What RF lens can I get for this look? (pics within)

anitasanger said:
and you are right. Even though I HATE post processing outside of the darkroom, I tried to manipulate the scans to look like the pentax. No dice.
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yes, everything turns to mud! good luck in your search, i'm sure you'll find what you are after... and don't fear the g-word!
 
I love the glow! I can't believe how angered some people get by it. As far as I'm concerned, it's just another adjective to describe a photographic result. Contrast, sharpness, glow...etc.
 
mto'brien said:
hi, i think you are maybe after that elusive 'glow' as well? where the highlights are very active but not blown out?

also look into the old school summar 50/2 and 50/1.5 summarit for 50mm low contrast lenses. I think it's harder (almost impossible?) to reduce contrast on a print using a high contrast neg. what i mean is, it's all about the lens. i really like your pics that you posted, btw.
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Don't know many of the lenses under discussion, BUT... as I looked at the photos, I, too, was thinking Summar, which I have shot.

I'm wondering if others more familiar with that lens might chime in.

Giorgio
 
I'm surprised that no one mentioned this, but you could get a good sample of a Jupiter-3, send it to Brian Sweeney to have him shim it and do his close-focus mod then you'd have a killer Sonnar lens with a fast f/1.5 aperture and focusing less than a meter. You can buy 10 of these for the cost of a user Summilux.

If you want to stick with a Summicron ever, the rigid and dual range are much lower contrast but higher resolution than the later 6 element 'Crons. I have both and I'm looking for another, actually because I love the early 'Crons. There IS a Throium glass collapsible Summicron, very much like your 50 Takumar. Similar computation, and similar glass. Those are great performers and would probably show the softness you want.

If you think you want a Summilux, then get a Leica screwmount 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor. They have a close focus range that will bring your subject to within about .5 meters. Closer than any Leica lens aside from the DR Summicron. This plus the wide aperture and the fact that the Nikkor is just killer at close range will help to give you the look you want. See Dante Stella's site for a great review of some alternates to Leica glass.

The Canon 50mm f/1.2 is big and it has a lot of the aberrations that make for a soft image like you are looking for but it also is not nearly as well corrected as your Takumar and so displays a lot of things unpleasantly. The background can get "confusing" instead of smooth. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is a better lens and is 95% as good as the pre-ASPH Summilux at 1/4 the cost or less.

There are a good number of other fantastic optics that can give you that lower contrast look without breaking the bank. Actually, for the cost of a 50 Summilux, you could buy a J-3, J-8, Canon 50/1.4 AND a Leica 50/3.5 Elmar. Try out all of them and see which you like then sell the others. The 50/3.5 Elmar produces a sharp but not too sharp, lower contrast image. Each one is different. That's the great thing about 50mm lenses and about RF photogrpahy. These lenses and formulations have been around for so long that we now have a "recipe book" of what lenses give what characteristics at what apertures and distances. It's amazing. You could have 30 different 50mm lenses that will fit a Leica M body and all could render differently. You can do the same with your Pentax and the various M42 50mm lenses out there. There are indeed some jewels.

Don't fret, have fun.
Phil Forrest
 
Lens recipe book

Lens recipe book

Phil_F_NM said:
That's the great thing about 50mm lenses and about RF photogrpahy. These lenses and formulations have been around for so long that we now have a "recipe book" of what lenses give what characteristics at what apertures and distances. It's amazing. You could have 30 different 50mm lenses that will fit a Leica M body and all could render differently.
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Such a recipe book would be a tremendous resource if someone could be troubled to rationalize and compile it for distribution. Perhaps a crowd-sourcing effort.
 
The other consideration for depth of field is the Zeiss M mount 50 1.5 C Sonnar. Even with a close focus twice that of the SLR lens you'll get the effect you're after. Contrast is higher than an older Summicron but still the tones are pleasing in low light especially. Look up some threads here via Google to see what it offers.
 
Wow Phil, thank you for the incredibly thoughtful reply. I will be copying and saving your advice so I will have it at a later date. You've given me a whole list of new lenses to research. I guess I have been very narrow minded in thinking I needed a summicron of summilux. I think I will keep the cron and find me a nice, fast, low-contrast, softish vintage of some sort. What are your thoughts on the Summarit 1.5? It's been suggested here. Would it render in a similar nature to my Takumar?

and thank you pagow, that will help a lot too!

Thank you
 
PMCC said:
Such a recipe book would be a tremendous resource if someone could be troubled to rationalize and compile it for distribution. Perhaps a crowd-sourcing effort.
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I opened up Pandora's box here!
That book would be so subjective too! One man's smooth bokeh would be another's donut and yet another's double-line confusion. It would be chaos within the community!
In all reality, I'd love to see as comprehensive a list of the 50mm lenses available in LTM and M mount with a few photos to go along with each entry. Different apertures at different distances. There must be hundreds of individual lenses. We could always start right here & now...
I have 5 or 6 50mm here and one out on loan, each one very different!

Phil Forrest
 
anitasanger said:
What are your thoughts on the Summarit 1.5? It's been suggested here. Would it render in a similar nature to my Takumar?
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The Summarit is a great lens that does provide an interesting look. Low contrast, good resolution but what I see from this lens is that it really renders in "3D." I've used them before in the past but never owned a copy that wasn't heavily scratched. The images I see from the Summarit are often stunning and do have a "look" to them that sets them apart.

If you're looking for a "glow" though the Jupiter-3 or a real Zeiss f/1.5 Sonnar (not the new one, the original WWII Zeiss Sonnar) will definitely give you some glow. Brian Sweeney here on RFF is the resident Sonnar expert and can really make those lenses sing.

The Nikkor I mentioned will give a nice glow too but is a tack driver in the precise plane of focus with a bit lower contrast than your 'Cron. Lately, it's become a bit hard to find the 50/1.4 Nikkor in LTM and it's sometimes more cost effective to buy a Nikon S2 camera with the lens included. (These are just my wishes of lens/camera ownership vicariously thrown out there now!)
Watch out for some of the connoisseur lenses too! You could wind up searching for a Voigtlander Prominent Nokton and the proper adapter with RF coupling. Oh my, the GAS never ends.

Phil Forrest
 
From what you said, it looks like you want a 50mm portrait lens. The best portrait lens in this FL by a wide margin is the C Sonnar, but you will have to deal with some focus shift issues. As noted above, other great modern portrait lens is the pre asph Summilux. Then we get into the "vintage" lenses, and it becomes more subjective, but my preference would go to the Canon 50/1.2 LTM. In any case, you would be well advised, to look through the photos made with various 50mm lenses in this group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/m-mount/discuss/72157600006086034/

C Sonnar
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Summilus pre asph

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Canon 50/1.2

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Ah yes... the beautiful siren song of the Leica 'feel'. I know it well! Now... how about that collapsible summicron I have in the classifieds? :)
 
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