Field testing : Summilux and the Beast

raid

raid

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I have uploaded to Roland's smugmug website two new galleries:
Mystery Lens A Field Test and Mystery Lens B Field Test. I used a Leica M3 and M6 with the Summilux 35mm/1.4 and the CV 35mm/1.2, switching in the middle of the roll the two lenses around. Most images were taken at 1.4 with EFKE 25, developed and scanned by RFF member Rav (Thanks!). Each jpg files is about of size 2 MB.

I have read some reviews of the CV lens in which it was stated that the OOF behavior of one of these two fine lenses is smoother looking than that of the other lens. Is this true?

Anyways, you can take a look at the two galleries. Maybe the owners of such lenses can help us identify which gallery of images was taken with which lens ... and let us know how they have concluded this fact.

http://ferider.smugmug.com/gallery/2948193#160008799

http://ferider.smugmug.com/gallery/2962032#160145679



Raid
 
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of your first two links, im going to have to go with link two, I also think that its the leica lens, link one's images seem to be lacking in definition and most of the images are not as clear as link two

the second two links im going to have to go with number 1 as the voigtlander and number 2 as the leica, just as a hunch, number 1 has better out of focus to me, but I like the second image more overall
 
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Avotius said:
of your first two links, im going to have to go with link two, I also think that its the leica lens, link one's images seem to be lacking in definition and most of the images are not as clear as link two

the second two links im going to have to go with number 1 as the voigtlander and number 2 as the leica, just as a hunch, number 1 has better out of focus to me, but I like the second image more overall
Click to expand...


I would compare image by image and not folder to folder. I appologize for any unsharp images, since that would be my error in trying to get a sharp image with moving kids. Some "similar" shots are sharp at 1.4, and then a direct pairwise comparison is possible.

Raid
 
again im going to have to say im in favor for image two, image one is.....how should I put it.....the contrast is a dull thud while the contrast in image two is a wind chime. My hunch still says image two is the leica lens. Either way the first lens has less busy out of focus...just. The second photo, if im right on which lens it was taken with, is shot wide open and the lens manages to seemingly blow the highlight on the guys hat, crazy.
 
Contrast and sharpness (also OOF) is higher in the second. I kinda like softer, less contrasty lenses. So I prefer the first. I would use this kind of speed to make the background blend as much as possible, even if it is busy like the palms in the artist shots. The first lens could do with more contrast there, but that might be a lighting difference.
I guess the second is the Leica, being more corrected for sharpness.
 
Sparrow said:
Hi Raid, the light looks completely different, one in sunlight and the other in shade was it a consistent light? A looks dull
Click to expand...

Hi Stewart,
The photos taken in the front porch of our home were taken image 1-15 (roughly) with Lens A, followed by images 1-15 (roughly) with Lens B. there was a time lapse.

The remaining images taken downtown were taken seconds apart as I changed from M3 to M6 back to M3, both cameras hanging from my neck. These images should not display light differences.

I initially was thinking of shooting a roll per lens separately, and there was no intention of a match-up then. When we drove downtown and I had to carry both cameras with me, I got the idea of taking nearly identical images back to back.

If a yu think that a fair comparison is not feasible, then inspect each roll seperately.

Raid
 
Avotius said:
again im going to have to say im in favor for image two, image one is.....how should I put it.....the contrast is a dull thud while the contrast in image two is a wind chime. My hunch still says image two is the leica lens. Either way the first lens has less busy out of focus...just. The second photo, if im right on which lens it was taken with, is shot wide open and the lens manages to seemingly blow the highlight on the guys hat, crazy.
Click to expand...

Avotius,

I will later on announce which lens was used for which gallery of images. I used mainlly aperture 1.4 for both of the lenses, and that's why I used a very slow film (EFKE 25) to be able to use sucuh wide apertures with strong sunlight.

Raid
 
laptoprob said:
Contrast and sharpness (also OOF) is higher in the second. I kinda like softer, less contrasty lenses. So I prefer the first. I would use this kind of speed to make the background blend as much as possible, even if it is busy like the palms in the artist shots. The first lens could do with more contrast there, but that might be a lighting difference.
I guess the second is the Leica, being more corrected for sharpness.
Click to expand...

laptoppro: Your comment balances the point of view by Avotius [above].

Is there a chance that the developing of the first roll was slightly different from the second roll? I have no clue here. Maybe Rav can clarify this point.

I hope that more people will point out fine differences in the images. Needless to say that both lenses are in top condition and both are very sharp when used on a tripod at 1.4 aperture.

Raid
 
sleepyhead said:
I will guess that "A" is the CV lens, and "B" the Summilux. I have the SUmmilux and the OOF and general "feel" of B remind me of that lens.

Can't wait to find out! Interesting test!
Click to expand...

sleepyhead:
This is not a real test but just a "use" of two lenses, with all the faults of a photographer like me. I hope that I managed to somehow capture the overall profile of each lens at 1.4 in the sun and in the open shade. I feel that the photo of Dana on her bike (maybe image 15-16) is a good example of the lenses' OOF behavior with a busy background.



Raid
 
Great Job!

Great Job!

ravinder_walia said:
Hello All,

I developed both rolls seperately. However, I did use the same developing times, agitation, etc for both rolls.

Both rolls were developed at the same temperature and using fresh chemicals from the same bottles.

Personally I don't think that the developing was different enough to cause any differences.

The scanning was done to extract the maximum out of the negs and only the black and white points were set. No post processing was done apart from converting to jpg.

Hope that clarifies some things about the procedures.

Rav.
Click to expand...

Hello Rav,

You have done a great job with developing and scanning both rolls of film. With such excellent developing and scanning, any image differences are due to other factors. They may include real optical behavior differences, light differences, and focus differences.

Raid
 
If I had to guess, I would say that Lens A is a pre-asph Summilux and that Lens B is the Nockton. The pre-asph Summilux (35mm version) is generally a bit soft wide open and lower in contrast. Simon Larbalestier and anhtu, among others, have produced beautiful images from this lens.

You would not see this sort of disparity between the Nockton and the ASPH Summilux, as long as the exposure/development process was equal.
 
Honus said:
If I had to guess, I would say that Lens A is a pre-asph Summilux and that Lens B is the Nockton. The pre-asph Summilux (35mm version) is generally a bit soft wide open and lower in contrast. Simon Larbalestier and anhtu, among others, have produced beautiful images from this lens.

You would not see this sort of disparity between the Nockton and the ASPH Summilux, as long as the exposure/development process was equal.
Click to expand...

Honus: The Summilux that is tested was ASPHand not pre-ASPH. Are you still sure about your diagnosis?

The developing was done uniformly, but I built in a safety step by switching lenses and cameras after image 15. This way, both lenses were used with both rolls of film.

As for exposure being uniform, the images from 16-36 were taken seconds apart with identical exposure setting. I would meter with the M6 first, and quickly take a photo followed by taking the same photo with the M3.

Raid

Raid
 
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Raid,

I stand by my second paragraph. The images were not processed equally. I provide the shots of the "artist" as example. I grabbed the large images and re-sized them only. Look at the histograms. I would re-scan and reprocess them using a standardized workflow. Otherwise, the comparison is flawed.
 

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Honus said:
Raid,

I stand by my second paragraph. The images were not processed equally. I provide the shots of the "artist" as example. I grabbed the large images and re-sized them only. Look at the histograms. I would re-scan and reprocess them using a standardized workflow. Otherwise, the comparison is flawed.
Click to expand...

Hi Robert,
I also noticed a couple of days ago the strange flare/noise on the front of the boat in the background. I wondered whether the scan was the source or what ? I have the negatives, so I could re-scan these two particular images when I have time.

[edited]
I went back to one of the images of the artist. From the start I noticed that the images of the artist look distorted. I think, that now I know why [maybe]. I went back and used "equalize", and the image switched to a natural looking image. Is this the reason why the artist looks distorted?

Raid
 
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To tell you the truth, I only noted the strange looking scans for images 21-26 in one of the lenses. The rest looks fine. I wonder what happend during the scanning? I hope that this curve ball will not throw off all conclusions made so far.
Maybe this happened when I switched the TIF files to JPG?

Raid
 
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