Leica 50/1.4 summilux Asph.

Fabulous image stamp. With selective focus it returns a very convincing 3D impression. It gives a smoother rendering than the 50 Summicron. To my eye, it's topnotch for portraiture.

Mine came with an unacceptably poor focusing feel--dry, rough. I sent it in to Leica NJ to have it addressed. It came back significantly smoother, but it's nowhere near my 50 Summicron or 35 Summicron Asph in smoothness. Unfortunately, this is a common issue with the 50 Summilux Asph.

The focusing throw is such that it takes a lot of effort to go from infinity to minimum distance. Personally I don't find that the focusing tab helps, as the heaviness makes single digit turning difficult to perform quickly and accurately. I prefer simply to use two finger focusing; I wish there was a way to remove the tab.

I recommend the 50 Summilux Asph for its signature but not for its ergonomics.
 
Last edited:
Turtle said:
Debusti there are loads of reviews and opinions online, just do a search.
Click to expand...
Yes online there are loads and opinions about everything,i think🙂
But i do think that forum are made to speak with people about common interest subjects....😉 or not?
when i start a thread I know where it starts but I don't know where it can ends...
Don't you agree??😀
 
Debusti, IMHO the current lux 50mm asph is the best lens made by any manufacturer anywhere ( of course i have not tested them all 😉 ).

cannot go wrong with it. The ergonomics are typical leica. The build is typical Leica. The performance is typical Leica.
 
I owned one for a while. I believe it's the best 50mm you can buy. But, i sold it, for a few reasons:
1. It's very, very expensive [the current price is ridiculous, bordering on stupid/criminal], and i wasn't enjoying rangefinders enough at that time to justify keeping it.
2. The performance is maybe 5% better than the group of the next best lenses, and shooting handheld with Tri-X or whatever wasn't going to give me 5% better results.
3. If i looked at every one of the photography books in my 'collection,' not one of the images what shot with the 50-ASPH, so why would i need it? When i looked at all of the images from other people that i've collected from the web, by far, more were shot with Noktons or Summicrons or somesuch, and the ones from the 50-ASPH were saved usually for the 'wrong' reasons.

Are you looking for a 'push' toward buying it? It's an excellent lens. Sharpness-wise and bokeh-wise. But, i don't think it will give you better images than a ZM 50/Planar or Summicron or Nokton, unless you're shooting at 1.4 constantly.

I've owned, in this order: Summilux pre-ASPH, vintage 50/1.5 Sonnar, DR Summicron, ZM 50 Planar, 50 Summilux-ASPH, and now i have a current 50 Summicron. If price were no object and i could have one of them, i'd take the ASPH. But, even though i can afford the ASPH, if i had no 50mm and wanted one, i'd buy the Nokton, Planar or current Summicron. Probably the Nokton, since i haven't tried it, but i love what i've seen from it.
 
You guys are killing me. 🙂 Why does this lens have to cost so much? Why is it that for every $100 dollars I save towards this lens Leica increases the price likewise? At this rate I'll have to wait till the next world to get one.

Anyway, while I wait I can enjoy the pictures it takes from others' work.
 
Debusti Paolo said:
Yes online there are loads and opinions about everything,i think🙂
But i do think that forum are made to speak with people about common interest subjects....😉 or not?
when i start a thread I know where it starts but I don't know where it can ends...
Don't you agree??😀
Click to expand...

Not really, but each to their own 😉 A search would reveal many opinions about this exact subject - the question has been covered lots of times, not only on this site but a number of others. I was merely letting you know that if your interest is in an answer to the question you can find your answer a lot more quickly searching rather than waiting for responses on this thread. Here are the first good hits that came up here. You might also want to check flikr out and search by lens - lots of pics that way.

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66700&highlight=summilux+asph
http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60459&highlight=summilux+asph
http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64288&highlight=summilux+asph
 
kemal_mumcu said:
You guys are killing me. 🙂 Why does this lens have to cost so much? Why is it that for every $100 dollars I save towards this lens Leica increases the price likewise? At this rate I'll have to wait till the next world to get one.

Anyway, while I wait I can enjoy the pictures it takes from others' work.
Click to expand...

It took me three years to save up for this lens. Leica's price increases drove me nuts. At the end of the three years, the price had increased by about $1000USD. I do not regret getting it though.
 
My own take on the 50mm f1.4 Asph is that it is probably the best 50mm high speed lens ever made. I doubt that we will be seeing anything better in the near future as neither film nor sensors can resolve what the lens "sees".
As for absolute resolution, it is a toss up between the 50f1.4 Asph and the 50f3.5 Heliar which one can squeeze the most lines/mm out of a negative.
It is an "edgy" lens, not all that pleasing image for most stuff, but when you need details, nothing is like it. The close up performance is stunning - even a f1.4!
Is it worth the money? Well, if you like scalpel like sharpness and can live with the higher contrast - yes. I have had one since it came out and though I use it sparingly - there is a certain pleasure in loading some really fine grain bl/w (+X, Pan F or even Tech Pan from my dwindling supply) and shoot with it. If you are shooting medium speed or high speed films. it is overkill - but for color I would like to try it with the new Kodak Ektar 100!!
 
I've been thinking about the 50mm Summilux ASPH for a long, long time and have finally ordered one today. I already have a superb set of old and new 50mm lenses, my favourite focal length, but no Summilux.

I've decided to take advantage of the current M-lens offer as I don't suppose we'll see prices at these levels for a long time hence, so it is now or never if I want to have a brand new lens. I've tormented myself for long enough, now to see what the fuss is about. At the least I'd hope to be able to at least get my money back should I decide not to keep it, and if the prices do rise further then it could even be a little investment for me!
 
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