Character vs. Resolution: The Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS on the M11

MP Guy

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I adapted my Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS to the Leica M11 using the K&F Concept adapter.

The results are are fascinating. At f/1.2, you get a beautiful, authentic vintage rendering, by f2 the lens wakes up and delivers incredible detail. I’m sharing a series of samples from Freya at home to street scenes in harsh natural light to show what this combo can really do.

Check out the samples at Pure Rangefinder:The 60MP Stress Test: Can the Vintage Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS Handle the Leica M11?
 
I adapted my Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS to the Leica M11 using the K&F Concept adapter.

The results are are fascinating. At f/1.2, you get a beautiful, authentic vintage rendering, by f2 the lens wakes up and delivers incredible detail. I’m sharing a series of samples from Freya at home to street scenes in harsh natural light to show what this combo can really do.

Check out the samples at Pure Rangefinder:The 60MP Stress Test: Can the Vintage Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS Handle the Leica M11?

I 100% agree with your review, but I will say it is fabulous on the SL2-S and so easy to focus. This is one of those lenses that I reckon is undervalued.
I've used mine on my D810, Df, M240, SL and SL2-S and it's wonderful on all of them but the SL2-S is the easiest to focus.
Somewhere I read that at f2 it's the sharpest Nikkor 50mm and I can well believe it. I tend to use it at f1.4 and f5.6 mostly, like you say it's almost like 2 different lenses.
 
I borrowed that lens from a friend to use on my Sony A7R4. Really lovely results. My Canon FD 55mm 1.2 (non-ASPH) gives somewhat similar results.
 
I regret selling this lens, got some beautiful results from it. The gras wasn't any greener where I moved to.
 
The 50 1.2 is a wonderful lens. Wide open, the lens has a wonderfully impressionistic rendering, but becomes very sharp by F2.0. I use mine on my Nikon film cameras (F6, F2AS, FM3a and FE2) as well as on my Sony mirrorless A7Riii (with Novoflex adapter). I do NOT use it with my Nikon D750 and D850 (even with magnifying viewfinder eyepieces), as I find focusing very precisely with DSLRs somewhat lacking. However, with mirrorless and their magnifying function and image stabilization, one can get wonderfully precise focus and extremely sharp images with this lens that can rival modern mirrorless lenses for sharpness, albeit typically with somewhat lower contrast and higher flare (which is not necessarily a bad thing in creating mood and avoiding an overly clinical look).

I have never subscribed to the oft repeated (false) mantra that many older lenses will perform badly on high resolution sensors. In fact, it has been my experience -- in using many vintage OM Zuiko, Nikkor, Minolta MD, Tamron SP and Vivitar Series 1 lenses on my Sony A7Riii (42 mpx) with HIGH QUALITY Novoflex adapters (not the cheap $15-30 adapters with terrible tolerances) -- that pretty much every lens can give sharper images on high resolution mirrorless digital than on their original film bodies. Sure, the vintage lenses may still not be quite as good as modern high end digital -- especially in terms of flare control and contrast -- but as I noted above, this often is not a bad thing if one is seeking to create images that are more atmospheric or imbued with character as opposed to being overly sterile and clinical looking. In fact, I find myself using mist filters more and more often these days on my high resolution modern digital lenses on high resolution bodies to slightly tamp down their hyper sharpness and contrast to obtain photos that more closely represent film images.
 
As far as older lenses go, I will be trying the 105mm 2.5 AIS next. I am just waiting since i have a new one in the box unused for sale to see if it moves. if not, i will open it up and shoot that next.
 
The 50 1.2 is a wonderful lens. Wide open, the lens has a wonderfully impressionistic rendering, but becomes very sharp by F2.0. ...

Sounds a lot like the Voigtländer Heliar Classic 50mm f/1.5 SC that I bought a couple of years ago. Lovely lens! And a stark contrast to the Summicron-M 50mm f/2 and my ancient Summicron-R 50mm f/2.

The old Nikkor 50/1.2 was always a beauty, but in the day I couldn't afford one and had to 'settle' for the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, which wasn't half bad as I recall. 🙂

G
 
I use, both the 1.2/50, and 2.5/105 Ais Nikkors on the FM3a, and Leica SL2S. Great lenses.

That's good kit. I long ago found that having one of the Micro-Nikkor 55 was more useful for me than having the high speed lens, so my Nikon kit has been 28/2 and 55/3.5 Micro for some years. I have missed having a short tele since I gave my 85/1.8 to a friend a half a decade ago, so I just acquired a 105/2.5 to fill in that gap. (I have a cheap old Sigma 600/8 mirror tele as well ... it's mostly junk, but I enjoy making it produce nice photos on the Nikon and other cameras anyway.)

G


Full Moon - Santa Clara 2014
Olympus E-M1 + Sigma 600mm f/8
ISO 400 @ f/8 @ 1/640 second
 
This thread has inspired me to get my 50 1.2 out and put it on my A7Riii, albeit I'll be using a 'cheapo $30 adapter' to do it. It fits tight enough that I don't think the tolerances will make a difference at all once focused.
 
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