Hexanon 50mm verses Summicron Collapsible 50mm

I suppose - it all personal preference, but Hexanon is sharper and has SMOOTHER bokeh, where is Summicron is softer (not soft, but softer) and it has a swirl in it's bokeh that Hexanon doesnt. Different - sure. Better - depends on what you like. But to say that Hex sucks?😕:bang:🙄
 
Astigmatism is more pronounced in the Collapsible Summicron, which is the aberration that produces swirly Bokeh. Keith's images do not bring out the effect.

Collapsible Summicron, wide-open at F2:

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And one with a nearly-destroyed front element.
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Bokeh is subjective. It is a by-product of the optimizations that go into a lens design. Some people love swirly Bokeh, and think clinically clean modern lenses are boring. Others want optical perfection.
 
Both look nice. It's a toss up for me in the first picture as to which I like more. Part of me likes the Summicron since the background isn't as blown out, but at the same time, the background is a wee bit distracting. I like the Summicron shot of the bird - the swirl is kind of neat looking. And the Hexanon looks better to me on the bike. The fuzziness in the highlights on the Summicron make me feel like my eyes are dirty 🙂 The shot is high contrast enough naturally that the Hexanon's ability to deal with it just looks cleaner.

But both are nice!
 
You'd probably see much more of a difference if you had shot more contrasty scenes or anything w/a bright light source in the frame. With the 2 scenes you show here, I think you probably could have gotten similar results w/a good uncoated lens, like a Sonnar from the 1930s (I've done similar comparisons between the modern Zeiss 50/1.5 Sonnar & its uncoated & single-coated ancestors). Modern glass & coatings handle flare much better, of course, & whether that's an important concern depends on your photography. For me, charming character & boke are nice & all, but they can be overwhelmed by veiling flare, etc.

Keith said:
Not hard to pick obviously because everyone was pretty well on the money ... the Hex is a fine modern lens and the Summicron has it's own charms IMO.

I did think there'd be more difference than there turned out to be though ... that Summicron is no slouch for a slightly tired lens made in 1954!

When you zoom in on the full res scans you can really see the difference in sharpness and resolution ...
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nugard, you mixed up the images in the second sample. the one that sucks is from the collapsible summicron. you got the first sample right, though. that one is from the m-hexanon. it sucks.

😀
 
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