Leica 35mm lens shootout...which is best?

[johnastovall]

Where's the 35mm IV 'Cron wide open for that lovely Bokeh?

 

[sanmich]

oh yeah, i also did a test the same day with a bunch of 50mm lenses. i used a collapsible summicron, a rigid summicron, a modern summilux and a nokton 1.5. the differences between them was remarkable with the lux taking the overall best pictures and the nokton a VERY close second. the rigid was miles better than the collapsible and not that far behind the lux. i showed the pics to my wife and she thought the nokton and lux were too harsh, the collapsible was way too soft and the rigid was just about perfect to her eyes.

bob

Bob
I would love to see that test.
I have a collapsible cron, and frankly, I find it great.
Not so far from modern glass in terms of pure resolution and with a mild contrast.

 

[bob338]

kinda weird that this has been revived. see if you can guess which is which...

50mm rigid summicron
50mm summilux(E46)
50mm nokton 1.5(VC)
50mm collapsible summicron

bob

 

[bob338]

here are the other two...

 

[sanmich]

kinda weird that this has been revived. see if you can guess which is which...

50mm rigid summicron
50mm summilux(E46)
50mm nokton 1.5(VC)
50mm collapsible summicron

bob

From your former opinion, I guess that the one on the right is the coll cron.
About the rest of them, I couldn't say. The pictures are a bit small to have a resolution comparison...

May I ask if your coll cron is hazy, or full of small scrtches like some are?

 

[bob338]

yeah, that collapsible is pretty hazy, but the front element is pretty clean.
looking at the prints, the differences are more obvious. when i did this test, i thought there was a bigger difference. but now they look pretty similar to me. of the four, i like the summilux best.

they are;
image #17 collapsible cron
image #18 rigid cron
image #19 summilux
image #20 nokton

bob

 

[bob338]

forgot to mention that all of the 50mm pictures were shot at f2.

 

[sanmich]

yeah, that collapsible is pretty hazy, but the front element is pretty clean.
looking at the prints, the differences are more obvious. when i did this test, i thought there was a bigger difference. but now they look pretty similar to me. of the four, i like the summilux best.

they are;
image #17 collapsible cron
image #18 rigid cron
image #19 summilux
image #20 nokton

bob

I think that if you had the coll cron cleaned, there are good chances to have much better pictures from it. The haze is pretty obvious on that shot...

 

[3dit0r]

Test conditions aside, I liked #2 in the 35mm test followed by #3. In the 50mm test all were nice except 17 which looked too hazy - apart from that it was just a subjective choice between different renditions although I personally liked what turned out to be the 'lux.

 

[like2fiddle]

I'm glad this thread was revived too. I've been thinking about thinning out the lens stable lately and was contemplating selling my Summaron 2.8 among a few others and consolidating my 35's down to just one by picking up a Summicron with some of the cash I might raise...but this thread helped remind me why I traded away a nice 35 Summicron a while back - I liked the pics from the Summaron 2.8 better overall.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

#3

ten characters.

 

[raid]

So, Bob, which 35mm did you keep?
This is an old thread.

 

[philipus]

my guess is
number 1, summaron
number 2, summicron asph
number 3, summicron m3 goggles

It's very difficult at 5.6 to see a difference, maybe do at 2.8 and see what happens.

I know this is an old thread but fwiw I agree with John's assessment. These photos show imho why the Summaron is highly regarded. To my eyes, and bearing in mind these are small internet jpgs, the Summaron renders very similarly to the Asph. Granted, at a larger magnification or in a large print, the difference would be greater but on these images I see not too much difference. The M3 Summicron, however, is remarkably lacking in contrast compared to the other two. Since I prefer contrasty lenses, I would easily choose the Summaron over the Summicron if I were to get a new 35mm lens.

Cheers
Philip

 

[leicapixie]

a friend of mine met a worker from Leica/leitz many years ago.Friend asked the now retired craftsman, about the35mm-Summaron vs the 35mm-Summicron.The man replied "One f-stop more."
I now own that Summaron. It's a great lens! I certainly prefer it to a 35mm-Summilux, i once owned! I hated the "look" of the out of focus areas.
Truth is i hate photos, with large areas of out of focus. So for me a hi-speed lens is of no consequence.
Testing lenses with small images shown on a monitor, simply is a waste of time. My simple point and shoot digitals ,don't look much different ,from real expensive gear.
I use a 50mm collapsible Summicron and it is not soft unless damaged! In close focus it is somewhat softer, but i'd rather say "gentle" in it's rendering.That is at full "f2.o,or one stop closed, 2.8.
.Stopped down it is more than equal to most lenses.

 

[music_healing]

my guess is
number 1, summaron
number 2, summicron asph
number 3, summicron m3 goggles

It's very difficult at 5.6 to see a difference, maybe do at 2.8 and see what happens.

I ll second that 🙂

William

 

[bob338]

So, Bob, which 35mm did you keep?
This is an old thread.

Just saw this...
Raid, I ended up keeping the Summaron. I sold the V1 Summicron with eyes and got one without eyes. And I traded the ASPH Summicron for a 28mm Summicron.
I don't think I'll ever let that Summaron go...

 

[Ansel]

I voted 3 mainly because of DOF. I guess it must be the 2.8

 

[mansio]

okay, maybe the pictures i posted weren't the best examples to compare these lenses. they're a little small(file size) and not exactly the same. at the time, i was trying to get different shots with the three lenses in a fairly short period of time. i'll try it again soon with a tripod and shoot wide open. i didn't use a tripod this time because it's in the closet in the baby's room and he was asleep...

for those interested, the order of lenses is...

#1 is summicron with eyes
#2 is 2.8 summaron(i'm surprised by how many people preferred this one)
#3 is summicron asph(my favorite)

and again, all were taken with the same camera at f5.6 with the same shutter speed within a few seconds of each other.

bob

i was choosing between #1 and #3, confused which one is asph and which one is goggle

#2 i was sure it's not a cron due to the subtle differences


i end up picking #1, i liked the slight glow/micro contrast over the sharpness the #3 had; recalling ken rockwell's review on 35mm i deduced correctly

🙂

 

[semilog]

#1 is summicron with eyes
#2 is 2.8 summaron(i'm surprised by how many people preferred this one)
#3 is summicron asph(my favorite)

#3 was my strong favorite, and I looked at the photos before I even noticed which lenses were being tested let alone in what order. Now that I know what they were, I am not surprised.