Which (manual) F-mount lens is closest to Leica's 50 Lux Asph

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nephilim

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Hi there,

I'm thinking about selling my Leica gear and go back to a Nikon FM3a. For 28 and 90-100mm I already have good lenses, close to the performance of my current 28 Elmarit Asph and 90 Cron Apo-Asph. The problem is the 50mm range, where the 50 Lux Asph is my all-time favorite. Apparently, no 50mm lens by Nikon comes close to the Lux, especially due to a super-busy OOF rendering. Looking at the Zeiss line-up, the 50/1.4 seems to be equally bad, whereas the 50/2 looks like a great performer. But then, it's f/2. On the Nikon side, the 58/1.2 Noct could be interesting but costs a lot of $!

Which lens would you recommend for a similar performance on Nikon F-mount?

Cheers,
Torsten
 
Do you insist on manual focus only? If not, you might give the new 50/f1.4 G or, in fact, if you want smooth OOF rendering (and I'll have brandname Nazis howling at me for this) the Sigma 50/f1.4 a try.

EDIT: Sorry, I saw you want to use this on an FM3A. That leaves you out of luck. You might try a Leica 50/f1.4 and a Leitax adapter, though.
 
The 50mm Summilux aspherical is widely regarded as the best 50mm ever. If it's smooth bokeh you are after, the Nikon 50mm f1.2 is pretty good, much cheaper than their 58mm Noct AND is still available NEW !! The other lens I like in this sort of range (with a bokeh from slightly weird to beautiful) is the Voightlander SLII 58mm f1.4
 
Although I can not make any claims comparing to the Lux, the Voigtlander 40/2 and 58/1.4 are the finest Nikon lenses I own (and I own a lot of them). Pete Smith, OBM, tested them both on one of his machines and agreed.
 
Which F mount lenses do you think is close to the 28mm Elmarit asph and the 90mm Summicron AA?

I agree with the Leitax solution as suggested.
 
Ok, the Leitax seems to be a way out. I have to check prices of the R lenses, the conversion itself seems to be ok.

Regarding the other advice: I currently own the 50/1.2 Ai-S and have just scanned a roll almost completely shot with this lens. OOF highlights show (according to my taste) nasty donut shapes and make the background really nervous. Sharpness & contrast wide open is also inferior.

I had the Voigtländer Nokton a few years ago, but don't remember it as a super lens. In the end I sold it - that should be reason enough ;) Seriously, I will have a look at my older photos. A quick glance at the photozone website shows donut bokeh, too.

Rayt, I'm quite happy with the Nikkor 28/2.8 Ais with CRC and the Zeiss 100/2 Makro-Planar. Especially the latter is a lens I really like, hence I will test the 50/2 in any case. However, the loss of a stop in combination with a shaky SLR is a clear step backwards from a Leica M w/50Lux :)
 
Rayt said:
Which F mount lenses do you think is close to the 28mm Elmarit asph and the 90mm Summicron AA?

I agree with the Leitax solution as suggested.
Click to expand...

The newer 28mm f/2.8 AIS is the best of the Nikon 28mm lenses, as for the 90, I have no idea, I never shoot anythng bigger than a 50mm in Nikon.
 
And to get close to the asph quality you should get the latest summilux which is not easy to find and will cost $$$$$.
The former Summilux-R is not too expensive but will not give you the Asph quality.
 
I own a Noct-Nikkor that I use on a F3 HP with MD-4 motordrive. It's a great fast handling lens that I love to shoot with, but I'm not sure it can fit the shoes of a 50 LUX ASPH that some people call a perfect lens.

I was lucky and stumbled into a mispricing at B&H and purchased my Noct-Nikkor for $2499.00. Its an AIS version in 8+ condition BTW.

As far as look, I think the 55/2.8 Macro AIS has the sharpness and sharp corners of a 50 Lux ASPH, but not the speed. I own this lens also.

Cal
 
Keeping the M and lens(es) is no option. I know that it's a beautiful setup but a rangefinder is simply not working for me in such a way that it justifies to spend so much money. And I'm not too fond of the quality of my M7... Hence, it's decided - the Leica has to go. Now I'm looking for the best alternative to the beautiful 50 Lux.
 
I mostly use my Noct-Nikkor between F1.2 and F4.0 where I believe it displays its best performance and mostly use it with 100 ISO film during the day. I really like how it renders. Because the VF'er is so bright its almost like auto-focus.

But at night with pushed film its really in its element. Very easy to focus even in dim lighting. Very flare resistant with that special low coma glass. An amazing lens. I only shoot B&W BTW.

The 55/2.8 Macro kinda resolves like the 50 Lux ASPH, but has limited speed. To regain the OOF you just have to move closer because you don't have the big apertures of the Lux.

The 50 Lux ASPH is mucho expensive so relatively speaking the Noct-Nikkor and 55 Macro are cheap in comparision.

Cal
 
If money is no barrier, you could also try the Carl Zeiss offerings for Nikon mount -- heresy, I know ;-), but they are great lenses. I have a lot of them in Contax/Yashica mount (the f1.4/50mm Planar was supposed to be the best-in-class back in the 1990s), and the updated version for still-existing systems are supposed to be even better...
 
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