Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/02

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Subject: [Leica] best all round 50 mm??
From: bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)
Date: Sun May 2 12:59:27 2004

I'm with you, Jeffery - The Nokton has, even according to Erwin Puts, a
slight edge on the Summicron in terms of contrast and sharpness, and it
has about a $1000 edge in terms of new price. It's well built - almost
Leica-like. I have no problems with the bokeh, although Nathan certainly
isn't the first person to complain about it. But I'd say it's one of the
real bargains in Leica lensdom. A Noctilux as a primary 50 makes
absolutely no sense - too big, too heavy, too little depth of field -
and very, very weird, ugly bokeh. It's one thing to have one for that
handful of times each year when the difference between f 1.4 and f 1
means getting or missing the picture. But for all around shooting - and
still being able to shoot in available darkness, the Nokton is the
winnah! ;-)
B. D.

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Jeffery Smith
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 10:03 AM
To: 'Leica Users Group'
Subject: RE: [Leica] best all round 50 mm??


I only agree half with you, Nathan. You named the Summicron first, and
then switched to the Summilux. :-)

I would have said the Nokton simply because I don't have the Summilux,
but the combination of size, weight, speed, and optical qualities make a
50/1.5 lens my top pick. Try to go any faster than that, and you are
lugging a ton of weight.

For the LUGer, it's a 50/1.4 Summilux. For the novice, it's the Nokton.

What's wrong with the Nokton's bokeh?

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA


-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jls=runbox.com@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jls=runbox.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Nathan
Wajsman
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 4:52 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] best all round 50 mm??

Hi Ruben,

The obvious answer to your question is the 50mm Summicron. I have owned
it, as well as a Noctilux, a Voigtlander Nokton, and a Summilux (no all
at the same time). In the end, I ended up with the Summilux, as the best
compromise between speed, size, price (I bought it new but at a very
good price from a dealer in Germany) and image quality.

I would say it like this:
- for ultimate speed, obviously the Noctilux
- for best image quality, the Summicron (but you are limited to f2)
- for greatest flexibility, the Summilux
- the low cost option is a Nokton, but I hated its bokeh, and since I
shoot a lot with wide apertures, the bokeh is important to me.

Whatever you do, do not buy it in Copenhagen--every time I stop by
Photografica or Foto AV, I am horrified by the high prices. 

Nathan

Ruben wrote:
> 
> I use my 35 mm summicron (non asph, ca. 1990)  85% of the time and my
90 mm
> 15% on my M6. I never used normal lenses much, but by using them in 
> medium-format I found that I am beginning to like them more and more.
Since
> I never tried a normal 50 mm on my M6, and since I would probably not
use it
> more them say 15-20 % of the time (time mostly taken by the amount I
would
> have used the 35 mm) I do not want to use a fortune on a lens - I dont
need
> the noctilux F 1.0, but I would like go for a lens of max F.2.0 like
the
> summicron. Question ?? some of you shooting a lot of 50 mm with
experience
> of different optics - what would be the best 50 mm allround optics,
with an
> image quality like my 35 mm summicron - would some of the olde optics
be as
> good - and what about voigtl?nder? I shoot a lot of pictures with
little DOF
> so i prefere not to have optics showing pantagon/hexagon shaped
highlights
> in the background
> ruben
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

-- 
Nathan Wajsman
Almere, The Netherlands

e-mail: n.wajsman@chello.nl
Mobile: +31 630 868 671

http://www.nathanfoto.com/index.html
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Replies: Reply from feli at creocollective.com (Feli di Giorgio) ([Leica] best all round 50 mm??)
In reply to: Message from jls at runbox.com (Jeffery Smith) ([Leica] best all round 50 mm??)