Leica LTM Choice Canon or Leica Summarit 50mm 1.5 ?

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
I'm the opposite of MCTuomey: I've never had or shot w/ the summarit, but have, use and love the Canon 50/1.5. It's got the lovely sonnar dissolve wide open, but is very sharp from f.4 on, and I love the warmer rendering it gives of color (compared to the Canon 50/1.4, and based on Raid's most recent test of 50s). It also handles incredibly well mounted on a P or an M2.
 
John Shriver said:
Zeiss had the Sonnar design for their 50/1.5 well protected by patents. So Leitz had to license the Xenon/Summitar design from Taylor, Taylor, and Hobson, but it wasn't really as good a design as the Sonnar. The Canon 50/1.5 is a very faithful clone of the Sonnar.

The Sonnar has only 6 air to glass transitions, the Xenon/Summarit has many more. Even with coating in the Summarit, contrast and flare are issues.

The Sonnar design is ghastly expensive to manufacture, making each of the two three-element groups is a challenge.
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That's good information! Thanks for sharing that John.

I like the Canon 50mm f/1.5 too. Haven't had the opportunity to try the Leitz Summarit 50mm f/1.5 though.

Cheers
 
The only thing I'd say about the Summarit is that you are never quite 100% sure what you are going to get...not in terms of the lens itself...but in terms of results.

This can go either way and for me as a truly untalented, hopeless photographer with a good clean Summarit, I lose more than I win. Might be more fun used on something digital.

Mind you, I'm hanging on to it

Michael
 
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