That ending comment was very insightful. I’ve never really tried stitching photos together but knowing that stitching 50mm shots together will produce a more pleasing result is definitely a boon
And there is the Leica 50/2.4 Summarit with best price/quality ratio. Unfortunately no longer produced because it was biting into the presented lenses profitability.
You missed the Noctilux M 1.25/50. The Summilux 50 is APO too, Peter Kerber told Thorsten von Overgaard. The 50 has always been my favourite lens. It's simply the best in press photography, and I never take it of my M-P240. Love your videos.
The 50mm Summilux is Aspheric but does not have the APO designation. That’s what I am going by. And the 50mm f1.2 are hard to get so I could not include it, which is a pity from a completeness point of view!
@@LeicaCameraAustralia thank you overall for doing this as many maybe like the short form factor sometimes long ones are better specially from someone passionate about the topic 👍
The 50mm Summilux has an aspherical lens element, as stated in the lens name. It's the fourth element from the front, just behind the aperture iris. It is an apochromatic design in that it fits the criteria of what qualifies a lens as apochromatic (as opposed to an achromat lens). The lens is not publicised as apochromatic, but our lens designer Peter Karbe is on the record as describing its apochromatic character.
I was digging through my stock and found a version 3 which was like new when I got it in 198x and never used it. Also own 50 2.8 Elmar M, 2 samples. All are nice. Also own 50 APO and 50 1.4. You describe them perfectly. Buy a good sample and you should be pleased .
I also got serious about photography in the late 60’s. My first camera was a mamiya 35mm, with a 1.4, 50mm lens. I shot all my head shots at 1.4, and my work blew people away. Not because it was great, but no one ever seen blurred out backgrounds. Ya gotta love bokeh ! These days my tools are an m6, with a 2.0, 50mm Summicron. Rick….. 📷
The diagonal of FF is about 43 mm. Since the mentioned lenses are slightly more than 50 mm you have a "tele effect" of about 20 per cent which I personally find too narrow. A 35 mm lens has about 20 per cent "wide angle effect" which I find more pleasing. Strange there are so few 40 mm lenses around.
Sir, what you are discussing is Angle of View. Irrespective of Diagonal measurement, the accurate representation of distance between subject & background-object happens with a perfectly normal/natural focal length of 58mm ... not 35, 43, 50, or 85 ... and furthermore, whatever the sensor size or format (large, medium, fullframe, Apsc, M43) this rule doesn't change. I would prefer to use 58-65mm lenses on any camera system, & purposely keep all formats in my collection, if i can afford, thus achieving Wide-to-Tele Angle-of-View depending on the format. This is the correct method to be adapted.
@@chirag4 Do you have any recommendations for books/resources I could look into, to understand the physics behind such statements not in just a rule of thumb way, but from first principles. More the math, the merrier! TIA!
Great video on a relevant topic. A comparison of the 35mm vs 50mm would also be great. I have the 35mm summilux an the 50mm cron an find myself trapped between the two.
When you buy a 50 Summicron, sooner or later you change for a Summilux. A Noctilux is too expensive, too heavy and too hard to focus wild open. For me the ultimate pleasure is capter memories with my M262 + 50 summilux.
Good job you nailed it! I know all these lenses from experience and you made valid points. It is versatile and covers a lot but it is also very boring, it doesn’t change perspective. I think it doesn’t require much creativity in terms of composition nor allows it for much. If you go up and down in Focal length you must know certain rules. That know how is what can separate your work creativity from others. If you know how to use the 75 noctilux you get results there quite unique. You should be aware of distance and perspective in any Focal length. I am a use a lens when you need it guy, but we all have our favourites. However lenses are made for certain purposes and the more you know the better your results will be. The 50 noctilux portrait you showcase is nice but do the same crop but shoot with the 75 and I would most likely always choose the extra narrow angle , feel you get from it.
Thanks Sir! loved the excellent presentation & analysis. I am a proud owner of the M10-P *White* LE + 50mm f/1.4 summilux. I would like to add here that, compared to 50mm, the 58mm or 65mm lenses are even more correct --- Perspective-wise, Magnification-wise, Compression-wise, it's perfectly Normal & Natural, akin to human-vision, such that, the relationship & distance between objects in the middle-ground, foreground & background is closer & similar to the human-eye-sight. We see in either 58 or 65mm terms. Nikon makes Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct ... & ... Mitakon makes 65mm f/1.4 for Fuji GFX ... & ... Sigma/Voigtlander make a 65mm f/2 for Sony. Irrespective of the Angle of View & Sensor-size (medium-format, full-frame, Apsc, M4/3), 58-65mm is the one elusive focal length that we all secretly seek for & never discovered. I wish there was a 60-ish focal length lens for the M system.
Great Video. If you could choose only one lens, you say it would be the 50mm, but what 50mm would you choose. I suspect the APO ? I have the Summicron f2.
Thank you but I would have loved to see the comparison of the lenses shooting the exact same subject at the exact same if stop so I could see the difference in these lenses
Hi Peter. I agree and it’s a good idea, but IMO the nuances do not come over in a YT video. Maybe it would work in 4K. You have to look hard for the differences because they are all really good!
@@LeicaCameraAustralia I am so frustrated I'm trying to find people on RUclips to show me why I would spend $5000 or $20,000 on the lens, I find really frustrating for me as a buyer to get really accurate information about why would spend the money on this gear and I don't understand if you can't show it on RUclips why you would do a tutorial on RUclips saying this is the lenses but you can't show us the difference between the lenses, please this is not attack on what you've done but I need someone to show me why I would spend $20,000 on the lens. You have to realise it's not easy for someone just to go out and get a $20,000 lens and Hire and have a play with it unless Leica or the shop know who you are it's not just gonna happen so we trust the people who do tutorials on the lenses to give us a visual and informative view the difference between each language lens. I'm just a frustrated photographer trying to find people who can inform me accurately to the difference between lenses and why I would buy them.
This is an extremely hard to get lens, and they are sold as fast as they come into stock so I have not had the opportunity to use it. Thus it could not be featured. Once I get my hands on one I can do an update.
Could someone help me, I have a LEICA SUMMICRON R 1:2 50MM lens Fabr. No. 03840896 the f2 aperture opens only with the R8 Leica Camera in adapters it does not open, can you tell me if this is normal?
No that's not normal. I have many R lenses, including that same lens, that work fine with adapters on my SL2 and the aperture will change as you'd expect.
I'd like to but R lenses are getting hard to find! I have one 50mm Summicron-R, but there are many different versions in this focal length. Check out Thorsten Overgaard for lots of R lens info.
I challenge anyone to blind test Leica and Voightlander APO and be able to tell any difference. Not that there is anything wrong with buying lenses just to flex Leica brand.
This is true, it’s a subject distance thing. But then you change the framing if you change the lens. So if you keep the subject framed the same then you can change perspective by using using a different lens. All these factors are related.
Love this. And if I may say, keeping these posts relatively brief in length is a bonus. More please.
You seem to want more and less at the same time - like a Leica!!!!!
That ending comment was very insightful. I’ve never really tried stitching photos together but knowing that stitching 50mm shots together will produce a more pleasing result is definitely a boon
Glad it was helpful!
And there is the Leica 50/2.4 Summarit with best price/quality ratio. Unfortunately no longer produced because it was biting into the presented lenses profitability.
thank you!! I am in the process of investing in a 50mm and this is what i needed to see!!
Glad it was helpful!
Wonderful differentiation of the 50mm lenses.
Finally found my 50 lux after searching forever! It was worth the wait.
I am saddened by the absence of the 2.4/50 Summarit-M. A much underrated performer and the first M-mount lens I ever bought new.
You missed the Noctilux M 1.25/50. The Summilux 50 is APO too, Peter Kerber told Thorsten von Overgaard. The 50 has always been my favourite lens. It's simply the best in press photography, and I never take it of my M-P240. Love your videos.
The 50mm Summilux is Aspheric but does not have the APO designation. That’s what I am going by. And the 50mm f1.2 are hard to get so I could not include it, which is a pity from a completeness point of view!
@@LeicaCameraAustralia thank you overall for doing this as many maybe like the short form factor sometimes long ones are better specially from someone passionate about the topic 👍
@@LeicaCameraAustralia the lux has ridiculous CA and no abnormal lens elements. It’s not an APO lens
The 50mm Summilux has an aspherical lens element, as stated in the lens name. It's the fourth element from the front, just behind the aperture iris. It is an apochromatic design in that it fits the criteria of what qualifies a lens as apochromatic (as opposed to an achromat lens). The lens is not publicised as apochromatic, but our lens designer Peter Karbe is on the record as describing its apochromatic character.
I wish we had these files to download to review. Im sure it would make me go buy a 50mm ;). Thank you for all of your videos. Love Leica.
I was digging through my stock and found a version 3 which was like new when I got it in 198x and never used it. Also own 50 2.8 Elmar M, 2 samples. All are nice. Also own 50 APO and 50 1.4. You describe them perfectly. Buy a good sample and you should be pleased
.
Thanks for the information. I started with a 50mm lense in the early 1970s and still find that it is most natural for me.
Thanks for sharing!
I also got serious about photography in the late 60’s. My first camera was a mamiya 35mm, with a 1.4, 50mm lens. I shot all my head shots at 1.4, and my work blew people away. Not because it was great, but no one ever seen blurred out backgrounds. Ya gotta love bokeh ! These days my tools are an m6, with a 2.0, 50mm Summicron. Rick….. 📷
The diagonal of FF is about 43 mm. Since the mentioned lenses are slightly more than 50 mm you have a "tele effect" of about 20 per cent which I personally find too narrow. A 35 mm lens has about 20 per cent "wide angle effect" which I find more pleasing. Strange there are so few 40 mm lenses around.
Sir, what you are discussing is Angle of View. Irrespective of Diagonal measurement, the accurate representation of distance between subject & background-object happens with a perfectly normal/natural focal length of 58mm ... not 35, 43, 50, or 85 ... and furthermore, whatever the sensor size or format (large, medium, fullframe, Apsc, M43) this rule doesn't change. I would prefer to use 58-65mm lenses on any camera system, & purposely keep all formats in my collection, if i can afford, thus achieving Wide-to-Tele Angle-of-View depending on the format. This is the correct method to be adapted.
@@chirag4 Do you have any recommendations for books/resources I could look into, to understand the physics behind such statements not in just a rule of thumb way, but from first principles. More the math, the merrier! TIA!
Great info Nick. Love my 50’s
keep it coming, love this series.
Thanks, will do!
Great explanation of the differences!
Also, wonderful stunning photos
Thanks so much!
7:35 that is a good nugget and its left at the end of the video !
Great video on a relevant topic. A comparison of the 35mm vs 50mm would also be great. I have the 35mm summilux an the 50mm cron an find myself trapped between the two.
Sell the 35 and get 28 instead. No entrapment anymore, you have 2 different tools for different use cases
When you buy a 50 Summicron, sooner or later you change for a Summilux. A Noctilux is too expensive, too heavy and too hard to focus wild open.
For me the ultimate pleasure is capter memories with my M262 + 50 summilux.
Agreed.
Got the brass summilux, thinking about a summicron, just for the size and weight
great video ! if you had to choose one of these 5 lenses to use for 1 year, which one would you pick ?
The Noctilux. Easy choice!
I would get a SL2 before spending my money on Noctilux, but I would still keep the Summicron for my M.
Good job you nailed it! I know all these lenses from experience and you made valid points. It is versatile and covers a lot but it is also very boring, it doesn’t change perspective. I think it doesn’t require much creativity in terms of composition nor allows it for much. If you go up and down in Focal length you must know certain rules. That know how is what can separate your work creativity from others. If you know how to use the 75 noctilux you get results there quite unique. You should be aware of distance and perspective in any Focal length.
I am a use a lens when you need it guy, but we all have our favourites. However lenses are made for certain purposes and the more you know the better your results will be.
The 50 noctilux portrait you showcase is nice but do the same crop but shoot with the 75 and I would most likely always choose the extra narrow angle , feel you get from it.
75 noctilux is awesome .
Sad that 50mm f2.4 were gone
Thanks Sir! loved the excellent presentation & analysis. I am a proud owner of the M10-P *White* LE + 50mm f/1.4 summilux.
I would like to add here that, compared to 50mm, the 58mm or 65mm lenses are even more correct --- Perspective-wise, Magnification-wise, Compression-wise, it's perfectly Normal & Natural, akin to human-vision, such that, the relationship & distance between objects in the middle-ground, foreground & background is closer & similar to the human-eye-sight. We see in either 58 or 65mm terms. Nikon makes Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct ... & ... Mitakon makes 65mm f/1.4 for Fuji GFX ... & ... Sigma/Voigtlander make a 65mm f/2 for Sony. Irrespective of the Angle of View & Sensor-size (medium-format, full-frame, Apsc, M4/3), 58-65mm is the one elusive focal length that we all secretly seek for & never discovered. I wish there was a 60-ish focal length lens for the M system.
yes 58 mm is perfect , Middle ground
The foculpoint from the human eye is 66 mm and the F number is F 0.6
Great Video. If you could choose only one lens, you say it would be the 50mm, but what 50mm would you choose. I suspect the APO ? I have the Summicron f2.
I'd go for the Noctilux. I love its look, it's a very quirky look but at the same time, very distinctive.
Hi Nick love your talks take care
Hello,
thank you for this video. is the 50mm non apo good on the Leica M11. What is the best choice for the M11 ?
Thank you but I would have loved to see the comparison of the lenses shooting the exact same subject at the exact same if stop so I could see the difference in these lenses
Hi Peter. I agree and it’s a good idea, but IMO the nuances do not come over in a YT video. Maybe it would work in 4K. You have to look hard for the differences because they are all really good!
@@LeicaCameraAustralia I am so frustrated I'm trying to find people on RUclips to show me why I would spend $5000 or $20,000 on the lens, I find really frustrating for me as a buyer to get really accurate information about why would spend the money on this gear and I don't understand if you can't show it on RUclips why you would do a tutorial on RUclips saying this is the lenses but you can't show us the difference between the lenses, please this is not attack on what you've done but I need someone to show me why I would spend $20,000 on the lens. You have to realise it's not easy for someone just to go out and get a $20,000 lens and Hire and have a play with it unless Leica or the shop know who you are it's not just gonna happen so we trust the people who do tutorials on the lenses to give us a visual and informative view the difference between each language lens. I'm just a frustrated photographer trying to find people who can inform me accurately to the difference between lenses and why I would buy them.
What part of the world are you in Peter?
@@LeicaCameraAustralia Melbourne Australia
Ok. Please email me.
info@leica-akademie.com.au
I have an idea for you.
You are the best Leica guy!!!
This was great. I would be interested in a 35mm comparison 🤔
Thank you for the useful information. ^^
Glad it was helpful!
which of four lenses you shown here is your favorite (or your most use lens) and why ?
Favourite - Noctilux. Most used - Summilux.
Im currently a proud owner of a 50 cron dr and m3. One day I‘ll get the m11 when I have the money/the price goes down. One day.
50mm lens only apply to full frame camera whereas on APS-C sensor, 35 mm lens is the best lens.
The normal 50 cron is all the 50 most people will ever need.
There's no leica Noctilux 50mm F1.2 1966 limited version lens here 😢
This is an extremely hard to get lens, and they are sold as fast as they come into stock so I have not had the opportunity to use it. Thus it could not be featured. Once I get my hands on one I can do an update.
Is this a good lens to start Leica 50 f 1.4 Summilux Wetzlar M
Sure thing. Got to start somewhere!
Could someone help me, I have a LEICA SUMMICRON R 1:2 50MM lens Fabr. No. 03840896 the f2 aperture opens only with the R8 Leica Camera in adapters it does not open, can you tell me if this is normal?
No that's not normal. I have many R lenses, including that same lens, that work fine with adapters on my SL2 and the aperture will change as you'd expect.
Why don‘t you present the Leitz R Lenses an compare it to the M lenses?
I'd like to but R lenses are getting hard to find! I have one 50mm Summicron-R, but there are many different versions in this focal length. Check out Thorsten Overgaard for lots of R lens info.
I challenge anyone to blind test Leica and Voightlander APO and be able to tell any difference. Not that there is anything wrong with buying lenses just to flex Leica brand.
Lenses (or focal lengths) do not change the perspective, imho
This is true, it’s a subject distance thing. But then you change the framing if you change the lens. So if you keep the subject framed the same then you can change perspective by using using a different lens. All these factors are related.