Charles: The portrait is truly outstanding! You captured the expressions of mother and daughter in an extraordinary way here, great! And the PP/conversion emphasizes the mood brilliantly.
zhangyue wrote:
Here are a few 50cron rigid shots all wide open. Hopefully, this weekend, I can go somewhere to show some of non family shots
Michael: Definitely #1 for me: stringent composition, great graphical impact and an interesting story ("What's behind that door?") . Sooo typical, but not at all clichéd, outstanding capture of the decisive moment in a brilliant presentation, like it very much!
Charles, excellent looking portrait!
Ryan, very nice set with the 75Lux! Your new garden? Looks warm and inviting.
Zhangyue, cute shots of the children. Beautiful rendering on the classic 50Cron!
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Pick your poison, choose sharpness at MFD or smooth bokeh, but can't have both . 35Lux ASPH vs 35Lux ASPH. Even the color rendition is different.
Interesting Joe... the top one is the FLE? The slightly oof text on the Lance Armstrong book is a bit annoying with the impression of a sharper double image in the top image vs. the lower one, which has a lot more SA. BTW, the lighting changed between the two captures - was there a TV or something on in the room?
It would seem the lens in the top image has a softer oof foreground rendition rather than background, which is the opposite of the lens in the bottom image. I'd probably go with the sharper lens, though the slight glow in the plane of focus isn't all that annoying or relevant unless you look at everything at 100%
Ron, yes top is FLE. The bokeh balls are like donuts rather than a smother ball. Iagree on sharpness criteria with you. I have one or two more comparisons. Will post when I have a chance. The lenses are really close in performance but I can tell that the FLE has more pop, I guess it's the higher contrast at closer distances.
Thank you guys!
Joe, looks like they are very close though the 35 fle does has more modern Leica contrast and pop.
Charles, another wonderful portrait with full of character.
Luka, Another wonderful set. Slightly prefer the third and last one. You shots really make 50lux shine.
Gary, the first one is really nice.
Charles, like both. Very neutral color with special rendering.
Charles, excellent portrait as always! Also like the first shot at the beach with your 75Lux.
Luka, excellent set, #3 & 4 are my favorites on this set, especially #4!
Gary, nice work with the ZM18. Looks like a really nice lens. Are you still shooting a M8?
Joakim, nice set with the 24 SE. I like the composition on the first shot.
charles.K wrote:
Joe, great comparison of the 35 Lux's. I do love the older version, with the unique Leica glow!! Do you have any issues with focus shift with the 35 Lux Asph vI? This is the main reason, that I chose the 35 Lux FLE, and didn't want problems with focus shift, as I found with the ZM 50/1.5 C Sonnar.
I made some extensive test on the 35Lux ASPH v1, and my copy showed no focus shift across all apertures in actual **real life** use. With the lens test chart, it does show a few mm back-focus somewhere between f/4 to f/8 but when I tested it on **real** objects, I could not see any noticeable shift, even at 100% crop.
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At the request of some of you, here are a few more 35Lux ASPH vs 35Lux ASPH. Testing outdoors was difficult and the tests are not 100% controlled in the sense that the lighting was changing all the time, the clouds were moving in and out and I did have to adjust the exposure to balance up the comparison shots. I used daylight white balance and did not make adjustment to the color. Also used auto lens coding and default import/export into LR3. What was interesting was that I could move closer to the subject on the V1, maybe an additional of 3-8mm compared to the FLE, ie, if I leave the tripod at the same position, the image circle is different on both lenses.
35Lux ASPH v1 @ f/1.4
35Lux ASPH FLE @ f/1.4
35Lux ASPH v1 @ f/1.4 100% crop
35Lux ASPH FLE @ f/1.4 100% crop
The results are consistent with my earlier test, the FLE is sharper and has more contrast wide open, but bokeh on the V1 appears smoother and less "contrasty" than the FLE. Also, the color rendition is different. The V1 is cooler while the FLE is warmer.
The following is a 100% crop @ f/8. At this aperture, both lenses appears equal. Can you tell them apart?
Just for fun, I put the ZM 21/2.8 on the tripod when I was testing the other lenses. The ZM21/2.8 appears to be very sharp in the center wide open, but as most of us know, this lens really suffers from field curvature on the corners until we reach f/8.
I coded it using 21 Elmarit pre ASPH and the color is quite different compared to the 35Lux(es).
And here's a test of the 35Lux ASPH vs 35Lux ASPH @ f/1.4 at infinity. First shot V1, second FLE. Looking at the crops, it appears that my copy of the FLE is out of calibration.
Sorry to see that Joe. I would guess that FLE owners, like Charles, could give a counterpoint to how their FLEs perform wide open at distance, but I agree with you, it doesn't look right. I assume it's not just a focus issue, because I can't really see a plane of sharp focus anywhere in the crops. Did you try any shots backing off infinity just a touch to see if it makes a difference? I wonder if the houses are far enough away for proper infinity check, though the distant trees should be.
Unless that FLE has been optimized for near distances? I still think I see a bit of double edging from it just in the transitions out of focus on the coke can... wonder if that might be a telltale sign of an issue?
ZM21: I agree, very sharp centrally. Had Zeiss only made it with a flatter field, it would probably rival the new SEM considering the ZM's price point. I'll add that I've noticed all my Zeiss lenses have considerably different color quality if they're shot uncoded vs. coded on the M9. Generally a fair amount cooler if uncoded.
Joakim and Luka: nice sets from Stockholm! Between the two of you, I've begun to form a mental image of the city.
Great feel to those Charles!
Gary - nice to see some work from the ZM18 - great contrast in these images.
Michael, Joakim, Joe and Ron, thanks guys
Joakim, really like the composition of the first shot! Very nice lighting in the last shot
Joe, great set of comparisons! I still love the classical look of the 35 Lux Asph v1 At f/8, there is virtually no difference, as far as comparisons on the screen.
I agree with Ron, there must a calibration issue at infinity with the FLE, I would also test the focus at far mid distances too.
I have had 4 lenses that have been marginally out at infinity, including my FLE. My FLE was also back focusing at MFD, but fortunately this has been all resolved locally at Camera Clinic. It would be fair to say, with the Lux's, and 75/90 Crons, the range of error for calibration is very small. Even with Leica's master calibration standards, my 35 and 50 Lux, marginally back focus(apparently very common with the 35 and 50 Lux, whilst maintaining the calibration at infinity) and my 75 Lux, 75 Cron and 90 Cron AA, marginally front focus. In real world shooting this is perfect, as it works with both M9's. There is an acceptable range for calibration of the M9, but matching Lux's to work, requires some very minor adjustments(still within M9's specs), that allow for all the lenses to focus accurately in real world shooting.
Charles, Ron, Joe, Joakim thanks for the comments!
zhangyue love the kid shots! I love the last B/W shot
Joe - I loved my ASPH I but I think I agree with your decision. Although I think the bokeh is superior in the ASPH I the extra contrast and sharpness in the ASPH II makes that lens a real winner. That sucks that you need to send it in, but better to have it right. Did you also purchase the ZM 21? I was going back and forth with 21 and 24 with the 21 SEM / ZM 21 / 24 Elmar (just can't pay $6,000 for the 24 Lux no matter how bad I want it) and decided on the 24.
Luka - so crisp those 50 Lux shots.
Gary - congrats on the ZM 18. It is an excellent lens on the M8. I prefered it on the M8 vs M9. Great set!
Charles - like the beach shots with the 75 Lux! Those shots reminded me I need to buy an ND filter for the 75 Lux
Joakim - like the set. The colors in #2 are excellent. When does spring start for you guys?
And....LR4 is a great improvement over LR3 for those that haven't purchased it yet. Well worth the $79.
Charles, now I know why you shoot the 75 Lux so much, this lens is simply amazing. I wanted a lens that would be excellent for portraits of the kids, and the 75 Lux does this and so much more. It is really something how the lens changes character at about f/2.8 where it goes from soft portrait (though still being sharp) to razor sharp and contrasty. The 3D effect is definitely there with this lens. All shots below are wide open. The first shot obviously isn't anything to hang on the wall, but I amazed at the character of this lens. All three shots wide open
. 35Lux ASPH vs 35Lux ASPH. Even the color rendition is different.
