the king of 40mm (Leica Mount)

the king of 40mm (Leica Mount)

  • Total voters
    107
  • Poll closed .
I've the 40 M-Rokkor, the 40 Nokton, and the 43 Pentax and like all three very well. The 43 is rather long physically and has a touch of barrel distortion, but is a lovely performer. The Rokkor is most compact and has served me very well for decades. The Nokton is fast and sharp, no complaints. I like 40's... as long as we're stretching to 43mm, should a bit more stretch include the 45 G-Planar? No, as it's actually 47mm, but it is incredibly good. How about the 40mm Ultron in various SLR mounts?
 
I've since replaced my M-Rokkor for a 35mm Summicron, but I can't really fault this little lens. The most underrated and undervalued M-mount lens if you ask me.

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Juan Valdenebro said:
Dear Jaans,

Your ideas are a strange mix... I don't form my opinions from internet forums: I formed them when internet didn't exist... I shoot MF and LF 20 years ago, and had my first Nikon before I was a teenager, and I'm a professional photographer, both because I earn money with photography long ago and because I cursed a six-year career on photography... I use fast and slow lenses, and your comments show a lot of imagination to say the least... What I wrote about the lens we're describing, I wrote it because I have used it a lot, and is basically what is a common opinion about it from lots of good photographers around, as you can see from other comments here and on previous threads... Take care!

Cheers,

Juan
Click to expand...

Okay - point taken about where you source your information/opinions from. I was wrong to jump to the conclusion and insinuate that you garnered your knowledge from 'bokeh forums'.

However, I still disagree with your initial points and your opinions (to be honest I don't care how you arrived at them) where you wrote the faster lens is king and if it is sharp wide open. There seems to be some confusion - are you coming from a marketing point of view? Or are you saying that the faster is lens is king due to practicality in low light situations?

Because like I said before, the history of documentary/photo-journalist photography was crafted by photographers who didn't use a maximum aperture of 1.4 or need ultra sharp lens to convey their message/art. If you examine the great great majority of influential single images and essays, you will find that depth of field/subject/emotion is more evident than photos that display zip depth of field shot at 1.4. Period. So, no, history has shown that the faster lens is not king. The only king is the photog who manages to transform the everday/mundane into an image that transcends the human condition. Some say Cartier Bresson was the king and I am inclined to believe that...

Having said that, the Rokkor CLE 40mm lens that I own is one of the best lens I have ever used. Rendition and handling is amazing.

Cheers,
Jaans
 
The term "King" of lenses has historically been based on the speed of the lens. This has been around long before the Internet and long before the term "Bokeh" was coined. It went well beyond marketing, and photographers needed fast lenses to get the shot back when ASA 200 was super-speed film.

So yes, using traditional metrics that have been around since the race for speed in lenses, "King" in this group would be the Nokton. These days, with the advent of fast film and even faster digital cameras, super-speed in lenses is not as important as it once was. And yet, I was the only person taking pictures at the Skating Rink yesterday without a flash using my 5cm F1.4 Nikkor-SC that at one time was "King of the 50s".

So I voted for the Nokton, even though I don't own one. I have the Summicron-C.
 
Nobody will be able to distinguish Summicron, Rokkor and Nokton in a blind test, from f2 and up. I personally would pick the Nokton over the other two because it's faster.

Don't know about the Sonnar or Pentax.

There is also an LTM Olympus 40.

Roland.
 
Rollei

Rollei

Hi, i had the summicron-c as an alternative to the "larger" Nokton, but sold it immeadiately because flare issues, very small, in the shade great.
IMO The VC nokton outclassed the cron in every way, except size. The Nokton 40 is great, very fast quite small, and stopped down excellent, both sharp and contrasty!
At last sold the CLE Nokton outfit in favour of an easier T3, which lens i find better than the VC 40.

At last i bought the rollei sonnar 40mm.
I´m admired with this lens, very much like a VC lens in design and shape, but i would say better made and better materials.
Not to mention optics! Although slower than both VC and Cron-C, i´m better off with the sonnar!

This one was taken with the rollei and the M8!

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Bye!
 
BTW, if you want to try the Rollei, you might want to get a Rollei 35S or 35SE for US 250-300 or so. It has the same lens with camera attached.
 
I have a Summicron-C and have used it extensively on my M4. I thought it was a very nice performer. It was quite prone to flare, but it had a very pleasing look to it wide open (a touch soft with a bit of glow, very nice for b & w). I recently acquired a 35 f/2 Biogon, which admittedly outperforms it.

Shot w/the 40 'cron wide open in the Metro (I used it quite a bit in the Metro):

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Last edited:
Yes, but the Sonnar produces very nice out of focus highlights...

That's the automobile equivalent of "gives a very smooth ride" rather than "Does 0 to 60 in 5.2seconds".
 
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