Best Low Light Lens (That will not break the Bank)

Bryan Lee said:

Dont count out the CV 35/1.7 Aspherical Ultron "PICTURE LINK" , There are many faster lenses available but this one is considerable for speed and cost.
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if he has a semicron, there is no reason for it. I recommend he gets his camera and lens CLAed.
 
Go for a Nokton 50/1.5. Great lens, great value. I have the Leica 50/2, which I really like, the the CV 50/1.5 is a great performer and it has the extra stop.
 
Most lens for the money would be a black Jupiter 8. The LTM to bayonet adaptor will probably cost more than the lens.

Next up in price, a Canon or Nikkor f2, f1.8 or f1.4 in LTM. Fine lenses all. The Summitar 50mm is in this price range but I don't find it to be as sharp as the Japanese glass.

A larger step to the next level, The Nokton 50mm/1.5 or the Hexanon 50mm/f2.
 
fgianni said:
If camera shake is the problem, then stopping down to f8 should make it worse, not better.
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That would only apply if I kept the speed the same. Generally, if I am shooting at f8 I have sufficient light so the speed is faster. I usually use f2 indoors and need to drop the speed back to 1/30 or less. So, I am guessing my hands are not as steady at 1/30 as 1/125 or 1/250 so the photo is no as clear. Also, my lousy focusing skills and the short dop at f2 may be a factor. Its easy enough to test and given the comments about equipment failure, I will test it with a tripod.

Some have suggested I move to the Asp model. I purposely chose the 4th Gen Summicron for the Brokeh and the speed. I heard the Asph was not as good for Brokeh. My thought was that if the brokeh was unimportant I would use the canon eos. I want a lens that I can use indoors without a flash. In my mind the whole reason for the rangefinder, or one of the reasons is that it is well suited for candid unobtrusive shots. The flash disturbs this in my opinion.

Please keep up the comments. One thought though how do I test the lens without buying it?

Bill
 
Hello:

Are you shooting B&W or colour? At what iso? Are you looking for ultimate quality - no grain, great depth of field etc?

The summicron you have is a great lens, at iso 400 a very usable available light performer.

yours
Frank
 
Bill: There is not a robust rental market for these lenses, as far as I know. Others may correct me if I am wrong. One option would be to buy from a seller with a generous return policy. KEH comes to mind, or you could buy from an RFF'er with the understanding that you could return the lens if it was not to your liking. I would vote for the 50/1.5 Nockton or the 40/1.4 from Cosina/Voitlander. If you live in a major market (NY-LA-SFO-BOS etc.) you may get a retailer to lend you a used lens to shoot a couple of rolls with (sort of a leave-your-drivers-license deal). The "will not break the bank" part of your subject line, is of course, very subjective. If you have a Summicron, you already have a great low-light lens. If you routinely need to go below 1/30, I would consider a) a small bean-bag on which to rest the camera, b) a monopod or c) a table-top tripod (Bogen makes a nice one with a ball head that you can also brace manually against a wall or door-jamb). I know that none of these are as sexy as a new-to-you lens, but they will get the job done. I'd echo what the poster above said about focus issues at f2. Any M camera with a properly adjusted rangefinder should be able to accurately and consistently focus a 50/2 wide open and close up.
 
i've collected jpgs showing the bokeh of various lenses, and the asph has a lower percentage of shots with unacceptable (to me) bokeh.

summicron pre-asph: 5/44, 11.36%
summicron asph: 3/57, 5.26%
 
Bill, I would suggest trying a monopod to see if it helps with the sharpness issue. I use a Tracks Sherlock adjustable hiking staff with a Bogen/Manfrotto monopod head. I also use a handgrip which centers the tripod socket. You can gain at least a couple more stops this way, and it's probably cheaper than a faster lens of Summicron quality.

A tripod is a clumsy affair in close quarters, but a monopod need not get in anyone's way. I keep my monopod in the car and use it more and more often, even for landscapes, which also can get mushy from camera shake.
 
If you are shooting at 1/30th at F2 or less you are probably beyond the capabilties of most photographers or lenses. I've had friends who claimed to be able to hand hold a 1/8 but ive never been able to do it with any kind of consistency myself. The truth is in low light conditions virtually everything is going against you - shake is more likely lens resolution is reduced, and DOF is wafer thin. You can either use a faster film 3200 turns 1/30 @ f2 to 1/60 at f4 or use flash - people often dismiss flash and RF but if you want the shot and there's no other technical way of getting it what else can you do? It's also possible to use it in more subtle ways than is commonly thought. I think the limit at which anyone can shoot in lowlight is a personal thing, what is acceptable to one person is not necessarily acceptable to the next, and some people are just better at it than others. I would personally do some testing with faster film before spending money on equipment, but then I always say that
 
For NEW lenses that couple to both LTM and "M" mount cameras with adaptor, you really don't have any choice but the CV Noktons, if you are on a budget. The 35mm f1.7 and the 50mm f1.5, and the "M" mount 40mm f1.4. Just because these lenses are modest in cost in relation to Leitz or Zeiss optics, does not mean they are inferior in final image results. They stack right up to the best.

The Jupiter 3 is another budget choice, and it is a fair lens, softer wide open than the Noktons, but some say it has some focusing issues close up if not used on Russian RFDR cameras.
 
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