Focussing "throw" - Nokton vs Summilux

[Issy]

I have a a VC Nokton 50, and it seams to have a long "throw" (amount of spinning) to get from close focus to infinity. It reminds me of my SLR Nikkor AIS 55mm macro lens. 😛

I have never owned or borrowed a 50 Summilux (or Noct, for that matter). Anyone own or tried all three? Is the "throw" on the Summi or Noct shorter, or comparable?

I am finding this is becoming an issue with my 1 year old daughter as a favorite subject.

 

[Fred]

With very wide apertures you benefit from a longer throw when trying to focus correctly close up. A very short throw is fine for a wider angle lens.

 

[Issy]

So all the very large aperature lenses are like this?

 

[Fred]

From an accuracy perspective the longer (> 35) a longer throw would be preferable. If using a 50mm just stopdown to say F8 or further conditions permitting and hyperfocus using the DOF scale. This lets you work on the composition or catching that magic moment.

Hope this helps

 

[peter_n]

I have the Summilux & the Elmar-M. The throw on the Summilux is definitely longer than the Elmar-M which is 2 stops slower. Using that as a base I would expect the Noctilux to have a wee bit longer throw than the Summicron. Wish I could compare directly but I can't... 🙁

 

[StuartR]

It is not particularly long on the 50mm summilux ASPH. Looking at the lens head on, the tab is at 7:30 at infinity and 4:30 at close focus. A quick calculation indicates that that is about 90 degrees of focus throw out of 360...not bad. I have never used the Nokton so I cannot comment on how it compares. The 75 summilux has a much longer throw, as does the noctilux. Interestingly, the focus throw on the 35mm and 50mm summilux ASPH lenses is identical! I never noticed that until I just compared them now. They must have done that on purpose, those crafty germans. It must make them easier to work with....they even read the same distance given the same position of the tab! Very nifty. With the tab directly parallel to the ground, both lenses read about 1.2 meters...