Summarit 50mm/f1.5 vs. Canon 50mm/f1.4 LTM

[krötenblender]

Hello

I just bought "by accident" these two lenses and are now waiting for them to arrive from overseas. Since I will probably only keep one (was just searching a fast 50 to accompany my '57 Elmar 50mm), I'm reading through the almighty, allknowing internet for reviews and comparisons, but can not find very much usable infos about both of them.

So if you use one or both of them, tell me, what you think. Good lenses? Which would you prefer? Quirks and positive experiences?

Thanks in advance,
Stephan

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

surely you mean Summitar 50/f2 or do you mean the serenar 50/f1.5 ?

 

[Crazy Fedya]

or Summitar 50/1.5?

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Summarit 50mm/f1.5 vs. Canon 50mm/f1.4 LTM
================================

Both are very nice lens. Both Unique like comparing apples to oranges.
Summarit seem to be higher contrast with tendency to flare, could be due to fogging or soft coating increaring the flare .

Canon 50/f1.4 is based on the Planar design, nice and sharp, i find that it produces chalky black textures when used wth a 400 film.

the 1.4 is fat while the 1.5 is long.

if i have a choice, i would sell the 1.4, and fund a Canon or Serenar (name company, same product but perhaps different timeframe) 1.8 which has higher resolution than the 1.4 and is usually half the price of the 1.4.

a suggestion is to shoot the 1.5 and see if you like it or not, some people like the old-look of the images it produces and there is a niche following.

raytoei

 

[krötenblender]

No, I mean Summarit 50/1.5, like these:
Summarit 1
Summarit 2

 

[Dwig]

I prefer my 5cm Summicron DR to my Summarit. I use them, with an adapter, on a Pany G1 as short teles. The attached image is with the Summarit and shows its bokeh. You have to shoot the lenses and decide for your self what you prefer. I prefer the 'cron, but this venue is dark, I knew from past experience, so out came the Summarit. Its shot wide open at f/1.5.

The actor, author, editor, ... George Murphy reading the winning story from the 2012 Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition at the private home Casa Antigua here in Key West:

 

[roboflick]

The summarit is a beautiful sharp lens ( in the center). Low contrast and wonderful swirly bokeh, like an impressionist painting. I love it, but I also love weird bokeh. Henry Scherer did a wonderful job cleaning mine which was a late wartime model that sat unused because the threads were slight ly too thick. After he worked on it it is beautiful. 15 blade aperture, nothing made any where close to this standard since



Nik

 

[krötenblender]

Thanks so far for the comments. I'm sure, whichever would stay with me, it will be more fun on my film body than on my M9. I think of it as getting more into 50mm experimentally, because 35mm is my main FL.

I understand, that the Summarit is not really a Leica in the sense, that Leica engineered it, but just bought the rights to produce and sell it. But even then, it can't be that bad, if Leica licensed it at all for that many years.

First thing to do would surely be some comparison-shots with real world subjects to the two lenses, and then decide, which I like better. Can't afford to keep both currently.