Leica 50mm 2.8 Elmar-M or Voigtlander 50mm 2.5?

[Richard G]

I use my chrome Elmar M on my M9P and carry it all around the place collapsed, without hood. I only really need the hood if it's raining I find. I do like the idea of the compactness of the f2.5 Summarit. Despite my love of the tab on my v4 Summicron, I don't miss it at all on the Elmar M which focuses very quickly and easily. I do think about a black one for the lightness of that, but the weight of my set up possibly improves stabilising the camera and lens. And it makes the whole full frame digital standard fit in the palm of a hand. The cap that came with mine is very loose, so I am using a 60 year old one instead. Looks brand new.

 

[f16sunshine]

I don't like distortion but it can be overcome...
Poor handling may be subjective but it can not be overcome (although it can be ignored) 😛
The Skopar handling is super.
The Elmar handling imo is right "up" there with other collapsible lenses.... poor.

Like many, I use a hybrid workflow for film.
Correcting the Color Skopar 50mm pincushion distortion results in a bit of edge cropping..... such a minimal edge of the frame it's almost not worth thinking about .
Just create a simple profile upon import and you may never see it.
Of course if the photographer is wet printing, that's a different story.

I like the skopar for photographing warm blooded friends.
Layne by Adnan, on Flickr

Hickory and Willow by Adnan, on Flickr

 

[jsrockit]

The Elmar handling imo is right "up" there with other collapsible lenses.... poor.

This is totally subjective...I had no issue with the lens handling... and I'm an ergonomics / haptic sensitive person.

 

[Kumachrome]

Hmm this is a hard one. I appreciate all the replies! I'm now thinking between the 50mm Skopar, or the Voigtlander Heliar f2.
Do both have short focusing throw? I am currently using a Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM (the "Japanese Summicron") Though it's a great lens, especially for night photography, the focus throw is about...190 degrees and a bit over-dampened, which makes focusing take forever, and not great for trying to take fast shots on the street.

 

[michaelwj]

Poor handling may be subjective but it can not be overcome (although it can be ignored) 😛
The Skopar handling is super.
The Elmar handling imo is right "up" there with other collapsible lenses.... poor.

This is totally subjective...I had no issue with the lens handling... and I'm an ergonomics / haptic sensitive person.

Luckily there are all different types of lenses.
🙂

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Hmm this is a hard one. I appreciate all the replies! I'm now thinking between the 50mm Skopar, or the Voigtlander Heliar f2.
Do both have short focusing throw? I am currently using a Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM (the "Japanese Summicron") Though it's a great lens, especially for night photography, the focus throw is about...190 degrees and a bit over-dampened, which makes focusing take forever, and not great for trying to take fast shots on the street.

Best way to find about how lens is made is to search it on ebay and open lens on sale pictures.

I would take Planar over Heliar for street photography 50/2 lens.

 

[f16sunshine]

Hmm this is a hard one. I appreciate all the replies! I'm now thinking between the 50mm Skopar, or the Voigtlander Heliar f2.
Do both have short focusing throw? I am currently using a Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM (the "Japanese Summicron") Though it's a great lens, especially for night photography, the focus throw is about...190 degrees and a bit over-dampened, which makes focusing take forever, and not great for trying to take fast shots on the street.

If a short focus throw feel is important I would tend to skip the f2 Heliar.
I had the special edition "Collapsible styled" yet rigid build lens.
The focus was smooth but heavy. The lens "stops" at the ends of it's range and sort of parks there requiring an extra effort to move it back the other direction (near and infinity).
It's difficult to describe. Sort of the feeling of tightening a nut on a bolt. Once seated it needs to be unseated to turn freely again... who knows maybe my lens had an issue or needed more use. ( it was new)
The movement was not as long as the canon but longer than the Skopar which is quick and light to focus.

That all said, The f2 Heliar is a special lens and delivers nice image quality.

 

[jsrockit]

The shortest focus throw 50mm I've used was the Leica 50mm Summarit 2.5. The skopar will be similar. The Heliar is longer, but not as long as the canon. The canon is loooooooong! The collapsable has a shorter throw than the nickel model IIRC in the heliars.

 

[Dralowid]

I think about lenses in the context of other lenses that I use. For some reason the Elmar M seems to be a good partrner for a 35mm 2.8 Summaron.

 

[megido]

For some reason the Elmar M seems to be a good partrner for a 35mm 2.8 Summaron.

Interesting. I found that the Elmar 50 3.5 M also matches well.

 

[Huss]

.. The Jupiter has a tremendous distortion, I forgot wich one, puncushion or barrel vault.

Erik.

I dug through my shots, and happened to find a pic of a brick wall that I took w/ my Jupiter8. Actually the brick wall was not the intention, it was what was painted on it, but still it is there.
There is a little distortion but nothing that I would remotely describe as tremendous. And I checked the file, it has not been corrected for distortion:

 

[Erik van Straten]

I guess that there are Jupiters and Jupiters. This is with a Jupiter 8. Maybe your shot, Huss, is not the whole negative.

Erik.

 

[Huss]

Both shots have pincushion distortion, but yours is worse. As u say, there are Jupiters and there are Jupiters!

 

[Larry H-L]

I have noticed on Jupiters and Sonnars, that the pincushion distortion becomes much more noticeable when the lens is pointed up or down, and less seen when shooting straight ahead.

That might account for Erik's photo looking different.

 

[Huss]

I have noticed on Jupiters and Sonnars, that the pincushion distortion becomes much more noticeable when the lens is pointed up or down, and less seen when shooting straight ahead.

That might account for Erik's photo looking different.

Perhaps. But for $40 new, it's something worth having. I don't feel the same way about the J3. That seems to be far more of a crap shoot, and now actually is a very expensive lens for what you get. Especially the new one at $650. The 7Artisans 50 1.1 (I'm such a fan I have two!) is 1/2 the price.

 

[rfaspen]

Funny about those J-3s eh? Lucky I grabbed a decent one (1957 and serviced with competence), though it seems soft to me at 1.5 - 4 range.

The OP is asking about 2 lenses I hear such great things about. I've tried out an Elmar-M and nearly fell in love. I suppose if I had the $$ to buy it, I would have. The lens belonged to a friend though.

Collapsibles are a "Leica thing". The Elmar-M seemed more "positive" in all respects compared to my various early collapsibles (Elmar 3.5's Elmar 2.8). Leica probably addressed all issues associated with the collapsible-ness of a lens. That just leaves imaging performance. I know the Elmar-M meets my standards. But then RFF member Erik sure makes the color skopar sing -- if you haven't already noticed.

Tough choice.

 

[Pioneer]

You know, I shoot with all kinds of lenses and I don't find the collapsible lenses anymore difficult to use than the rest of them.

Sure, you have to extend the lens. So what? You have to take off a lens cap too.

I am very fond of Elmars and the fact that I have to extend them is something that I don't even think about. It is just part of the charm.

 

[Huss]

I never collapse my Summicron 50, because really It hardly makes a difference. If I had the choice between the Elmar and the CV and the $$ didnt matter then the Elmar. But the CV is a much rarer bird and I think will appreciate in the future. I can see it already is doing that.

 

[Huss]

Funny about those J-3s eh? Lucky I grabbed a decent one (1957 and serviced with competence), though it seems soft to me at 1.5 - 4 range.

Seems to me your lens' focus is not calibrated for ur camera if it is soft until 5.6. At that point it is the dof that is making it appear sharp.
That's been the sticking point w J3 lenses- getting them calibrated properly to work w/ Non Russian bodies.

 

[Erik van Straten]

I never collapse my Summicron 50, because really It hardly makes a difference. If I had the choice between the Elmar and the CV and the $$ didnt matter then the Elmar. But the CV is a much rarer bird and I think will appreciate in the future. I can see it already is doing that.

And you'll have a real black paint lens that fits both your Barnacks and your M's.

Leica M3, Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.5.

Erik.