Test of five 50mm LTM lenses

[Gabriel M.A.]

And the winner is... almost Brian! Only two swapped. Yay!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

My Best and Final:

Canon 50mm F1.2 on 5 and 6, as stated my other members;

1: is the J3,
7: is the Zeiss-Opton;
4: is the Summar;
3: is the Summitar ; (My initial guess)
2: is the J-8
________________

If I blew it, let someone else have the "Million!"

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

My Best and Final:

Canon 50mm F1.2 on 5 and 6, as stated my other members;

1: is the J3,
7: is the Zeiss-Opton;
4: is the Summar;
3: is the Summitar ; (My initial guess)
2: is the J-8
________________

If I blew it, let someone else have the "Million!"

:: flashing lights / bells ::

That is correct! 🙂 Brian gets the star! And a box of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat (put it on my tab).

Now, I don't understand why the J3 and the Z.O. looked so soft here. The Z.O. Sonnar is plenty sharp wide open (well, whatever falls within the DOF). Like I said, the light was varying a lot, so camera shake may have contributed to this.

I'll try to do a more controlled test this weekend; no clouds, hopefully. And it will include the tabbed 'cron.

Any ideas for subject matter (no walls, please)?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

oh, and btw, I apologize for the dirty pic #7; it had a big thumbprint and crud (lab processing is a crapshoot), and could not clean it off as much as I tried, and I don't like to apply agressive dust reduction, only very minimal, or manually, and doing it manually on that one would have taken me a long time; so I just went ahead and posted it as-is.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I think it is the plane of focus that makes them look soft. Narrow DOF at F1.5 on a very 3-D subject!

 

[SteveM(PA)]

I'm really digging the quality of the Canon 1.2 at f2. Hey lens gurus, will that round, aperture-bladed OOF be a constant for this lens at f2? I wonder at what wider aperture the circle gets blobby?

 

[raid]

I arrived late here. Nice test, Gabriel. I like the light source in the background for Bokeh, and I always prefer a human face over a non-human object for such tests since I want to see how a face will be shown with a certain lens.

 

[raid]

I'm really digging the quality of the Canon 1.2 at f2. Hey lens gurus, will that round, aperture-bladed OOF be a constant for this lens at f2? I wonder at what wider aperture the circle gets blobby?

Steve,
I am now thinking of having a test with fewer 50mm lenses but have a larger choice of apertures and "situations". The more people post results on their personal tests of a given lens, such as the 50mm/1.2, the more we can identify common features and differences due to a need for CLA and so on.

 

[jan normandale]

Here are my thoughts on Gabriels test. I'm not a 'lens' knowledgeable person so I didn't try to determine image matched to lens, but I can see. I decided to evaluate the images, understand that i'm using a computer and a print could be different.

1 and 3 have lots of contrast
6 is sharpest followed by 5+3
1, 2, 3 towards a blue hue
5, 6 towards a brown hue

The shallow DoF from shooting W/O makes it difficult to evaluate what the lens is best at doing. Some lenses may perform better if the aperture is in a 'sweet spot'

Still all tests are valid and I liked this one from a lay persons perspective. Cutting to the chase, I would definitely purchase the Canon lens before the Summitar, Summar or Opton!

 

[John]

Thank you for posting this test Gabriel. You have a very interesting lens set. I learnt a lot here. Jan's evaluation showed me things I had not thought about. I did not consider contrast when the shots were separate, but it really shows in a side by side. 🙂 🙂

 

[sychan]

I think that the Canon and Z-O look the best. The Z-O seems pretty high contrast, but the plane of focus seems to intersect through her hair and doesn't give you much to examine, but what I see looks to be be punchy and well defined.

 

[ray_g]

I liked #1 (creamy) and #4 (dreamy) for a shot like this. Be interesting to see a side by side with the Summilux wide open. Very nice sample of a J3 you have. If this was one of Brian's tweaked lenses, count me next in line! 😉

 

[ray_g]

I looked through the photos again. Look at her hair on #1... wow.

 

[raid]

All photos posted look good.

 

[wlewisiii]

Gabriel, you are not doing my wallet any favors...

With the 40/2, 50/1.5 & 50/1.8 I've got sharp covered six ways to Sunday. But that Summar keeps calling to me and this lens test doesn't help 😉 That look is something special. It is when I see shots like this that I really understand what Mr. Gandy says - "Universally disparaged, I think it's a treasure. These lenses give a wonderful semi-soft focus effect when shot at wide apertures with color film. " From what I've seen in this and other RFF tests, I have to agree.

edit: Obviously this is the lens to do artistic nudes with. Why futz with vasaline or nylons? And yet, there is more sharp there than you see at first... not the case with some of the "alternatives"...

Argh. I need to find a stupid cheap Summar now... gee, thanks, I think... 😱

😀

William

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

The shallow DoF from shooting W/O makes it difficult to evaluate what the lens is best at doing. Some lenses may perform better if the aperture is in a 'sweet spot'

Still all tests are valid and I liked this one from a lay persons perspective. Cutting to the chase, I would definitely purchase the Canon lens before the Summitar, Summar or Opton!

I agree. I however actually take the (here it goes) E. Puts line of reasoning that you don't buy a fast lens thinking you're going to shoot it stopped down. But, like I said, I agree with you, so I thought I'd shoot the Canon 50 f/1.2 at f/2 too, also to put it on equal footing with the J-8, Summar and the Summitar.

I'm like to see how the lenses perform wide open, which is how I shoot them 99% of the time. Well, at least the RFF lenses; the SLR lenses, that's another story, you usually have to stop those suckers down (except for my Leica R lenses, but let's not go there).

I'll try to find a static scene, reasonably "flat" and yet not too boring. I like to see the DOF, too, and the bokeh, so I may not have too many options. And a tripod. I haven't used it in ages.

I wonder if I should also use f/4 or f/5.6 as the "sweet spot"; it is used often in MTF charts, so it may be a reasonable aperture. Lots and lots of notes...

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Argh. I need to find a stupid cheap Summar now... gee, thanks, I think... 😱

He he. The Surgeon General should put a label on me: may cause GAS. 😉

Sorry. Nah, who am I kidding...

 

[netzspannung]

gabrielma, thanks for the test 😱

By the way, have you noticed how the focus plane is shifted slightly backwards with the two soviet lenses? I seem to notice exactly the same thing on my newly acquired Bessa R2 and J3+J8. Seems to me that it is not a coincidence... I remember reading Dante Stella's site saying these lenses are not too compatible 🙁 Any workarounds?

P.S. It may be crossing the boundaries of politeness, but your girlfriend is fantastic indeed.. Treat her well :angel:

 

[Sonnar Brian]

> Very nice sample of a J3 you have.

Actually, Gabriel's J3 is the best one on the Planet and I offered it to him before seeing the test results. I'll never make that mistake again! I think it was used by an R&D lab; it has a green coating on it that looks like it was formulated for IR.

 

[raid]

I agree. I however actually take the (here it goes) E. Puts line of reasoning that you don't buy a fast lens thinking you're going to shoot it stopped down. But, like I said, I agree with you, so I thought I'd shoot the Canon 50 f/1.2 at f/2 too, also to put it on equal footing with the J-8, Summar and the Summitar.

I'm like to see how the lenses perform wide open, which is how I shoot them 99% of the time. Well, at least the RFF lenses; the SLR lenses, that's another story, you usually have to stop those suckers down (except for my Leica R lenses, but let's not go there).

I'll try to find a static scene, reasonably "flat" and yet not too boring. I like to see the DOF, too, and the bokeh, so I may not have too many options. And a tripod. I haven't used it in ages.

I wonder if I should also use f/4 or f/5.6 as the "sweet spot"; it is used often in MTF charts, so it may be a reasonable aperture. Lots and lots of notes...

Gabriel,
Take a look at my recent test of twelve lenses. It includes comparisons at f 2.0 (or fastest aperture greater than 2.0) plus comparisons at f 4.0 which you are considering. Maybe a look at the f 4 photos will give you an idea to shoot at this aperture or not. My photos had no bokeh capabilities and I used my daughter as the model.