Beginner's dilemma. 50 mm

Take a step back and evaluate why your choice is limited to these two lenses. There are thousands more to choose from... OK, perhaps not thousands...hundreds?
I know ... but these two lenses have a good reputation. They are at a similar price. I am looking for a lens that will be sharp and good microcontrast. And with fantastic image🙂
 
I have had both. The Hexanon is gone; I sold it because it never focused correctly with my M6. The Planar remains. But really, that doesn't matter as much as actually taking pictures, learning how to see, and refining your vision of the world.
 
I'v had the planar and now have the Hexanon.
while excellent the planar was a little harsh for me.
the Hexanon has a good blend of contrast and sharpness while still being delicate.

Ophir
 
1." The Hexanon is gone; I sold it because it never focused correctly with my M6"
2."but the M Hexanon is a very good lens"
3. it's hard to make a decision. I return to the rangefinder camera after twenty years with a large format..
 
No dilemma... either will do just fine.

This.

"Eany meany miney mo" would work for making your decision. For a more involved, though not necessarily any more useful, way of choosing, you could go to the M-mount flickr group and bring up slideshows of images with both lenses and make a choice based on the results you see. It would give you the feeling of making an informed choice, though I suspect eany meany miney mo would save you time with no loss of image quality.
 
I sold Planar very quick. It was boring lens (rendering) and not small for 50mm lens.
Konica, no idea how it renders. I still have no idea what exactly micro contrast is, either.
But. The lens which was rendering something special on micro level of the image was Elmar-M 50 2.8. Less of it was with Cron Collapsible. To me. Both are sharp of course. Most 50mm are sharp, maybe some exotics like Heliar 50/2, but even 9$ Industar 69 l/d is sharp.
 
Kevin
Flickr..Maybe it's a good idea or maybe not. Sometimes I see it in the forum photos taken with a great camera and expensive lens I want to cry (sorry, but I will do better by my iphone). I am not an amateur. I'm just looking for the right and not expensive tool.
 
I love the size and ergos of the Color Skopar 2.5. I have to develop a few rolls from it still, but the image thread from this forum made me get it. Probably going to be my daily 50 in the summer.
I really love the Collapsible Cron for BW though. Probably my favorite 50
 
I had the M-Hexanon for several years when I had the Konica Hexar RF, and I recently got the Planar and Color Skopar.

I agree with karlin. The Planar has more contrast than the M-Hexanon. I like the M-Hexanon’s bokeh a little more (seems to be smoother), and the aperture and focus rings have a higher quality feel. But the Planar comes in silver and has a nice hood. The Color Skopar is not made as nicely (terrible aperture ring and soft paint on the focusing tab of the silver version), but has gentler contrast and the smoothest bokeh of them all. Cool hood, too.
 
Hmmm, another factor is how big are you going to print? Enlarging to 12" x 8" and no bigger is fairly rare (yes, I know but this is the internet) and so I think almost any of them will do. Of course. for slide film it's another matter but if you don't stand a foot away from the screen it's debatable...

Regards, David
 
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