Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>The new collapsible 50mm/2,8 has been recently recalculated and has new >glass. Quality is now at par with more recent Leica lenses and definitely >far better than the previous 50mm/2.8, dating from 1957. Wide open it has >slight (0.4 diaph) light fall-off which is gone at 4.0. Best aperture 5.6. >It has the characteristics of new Leica glass: high contrast and excellent >sharpness also at closer distances, and contradicts people who are of the >opinion that fixed focus lenses have not improved since the sixties. Minimum >focusing distance is 70 cm (slightly less than 2.5 feet). > I agree with Geralds comments. I might add some additional information. On the optical bench the lens has a decentring of zero (perfect!). Some astigmatism can be found at the far edges. At full aperture sharpness is very high over a large part of the negative area. Contrast is excellent. At f/4.0 the corners are now on a high level, but still not as good as the center. At f/5.6 we have the optimum with a really sparkling definition. The close up performance is contrasty and with a very good rendition of details and subtle tonal gradation. The overall image however is a little more brittle than that from the Summicron and Summilux. To give some perspective, The new Elmar is at full aperture much better than the old one at f/5.6. The old one is hampered by low contrast and can not resolve the very fine details the new one is capable of. Can be seen very easily when doing a comparison test. Erwin Puts