Re: [Leica] 35mm, 90mm, and now 50 mm?

[D Khong <dkhong@pacific.net.sg>]

Matt 

I have a motly variety of 50 mm lenses and for the ones in question, I have
the Noctilux (60mm filter thread with hood), 50 Summilux (one generation
behind current one) and the current 50 summicron. 

Here are my personal impressions:

50 Summicron. Great value for money. Sharp, contrasty and light. If one is
used to smaller aperture lenses, the f2 would seem like a great advantage.
For most photographic purposes and subjects, the 50 summicron would be a
nice all rounder. I got fed up of it after a while not because it is a poor
performer but because my style of photography became more in need of a
larger aperture glass.

50 Summilux. That one stop advantage appeared useful especially in my style
of photography where I prefer hand held, available light situations and no
flash. Although I can hand hold at 1/4 sec and still get sharp pictures, I
am still more comfortable if I can hand hold at 1/8 sec if the lens had a
one stop advantage. The weight of the lux is not that much more than the
summicron. If there was some image deterioration for the summilux used at
f1.4 compared to the 'cron at f2, I am prepared to accept this because
getting the shot is more important to me than splitting hairs over
sharpness and resolution. The 50 Summilux is my most well travelled lens
and it has never let me down.

50 Noctilux. This is a wanna buy lens as far as I am concerned. Buy it if
you have surplus cash but you are unlikely to sell it after you have used
and liked it. The f1 is nice to flaunt around but hardly a great necessity.
All said, I like using this beast at around f1-f1.4. Focussing is a
challenge but very satisfying when you get it right (which is about more
than 50% of the time). The background bokeh is very very nice especially at
between f1-1.4. The lens seem to be able to grab shadow details very nicely
and I am very delighted to see the microcontrast in the dense areas of the
prints that I produce. BTW, I am talking about B&W prints (from Ilford HP5
+ souped in XTOL).

Dan K.


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