Which 50mm!?!?!

[tohara]

Hi all,
im relatively new to range finders, having recently moved from an all canon digital set up to a m6 and then only last week picking up an m9. Im loving the RF experience, its almost...pure. Nailing a shot is a big thrill, especially considering how useless the back lcd is. I've moved to leica because i'm sick of carrying around a huge canon kit, theyre amazing, but big, obnoxious and very easy to identify. Leica fashion shooters seem few and far between but i'm keen to make it work.

I shoot mainly fashion and beauty and subject separation is important for the type of shooting i do. I currently own a biogon 2/35 and a 35 cron. Wide open the bokeh is pleasing, when in focus, and as i learn more and get more comfortable with an rf i'm sure ill be nailing more shots. But i'm not getting enough separation in my opinion. This is probably because im coming from/am used to shooting a 35 1.4 and an 85 1.2 wide open. Some might say i'm a DOF fiend. Im sure the 35mm focal length doesn't help, so my next acquisition (after i sell the biogon) will be a 50mm.

I've done a heap of reading and have not yet come up with a definitive decision. As far as i can see my options are as follows
1. save for a 50 lux pre/asph
2. buy a 50 cron
3. buy a 50 planar
4. buy a 50 sonnar

Any other options people can recommend? I know that the m-hexanon's are highly regarded. But they are hard to find in my part of the world. I am not interested in adapted lenses.

Bang for your buck, as well as size (which is a factor) i think the sonnar is the winner. However i've read about the focus issues and choosing the point of optimisation. Is this really a huge problem?

Will f2 on a 50 get me what i want?

It is worth noting that 95% of the shooting i do will be wide open or close to it. Sharpess is important, the 'smoothness' of the bokeh not so much.

So, who can help!?

 

[Richard G]

Welcome tohara. This thread is soon to slip off the front page. You can use Google to search this forum by using the formula xxxxx site:rangefinderforum.com.

There are some good threads on the C Sonnar and the Planar, the 50 Summicrons and Jupiters and Canons, including the 50 1.2 which might interest you. I have the C Sonnar and the Summicron version 5 (I think.) The C Sonnar is smaller than the Summilux but it isn't small. None of my Zeiss lenses is as small as the Leica equivalent except the Sonnar. A Summicron and the Planar focus to 0.7m which is a big consideration in your calculations and f2 should be fast enough and certainly the Summicron is compact. The C Sonnar close focus is 0.9m. Focus shift exists but rarely comes into play with a 1.5 optimized lens in my direct experience. There is a recent thread on this with a link to my formal tests of focus shift with the M9. Don't follow the advice that the C Sonnar is a specialist lens. I would be happy to use this all the time and it is on my camera more than any other lens. It will also be the last to go if I were ever to sell a lens, which I never have.

There are lots of 50s. It is not clear to me that there are any bad ones. For compactness the winner is probably the Leica Summarit 2.5.

 

[Richard G]

This looks like good Hexanon: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/pho...tle/new-price-m-hexanon-50mm-f-2f2-lens/cat/2

 

[mfogiel]

In my opinion, if you are really a bokeh freak, the only "absolute" bokeh lens is the old Noctilux 50/1.0. Coming down to earth in terms of price and performance, the C Sonnar optimized for wide open will give you a background separation beyond anything you can expect. It has an intentionally undercorrected spherical aberration, and the effect of passage from in to out of focus is much more dramatic than it would be warranted on the basis of the f stop alone. However, this comes at a double price: low contrast wide open and focus shift as you begin to stop down. In fact, this lens in the wide open optimized version, should be used at f 1.5, at f 2.0 and then from about f 6.3 onwards, where the increased dof covers up the problem. It will severely misfocus between f 2.8 and f 4.0.
A more balanced lens, although slightly less sharp, and with less separation effect, is the Summilux 50 pre asph. It is a very good lens for people photography, and the bokeh is typical Mandler: pleasing and slightly paintery.
Here are a couple of examples:
C Sonnar@ f 1.5


07110512 by mfogiel, on Flickr

Summilux 50 pre asph @ f 1.4


20124424 by mfogiel, on Flickr

A slightly less versatile and more expensive alternative, would be the Summilux 75/1.4, which is even more of a bokeh machine than the Noctilux, due to increased focal length. However, this lens also has some minor focus shift issues, and is also quire big and heavy, and I would not recommend it for a carry around everyday solution.