Comparing the CV fast 50mm lenses

raid

raid

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I wondered if you can go over the differences between the CV 50mm lenses: (i) 1.0 (ii) 1.1 and (iii) 1.2. Is the 1.1 the "dog" here, or is each lens a good lens? I have the 50/1 and 50/1.1 but not the 50/1.2.I hope that this is the right forum for my question. I suspect that the optics have very different designs here.
 
d__b said:
This review is comparing a bunch of 50mm lenses including the 50 1.1 and 1.2. Unfortunately not the 1.0. It looks like the 1.2 is much better overall than the 1.1

https://www.47-degree.com/focus-shif...parison-part-4
Click to expand...

You should not compare incomparable things. The Nokton 50mm f1.1 is an optimized old design and the Nokton 50mm f1.2 is an example of the latest technology. It would be strange if there were no differences. To be honest, the pictures taken with the Nokton 50mm f1.2 I saw were a bit disappointing, I found them rather boring. I found the bokeh dull. Perhaps that is the result of the modern methods of calculating the lenses.

I have the Nokton 50mm f1.1 myself and although I don't use the lens very often - it is so big - I am always amazed at what this lens performs, not at least because of the old-fashioned nature of the rendering. The lens is very sharp and the bokeh is not boring at all.
 
I have bought and sold a lot of lenses in my life time. To date there are only two lenses I regret selling. The Nokton 50mm f1.1 VM is one of them. The damn thing was built like a grenade, big for an M-mount lens and heavy too, but it it possessed magic. If the weather turned bad, the rain was gonna fall, most people were heading home... it was time to break out the Nokton 50mm f1.1 and have some fun.

All the best,
Mike
 
Think of the 50/1.1 Nokton as being similar to the 50/1 Noctilux. The two lenses share the same basic optical configuration. The 50/1.2 Nokton is a modern super-speed lens, and the 50/1.0 is an all-out modern design which adds a floating element to get the required speed with great performance.

I have all 3.
 
Thank you Brian for your explanations, and you too, Erik and Mike for your feedback. I also feel that the 50/1 is modern, and I bought it for being special and well corrected. I also bought the 50/1.1 a while ago to get another lens design that differed from my fast 50mm lenses. I also tried out the 7Artisans 50/1.1. The recently introduced CV Heliar Classic 50/1.5 is an example of what modern-old designs can be like. It is deliberately imperfect. I now will treat my CV 50/1.1 as my cheaper 50/1 Noctilux.
 
Yokosuka_Mike said:
I have bought and sold a lot of lenses in my life time. To date there are only two lenses I regret selling. The Nokton 50mm f1.1 VM is one of them. The damn thing was built like a grenade, big for an M-mount lens and heavy too, but it it possessed magic. If the weather turned bad, the rain was gonna fall, most people were heading home... it was time to break out the Nokton 50mm f1.1 and have some fun.

All the best,
Mike
Click to expand...

We get plenty of (heavy) rain in Pensacola, so I will get many chances to better exploit the special characteristics of my CV 50/1.1.
 
Erik van Straten said:
You should not compare incomparable things. The Nokton 50mm f1.1 is an optimized old design and the Nokton 50mm f1.2 is an example of the latest technology. It would be strange if there were no differences. To be honest, the pictures taken with the Nokton 50mm f1.2 I saw were a bit disappointing, I found them rather boring. I found the bokeh dull. Perhaps that is the result of the modern methods of calculating the lenses.

I have the Nokton 50mm f1.1 myself and although I don't use the lens very often - it is so big - I am always amazed at what this lens performs, not at least because of the old-fashioned nature of the rendering. The lens is very sharp and the bokeh is not boring at all.
Click to expand...

Thank you Erik for your feedback. So it is "my Noctilux" in the end!
 
I have a feeling that I don't need to now get the CV 50/1.2 as I bought from CameraQuest a CV 50/1.
I could not resist, and I bought a hardly used CV 50/1.5 Heliar Classic because it is very different from my other 50mm lenses.
The 7Artisans 50/1.1 if viewed as "an old design lens" may be useful too. It may be a modern design lens with imperfections when used wide open.
Aren't such fast 50mm lenses fun to use?!
 
Raid, that is a jewel! Congratulations. Imperfections, yes, but have you ever seen a beautiful woman without imperfections?

I only use the Heliar 50mm f/1.5 at f/1.5. Until now I've never tried the other apertures because I love the imperfections. I am afraid they disappear when the smaller apertures are used.

gelatin silver print (heliar 50mm f1.5) leica mp

Erik.

51727200293_198a3c438e_b.jpg - Click image for larger version Name: 51727200293_198a3c438e_b.jpg Views: 0 Size: 168.2 KB ID: 4791407
 
A few weeks ago I bought the Heliar 1.5 Classic VM (thank Erik for your suggestion !) and I m very impressed by the way it renders full open.
I have it now on the M7 but even with 100 iso it is almost impossible to use it during the day full open, 1/1000 sec is not enough. I shot a few frames @ F 4 and some @ F 8 to see the difference, but I think Erik is correct : this is the lens to be used full open.
Perhaps a ND filter will help.
I have the CV 50 heliar F 2 Anniversary Edition and the cron 50 made in Canada.
But for my photography more on the emotion side than pure documentary I think this 1.5 is « The Lens »

Congrats Raid !!!
 
Thank you Erik and Robert.
i used the CV 50/1,extensively during daylight, and I used the lens wide open in the shade or at night with ISO 200 in the M10.

Using EFKE 25 would work well with the Heliar 50/1.5.
 
Good question Raid! I think you can get excellent b&w and excellent color. Important is to « understand « the light, the light on the subject and on the background.
Too early for me for an exact answer ! need to work more…
 
I get it, Robert. This is a delicate lens that requires delicate treatment. I will enjoy finding it out one day.
 
I got a Heliar Classic! Thank you, Ray.


Heliar2-X3.jpg


Heliar-X3.jpg
 
The Heliar Classic looks like a baby when compared with the adult CV 50/1. I will try to use it only at 1.5. With rainy weather we don't see much of the sun, and I can use this lens wide open at ISO 200.
 
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