[Leica] Canon F 1.2/50mm Screw - Experiences, Opinions?

[leica at screengang.com (Didier Ludwig)]

Luis

Having the Summilux, I would probably pass on the Canon (and probably on the 
expensive Nocti, too). 400 EUR for the 1.2/50 is much, but this lens is one 
of those with actually increasing prices. I guess the M8, the R-D1 and the  
rangefinder revival in general are responsible for that (RFF has 13'000 
members for instance). 

I paid $178.- for that lens (3 years ago), including Canon VT de Luxe 
camera, rare vented hood -sells for $300 alone, today-, 2 special Canon 55mm 
filters -normal filters don't work as the front element is very round)-, 3 
leather cases for camera, lens and hood, pistolgrip, manuals, boxes- eg. the 
whole package. If your dealer has hood and cases included, the price is ok.

The lens is better than it's reputation. It is soft in corners wide open, 
but seen from the creative point of view, this is not a matter for me. 
Because shooting wide open with the subject in front and the bokeh in the 
background means a lot of softness all around the picture anyway, and it is 
not very likely that exactly the corners are in the focus (except if the 
focus is at infinity). [Btw. "Being sharper in the corners wide open" is 
often the only argument for Leica lenses being superior to others. But in 
real world it's rather a non-argument, except you shoot landscapes at 
infinity wide open - but who does that?...]

Stopped down, the Canon delivers pictures that are at least sharp enough for 
me. To be mentioned should also be the nice, old-fashioned color rendering 
of that lens which is absolutely comparable to old Summicrons. Very warm 
colors.

The only problem I had with that lens was when using with the TomA rapidgrip 
on a M body - then the infinity lock was rather difficult to handle.

at f1.2
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Didier/various/bar_canon_wide_open.jpg.html>

at f2, distance 7 meters
<http://mogool.com/nica/915.jpg>

at f2.0 (or 2.8 don't remember), closest distance:
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Didier/various/Canon_50_at_f2_0.jpg.html>

Didier




>Today I've saw on a shop this lens, it was a nice one but my thoughts is
>that price was to expensive 400 Euro, and on the other hand, I have the
>Summilux 50, and 1,2 is not very much more than 1,4. IMO is better go for a
>Nocti.
> 
>Even so if someone has experience and some examples with this lens, it would
>be nice to see, thanks.
> 
>Saludos cordiales
>Luis