What is sharpest 50mm LTM lens, any brand?

Paul, your criteria was "sharpest." Within your budget, you aren't likely to find a Leica lens that will beat a 50 Skopar for sharpness. There really isn't magic in those old Leica lenses. :)
 
paulfish4570 said:
Both of those Skopars are on my interest list, but I may hold out for M versions when I get an M body sometime in the next several months - I hope, I hope, I hope ...
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Use an M adapter with an LTM lens ... what is wrong with that?:confused:
 
Picket is right! You are not going to beat a skopar for the money. Like Raid said you can use an adapter when you get a Leaca M. Plus the skopar has click stops.
 
I give another vote for the Canon f1.8/50mm.....which I shoot with almost everyday :)

The Nikkor HC f2/50mm is also very sharp stopped down.....I sold mine with my 57' Tower rig, but I'm buying a 1958 one again soon, seems I can't live without the HC :D

Tom
 
Ain't no better than the Canon 50/1.4 and prices seems to be stable around $300 now after going up and down for awhile.
 
Within given budget and being Sharpest - if you look - only lens that fits this criteria is LTM CV NOKTON 50/1.5. Others listed may be some good lenses, but either not as sharp or outside of the budget stated by OP.
 
I agree the 2.8 Elmar is a fine lens, but f/2.8 was a bit of a stretch for the glasses and design methods of its time. I have one, and find it cleans up quite a bit when stopped down to F/4, but at f/2.8 it is unimpressive. I'm thinking the CV Color Skopar suggested above might be worthy of consideration. I looked at CameraQuest, and they show it as sold out; Photo Village however has them new for $429.00. I don't think it would be hard to come in under $350 for a perfect used one. I don't own that one, but I do have VC lenses of 25, 28, 35, and 75mm focal length, and they are all first-class! So I'm inclined to believe the strong recommendations I read above.
 
This is in the FSU forum, you have to be careful with matching lenses to FSU bodies. I can use my Nikkor 5cm F2 on the Zorki 3M without problems because it has a thick RF cam. Lenses with a thin Cam have problems with the "finger-Style" FSU Cam follower: it slips under the cam of the lens. The Nikkor 5cm F1.4 was a problem, as was the Summarit 50/1.5.

So: some of the Canon, Nikkor, and Leica lenses will do better on a camera made to the Leica standard with a roller style RF pickup. Until then- the I61L/D has the most "snap" in my opinion.
 
ferider said:
For corner2corner sharpness, get a planar-based design. And correct adjustment is more important than anything else. For your budget, I would get a clean Canon 50/1.8, and maybe invest into Sherry making it perfect. No Sonnar or Tessar-based lens will be able to stand up to that.

Roland.
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Yup. This one is from my Canon 50/1.8 after Sherry cleaned and adjusted it:

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And this one is from a CV Color Skopar 50/2.5. Not too shabby in the sharpness dep't:

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I tend to agree that the Nokton 50/1.5 is the sharpest for the desired price range, but it's starting to get expensive on the used market as with all the CV LTM lenses now that most are out of production (lamentably).
 
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Brian Sweeney said:
This is in the FSU forum, you have to be careful with matching lenses to FSU bodies. I can use my Nikkor 5cm F2 on the Zorki 3M without problems because it has a thick RF cam. Lenses with a thin Cam have problems with the "finger-Style" FSU Cam follower: it slips under the cam of the lens. The Nikkor 5cm F1.4 was a problem, as was the Summarit 50/1.5.

So: some of the Canon, Nikkor, and Leica lenses will do better on a camera made to the Leica standard with a roller style RF pickup. Until then- the I61L/D has the most "snap" in my opinion.
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Well, the question is about the sharpest lens. But its going to be used on a FSU camera. Yes, an FSU camera. It seems that the suggestions from numerous advisors are not as sharp as their sharp lenses.:D Read the original question and understand the implications of using an non-FSU lens on a FSU camera.:bang:

I know now that we have to live with this profound inability among Leica owners to understand the following "the pitch of the helicoid mechanisms controlling the rearward extension of the lens focusing ring within each of the ensemble of Soviet lenses tested is designed to specifications different from that of the Leitz compatible lenses"::cool:

If you buy a Canon, Leica, Voightlander, Konica, Nikon for your russian RF you will have a missfocus of approximately 2.5 inch at a distance of 1.5 meter. There goes the pinpoint focus on the portrait regardless if you use the latest summicron 50mm LTM or the Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM.

I also used to laugh at my Industar 61/LD until I used it on my Zorki. (The camera it was made for) A casual photo at close distance became the eye-opener about the compability issue.
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Industar 61/LD 1/15 @2.8 and yes, I used my Zorki 4K.
 
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tbarker13 said:
This is kind of funny. Is there a LTM 50 that hasn't been offered up in this thread as the sharpest?
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Dear Tim,

Cooke Amotal f/2... Leitz Hektor f/2.5... Dallmeter Super Six f/1.8...Leitz Xenon f/1.5... Nikkor f/1.1... Anything from Zunow...Taylor, Taylor & Hobson f/2 Anastigmat and Double Speed Panchro... Not many, though!

Cheers,

R.
 
Har! Excellent point, Roger. I think I will stick - for now- with my I-26 for portraits and my I-61 for my all-arounder.
 
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