Field testing : Summilux and the Beast

[laptoprob]

Raid, did you do the metering twofold? I mean, lena A metered on the M6 and that setting taken to the other lens on the M3 and vice versa?
It could be the aperture setting of the two is not exactly the same. 1,4 really being 1,42 for example. Ofcourse this is nonsense if the aperture surfaces of both lenses are ruled by equally strict tolerances.
Metering with one lens on the M6 could account for a little under/overexposure and difference in contrast.

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

 

[raid]

Raid, did you do the metering twofold? I mean, lena A metered on the M6 and that setting taken to the other lens on the M3 and vice versa?
It could be the aperture setting of the two is not exactly the same. 1,4 really being 1,42 for example. Ofcourse this is nonsense if the aperture surfaces of both lenses are ruled by equally strict tolerances.
Metering with one lens on the M6 could account for a little under/overexposure and difference in contrast.

Hi Rob,
A field test was not meant to be a lab experiment. 🙂
Still, I swiched the lenses after image 15, so a metering bias should appear for both lenses, if present.
If a small difference in light transmission can cause such big differences, then that would be very strange [to me]. Both lenses look like new, and both lenses are considered to be top notch in quality and performance.

Rav and I will try to adjust the six scans (for the"artist") so that those particular images look better. Rav noticed the stramge lokkong histogram for those images.

This is a learning process for us.

Raid

 

[raid]

I agree. The files are huge and the brightness isn't the same, but judging by a few elements, I also have to say that the second, brighter, B, is the Summilux.

Is there a way that these can be easily seen in order to compare? Are they in some logical order? Are there notes on each photo that we could look up that could tell us anything about that one photo? That'd be excellent when evaluating the photos/lenses.

Thanks for the time spent on this; I know it is labour-intensive.

Hi Gabriel,

One way to make it easier to do pairwise comparisons is to open up twice the smugmug website. and then to open up a similar image, one for Lens A and one for Lens B. This site does not let you download anything for free.

I did not write down any notes while taking the photos. Now I wish that I had. Roland was not exited about my doing such a lens choice as most people cannot afford expensive lenses, and so I moved on to eight other lenses the day after the field test for these two lenses.
I tried to use an aperture of 1.4 whenever it was possible with EFKE 25 for the shots. The order of the images corresponds to the time order. I did not scramble the images.

Roughly speaking ...
Roll A: Images 1-15 on M3 Images 16-36 on M6
Roll B: Images 1-15 on M6 Images 16-36 on M3

I made sure to label each roll of film with lens information immediately after removing the roll from the camera. I wrote the info down, then asked Rav to do the same, which he alreday has confirmed as having done very carefully for the developing and scanning.

Cheers,

Raid

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

 

[raid]

Thank you, Magus. I am looking forward to your insightful views.

Raid

 

[rich815]

B seems sharper but it does look like there may have been other factors at work here that may have influenced things.

 

[raid]

Rich,
I believe that both lenses are tack sharp when used on a tripod. Sharpness is not an issue here.

Raid

 

[Doug]

The B pics look more "modern and ASPH" to me, with A having a more classic look, and more pleasant OOF. I was all set to agree with Honus until you mentioned the Summilux was ASPH, and given that, I'll say B is the Summilux, and A is the Nokton.

 

[raid]

The B pics look more "modern and ASPH" to me, with A having a more classic look, and more pleasant OOF. I was all set to agree with Honus until you mentioned the Summilux was ASPH, and given that, I'll say B is the Summilux, and A is the Nokton.

Hi Doug,

There are only 4 scans that could be misleading (Roll A images 21-24), and I will post adjusted/corrected scans soon.

Raid

 

[raid]

Image 21 for Roll A: [does it look more natural now?]

 

[raid]

Image 22 for Roll A:

 

[raid]

Image 23 for Roll A:

 

[raid]

Maybe someone could "borrow" and reference what some well-published reviewers have said about the Summilux and the CV 35/1.2. Maybe we can find some hints there?

Raid

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

 

[raid]

This will give others a last shot at guessing which lens is A and which is B. Maybe a few images give a clue. If not, then may I conclude that no matter how large the images file sizes, seeing photos on a monitor will not allow a decisive to distinguish between two first class lenses?

Raid

 

[thefsb]

i've no experience with either lens. seems B has considerably more contrast and a bit more resolution. so on that basis given what i've read about them i'd guess that A is the nokton.

differences in the oof appearance are there but are very hard to describe and i have no preference.

 

[Sparrow]

This will give others a last shot at guessing which lens is A and which is B. Maybe a few images give a clue. If not, then may I conclude that no matter how large the images file sizes, seeing photos on a monitor will not allow a decisive to distinguish between two first class lenses?

Raid

Raid, this is a huge help, thanks, I have absolutely no idea which is which but after a few hours going through them I’ve finally reached a conclusion on a fast 35, I now just need Magus to tell me what I’ve decided!!!!!!!!!😱

 

[raid]

i've no experience with either lens. seems B has considerably more contrast and a bit more resolution. so on that basis given what i've read about them i'd guess that A is the nokton.

differences in the oof appearance are there but are very hard to describe and i have no preference.

I have a small preference for one lens, but I will keep this to myself for a while since I have done the lens testing. We should not forget that both lenses really are first class lenses with supporters. I am just looking for "characteristics" that can be clearly identified.

I also have a feeling that no single field testing, done by anybody, is sufficiently covering all possible light conditions. Could it be that others have use very different conditons for their field testing of these two lenses?

Raid