Which 50mm lens should I go far?

Bee Hedge · 13th September 2005

Hi All.

I'm keen to explore the RF world. Have been using SLRs only so far. I'm thinking of getting either a Bessa R2A or R3A and would like to have a 50mm lens to go with it. What options are available to me?

I've done a little homework...
1) Summicron f/2 - Expensive
2) Summilux f/1.4 ASPH - Very very expensive
3) Nokton f/1.5 - Fairly affordable but I heard it's big and heavy. I haven't been able to find any tech specs on this lens

Are there anymore 50mm lenses out there? Generally, I like lenses that can handle low light and is small and light.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Brian

szekiat · 14th September 2005

40mm nokton or the 40mm summicron. I personally prefer 40mm over 50mm. The 50mm hexanons are quite good too!

Bee Hedge · 14th September 2005

Originally Posted by szekiat

40mm nokton or the 40mm summicron. I personally prefer 40mm over 50mm. The 50mm hexanons are quite good too!

The 40mm only works on R3A, rite? Will not work on R2A or other Leica M-mount bodies, rite? Do correct me if I'm wrong.

liewyr · 14th September 2005

Originally Posted by szekiat

40mm nokton or the 40mm summicron. I personally prefer 40mm over 50mm. The 50mm hexanons are quite good too!

How good is 40/1.4MC compared to 50/2 cron??

elixir · 14th September 2005

Get a used contax G2 with 45mm F2.............could be even cheaper than the Voigtlander stuffsyet with much better built and quality.....my two cents worth

bja · 14th September 2005

I'm currently using a canon 50mm f1.4 lens on my bessa-r.... I like it for its big aperture and it's still affordable....

it's not too heavy too.. heard that the nokton is good too but never tried it before..

szekiat · 14th September 2005

Its hard to compare a zeiss lens against a leica lens or even a voigtlander lens simply because they render things differently.
Zeiss: Razor sharp, very high contrast. Punchy colors
Leica pre-asph: Not as sharp, low contrast, high shadow detail, pastel like colors
Leica Asph: Razor sharp, slightly higher contrast than before, lower shadow detail (still more detail than the zeiss)
Voigtlander: Sharpness is so so wide open, moderate contrast. Very similar to most modern day slr lenses.CHEAP!

In terms of color rendition, i prefer the old leicas personally. The pre asph 35 cron and my own 40mm.

moon · 14th September 2005

I prefer the OLD leica lense. It's affordable and nice tone for B/W. DR summicron 50/2.

Yes, the 40mm are really nice too. Especially the 40/2 Rokkor CLE. Very compact, light weight, filter size 40.5mm.

I don't see much losses when i enlarge my pictures to 20X24 or do heavy cropping.

Terence · 14th September 2005

Brian,

The 50 Nokton is hardly heavy, its a little large but relatively lightweight for its size.

With RF, nothing is ever that precise. IF you want to use a 40mm without the framelines, make do and just shoot slightly within the 35mm lines or something siimilar.

The older Canons are a bang for the buck if you're lucky enough to find one. I have a old 50/1.8 which does a pretty good job, for about $150 you can't complain.

Best thing to do is to play around with one. A couple of guys from my RFF group are meeting up on Oct 1 if you're interested, definitely lots of cameras around to get your hands dirty with.

Bee Hedge · 14th September 2005

Originally Posted by bja

I'm currently using a canon 50mm f1.4 lens on my bessa-r.... I like it for its big aperture and it's still affordable.... it's not too heavy too.. heard that the nokton is good too but never tried it before..

Can you actually do that? I have a 50mm f/1.4 too.

Terence · 14th September 2005

The Bessa R is a screw mount (or LTM) so will accept Canon lenses without any mods. LTM lenses can be fitted onto M mounts via the use of a LTM-M adapter.

zeiss planar · 14th September 2005

Originally Posted by elixir

Get a used contax G2 with 45mm F2.............could be even cheaper than the Voigtlander stuffsyet with much better built and quality.....my two cents worth

I second that.
Maybe even a G1 with a 45f2 for under SGD1.5k if buy used.
Personally , zeiss lens produce the sweetest 'out-of-focus' area or bokeh .Talk about value for money. I think people often put too much stock in the sharpness of a lens and think that is the hallmark of great photography. Great photography is often made with horrible lenses, and is none the less for it. However, greater sharpness and contrast and that feeling of "presence" comes at an equipment premium, and if your work could benefit from that, or you want to see that in your work, this is a great lens.

I have never used any of the modern Summicrons, but I've messed with some older versions on an M3 (not sure exactly how old these lenses were I must confess, they seemed a similar vintage to the body) but this lens seems to outperform them. I'd love to use myself a modern Summicron and see how it stacks up against this lens. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Leica and its outrageous price beat it, but by how much?

The zeiss 45p Wide open at f/2 it's very sharp, from f/2.8 the magic really begins. Excellent local contrast and highly suppressed flarity unless you point it straight at the sun (and I sometimes do), zero distortion that I've ever been able to detect with use, and very even illumination across the field with no visible vignetting at any aperture. And all this in a small compact package. Wonderful.

Bee Hedge · 14th September 2005

Originally Posted by Terence

Best thing to do is to play around with one. A couple of guys from my RFF group are meeting up on Oct 1 if you're interested, definitely lots of cameras around to get your hands dirty with.

Oh....there is a RF group

Originally Posted by Terence

The 50 Nokton is hardly heavy, its a little large but relatively lightweight for its size.
with.

I was thinking of that for a while. Actually, the reason I wanted a RF camera is because of it's portability - small and light. I need something I can put in my bag everyday.

Terence · 14th September 2005

Originally Posted by Bee Hedge

Oh....there is a RF group

Come visit us @ RFF Singapore Thread.

ltma · 14th September 2005

Have you considered 35mm summicron? It is cheaper than 50 summilux. I have both, but use more 35 mm. If i have to choose one, I will go for 35mm summicron asph. It is compact too.

Good luck

ricohflex · 14th September 2005

Originally Posted by Bee Hedge

Oh....there is a RF group

I was thinking of that for a while. Actually, the reason I wanted a RF camera is because of it's portability - small and light. I need something I can put in my bag everyday.

buy old and cheap leica IIIf (IIIg?) and a collapsible elmar.
why?
small
light
stylish
admired
keeps value
tough
solid metal not plasticky feel
great photos
coversation piece
people see you and conclude 'this one not stupid photographer'
tried and tested by two of my friends who each have their own set
fully manual total control

Wisp · 15th September 2005

'great photos'.
Uh right..
'fully manual'
Yeah, but so are other cameras.

Leica screw mounts are alright, but that's providing you're willing to go through the quirks such as bottom loading and clipping the film leader to the canister (incidentally..you may have to shape it though I found a way to load my IIIf with the normal film lead when I first started out with photography..), reloading is a genuine pain in the ass.

Did I mention that you have to wind the film before you set the shutter speed? If not, your $600 IIIf will definately go kaput.

1 word: Do not take archiac collector items and advertise them as tools that take great
photographs. Remember, it's the eye not the film box, even as exquisitely designed
as a leica.

I loved my IIIf, and I used it extensively, but I loved my FED 2, and used it extensively too.
But frankly, the only view I had was that esp for rangefinders, it's just a matter of price that makes it right.

Anyway, the topic is on 50mm lens. Elmar 50s are fine, but if only for day light photography . It's way too slow to do night time, but it's pretty compact. You'll be probably be better off with even the Russian Jupiter 8s (careful..the early versions flare like the sun), or anything that goes along the line of 50 f2.

I won't recommend a lens, take your choice of what you want. of course voigtlander is better than a jupiter 8, which in turn is bested by a leica which in turn of all the hool-diggy is compared to zeiss bla bla bla. But in the end, just pick a damn lens and start shooting already!!

(P.S: I was shooting with an industar 10 as my first lens. Wasn't great..but I still learnt abit for $30. Not bad for a deal after all..)

Wisp · 15th September 2005

A IIIg? (CONK!) that thing sells for $1.5k at least!

GC1 · 15th September 2005

Originally Posted by Bee Hedge

Hi All.

I'm keen to explore the RF world. Have been using SLRs only so far. I'm thinking of getting either a Bessa R2A or R3A and would like to have a 50mm lens to go with it. What options are available to me?

I've done a little homework...
1) Summicron f/2 - Expensive
2) Summilux f/1.4 ASPH - Very very expensive
3) Nokton f/1.5 - Fairly affordable but I heard it's big and heavy. I haven't been able to find any tech specs on this lens

Are there anymore 50mm lenses out there? Generally, I like lenses that can handle low light and is small and light.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Brian

Brian,
have you considered getting any fixed lens rangefinders since you have not used rangefinders before? Those fixed lens rangefinders might not be new but they do give you a feel of how a rangefinder operates. Before sinking money into a system that's foreign to you, it is strongly recommended for you to feel a couple of rangefinders first. Gandy has a site on choosing your first rangefinder camera. http://www.cameraquest.com/rfbuy.htm and one about fixed lens rangefinders. http://www.cameraquest.com/com35s.htm
Karen Nakamura has a good site too. http://www.photoethnography.com/equipment.html
She has a large section on used rangefinder cameras, recommendations, reviews. Alot of her advice is quite practical.

specs on voigtlander lenses? http://www.cameraquest.com/voigtlen.htm
Here's one about canon rangefinder lenses. http://www.dantestella.com/technical/canoleic.html
We can't leave out zeiss lenses can we? http://www.cameraquest.com/ZM%20lenses.htm

A couple of lens reviews. http://luminous-landscape.com/review...nsreview.shtml

Put's review of leica lenses. http://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/leicaM.html
But do filter what you read from there. It's known that he has a bias towards leica lenses. Though he does do some reviews of voigtlander and zeiss lenses too. http://www.imx.nl/index.html

It's a pretty wide range of lenses out there in the rangefinder world. Those lenses that you mentioned are mostly top of the range other than for the Nokton up there.
What sort of look are you looking for in a lens? Classic with a pastel look? The Canon 50/1.5 Serenar is decent. Contrasty? The voigtlander 50/1.5 is alright in that area.

Look around abit before commiting to buying cron's or Summilux 's. It really depends on what type of look do you want and want do you want to use it for. Join the meet up on Oct 1 if you would want to. The fellas there are pretty passionate about rangefinders and have different sorts and models and would be more than glad to talk to you about rangefinders. It's good to talk to the users of the cameras and lenses and handle some yourself before buying.

Bee Hedge · 15th September 2005

I would love to join the group if it's OK with all u guys and gals. Oct 1, rite? Where? What time?

13th September 2005	#1
Bee Hedge Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 993	Which 50mm lens should I go far? Hi All. I'm keen to explore the RF world. Have been using SLRs only so far. I'm thinking of getting either a Bessa R2A or R3A and would like to have a 50mm lens to go with it. What options are available to me? I've done a little homework... 1) Summicron f/2 - Expensive 2) Summilux f/1.4 ASPH - Very very expensive 3) Nokton f/1.5 - Fairly affordable but I heard it's big and heavy. I haven't been able to find any tech specs on this lens Are there anymore 50mm lenses out there? Generally, I like lenses that can handle low light and is small and light. Thanks in advance. Regards, Brian

14th September 2005	#2
szekiat Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: London Posts: 2,378	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? 40mm nokton or the 40mm summicron. I personally prefer 40mm over 50mm. The 50mm hexanons are quite good too!

14th September 2005	#5
elixir Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Katong Posts: 363	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? Get a used contax G2 with 45mm F2.............could be even cheaper than the Voigtlander stuffsyet with much better built and quality.....my two cents worth

14th September 2005	#6
bja Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Singapore! Posts: 520	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? I'm currently using a canon 50mm f1.4 lens on my bessa-r.... I like it for its big aperture and it's still affordable.... it's not too heavy too.. heard that the nokton is good too but never tried it before..

14th September 2005	#7
szekiat Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: London Posts: 2,378	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? Its hard to compare a zeiss lens against a leica lens or even a voigtlander lens simply because they render things differently. Zeiss: Razor sharp, very high contrast. Punchy colors Leica pre-asph: Not as sharp, low contrast, high shadow detail, pastel like colors Leica Asph: Razor sharp, slightly higher contrast than before, lower shadow detail (still more detail than the zeiss) Voigtlander: Sharpness is so so wide open, moderate contrast. Very similar to most modern day slr lenses.CHEAP! In terms of color rendition, i prefer the old leicas personally. The pre asph 35 cron and my own 40mm.

14th September 2005	#8
moon Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 122	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? I prefer the OLD leica lense. It's affordable and nice tone for B/W. DR summicron 50/2. Yes, the 40mm are really nice too. Especially the 40/2 Rokkor CLE. Very compact, light weight, filter size 40.5mm. I don't see much losses when i enlarge my pictures to 20X24 or do heavy cropping.

14th September 2005	#9
Terence Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: I'm a Llama! Posts: 4,716	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? Brian, The 50 Nokton is hardly heavy, its a little large but relatively lightweight for its size. With RF, nothing is ever that precise. IF you want to use a 40mm without the framelines, make do and just shoot slightly within the 35mm lines or something siimilar. The older Canons are a bang for the buck if you're lucky enough to find one. I have a old 50/1.8 which does a pretty good job, for about $150 you can't complain. Best thing to do is to play around with one. A couple of guys from my RFF group are meeting up on Oct 1 if you're interested, definitely lots of cameras around to get your hands dirty with. __________________ Visit my photo blog Email only please, NO PM!

14th September 2005	#15
ltma Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 154	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? Have you considered 35mm summicron? It is cheaper than 50 summilux. I have both, but use more 35 mm. If i have to choose one, I will go for 35mm summicron asph. It is compact too. Good luck

15th September 2005	#17
Wisp Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 628	Re: Which 50mm lens should I go far? 'great photos'. Uh right.. 'fully manual' Yeah, but so are other cameras. Leica screw mounts are alright, but that's providing you're willing to go through the quirks such as bottom loading and clipping the film leader to the canister (incidentally..you may have to shape it though I found a way to load my IIIf with the normal film lead when I first started out with photography..), reloading is a genuine pain in the ass. Did I mention that you have to wind the film before you set the shutter speed? If not, your $600 IIIf will definately go kaput. 1 word: Do not take archiac collector items and advertise them as tools that take great photographs. Remember, it's the eye not the film box, even as exquisitely designed as a leica. I loved my IIIf, and I used it extensively, but I loved my FED 2, and used it extensively too. But frankly, the only view I had was that esp for rangefinders, it's just a matter of price that makes it right. Anyway, the topic is on 50mm lens. Elmar 50s are fine, but if only for day light photography . It's way too slow to do night time, but it's pretty compact. You'll be probably be better off with even the Russian Jupiter 8s (careful..the early versions flare like the sun), or anything that goes along the line of 50 f2. I won't recommend a lens, take your choice of what you want. of course voigtlander is better than a jupiter 8, which in turn is bested by a leica which in turn of all the hool-diggy is compared to zeiss bla bla bla. But in the end, just pick a damn lens and start shooting already!! (P.S: I was shooting with an industar 10 as my first lens. Wasn't great..but I still learnt abit for $30. Not bad for a deal after all..)