[Leica] IMG: The Age-Old Question: Which 50mm?

[Jim Nichols]

Hi Alan,

Very nice comparisons.  And since you used a heavy tripod, much more 
scientific than mine.  But the results are the same.

Old Summicrons Rule!   Mine is a Summicron-R from 1978.

Thanks for sharing this with me.

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 12/17/2016 10:47 PM, Alan Magayne-Roshak wrote:
> I too have a collection of "normal" lenses, so last March I tested 50mm
> lenses for central resolution and bokeh from wide-open to f/4.
> The lenses were: Canon f/1.2 LTM (1960), Nikkor f/1.2 (1990's), Nikkor
> f/1.4 (1963), Summicron f/2  M collapsible (1959), Summicron f/2 DR (1966),
> Super-Takumar f/1.4 (1968), and Olympus Zuiko f/1.4 (1990's). These were
> done on my Fuji X-E2, (APS-C) so the edges on full-frame don't show.  The
> background is cluttered shelves in the basement.  Camera was on 20-lb
> Majestic tripod.
>
> Look large.
>
> Here are the maximum aperture frames for each.
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/LensFu
> n/50mm+Lenses/Canon_1_2_at_1_2.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/LensFu
> n/50mm+Lenses/Nikkor_1_2_at_1_2.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/LensFu
> n/50mm+Lenses/Nikkor_1_4_at_1_4.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/LensFu
> n/50mm+Lenses/Summicron_2_Coll_at_2.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/LensFu
> n/50mm+Lenses/Summicron_2_DR_at_2.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/LensFu
> n/50mm+Lenses/Super-Takumar_1_4_at_1_4.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/LensFu
> n/50mm+Lenses/Zuiko_1_4_at_1_4.jpg.html>
>
> For (central) resolution, I evaluated the lenses at f/4, and found that by
> a small margin, the three best were the Nikkor f/1.2, and the two old
> Summicrons:
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/
> LensFun/50mm+Lenses/Nikkor_1_2_at_4.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/
> LensFun/50mm+Lenses/Summicron_2_Coll_at_4.jpg.html>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/
> LensFun/50mm+Lenses/Summicron_2_DR_at_4.jpg.html>
>