPH, with its awe-inspiring all-capable performance. The APO 90 Cron is a very solid performer, very, very sharp, and is also very tolerant to bad backgrounds, while giving a beautiful, almost Mandler-esque glow to the boke in many cases. The in-focus plane is sharp with no glow. The lens is slightly large and heavy for a Leica M lens, and it can be tough to focus at certain distances, perhaps 25-75m or so, but it is very worth it. I have not seen any 3D from it, but on FF it is possible that it would give a little. Like all Leica APO lenses, it is very resistant to purple fringing, but not immune. It is much better than the 100 MP, for example, in this area.
I tried to make nice photos, but given that I am at home with a cold, the most I could do is to walk around my neighbourhood and try to pick out interesting stuff, so the real art content is very low here. I will present 12 shots and make commentary along the way as to what I am trying to show.
The following shots are all wide open, except the second branches shot, which is at f/8. Apart from whatever Apple Aperture chooses to add, these are all completely unprocessed, no sharpening, no white balance, nothing. If someone is interested, I could try to pull out some more sharpness from any specific shot, and to do full processing.
First of all, close up performance. The minimum distance is 1m, so you really can't get very close. It is fine for a tabletop still life, but is no substitute for a macro lens. In the first shot, you can see both the sharpness and the pleasing boke. In the second shot, I blew the exposure a bit, but you can see that it handles a messy background well (more of the same flowers and branches, really not far behind).
Let's take a look at some more background boke, this time at medium distances:
f/8:
Very messy:
Finally, some large distance sharpness and boke:
I hope this is helpful to anyone wanting to evaluate this lens. Within reasonable limits, I am willing to make specific types of shots to give more insight, but keep in mind that I only have an M8.
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