Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/04/22

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Subject: [Leica] nokton v. summilux first impressions
From: Johnny Deadman <deadman@jukebox.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 22:36:30 +0100

Haven't done the detailed test yet but I have shot enough with the summilux
50 (about ten rolls) to give some first impresssions.

Lens in question is a mid-sixties chrome version with absolutely crystal
clear glass which cost about 30% more than the Nokton.

Bear in mind these are impressions from real-life use handheld with APX 400
film, not photographing newspapers on APX 25 in Rodinal. Good thing or bad
thing? you decide.

First, handling. The focus throw is much longer on the Summilux than the
Nokton. This makes focusing wide open more accurate, and I feel more
confident about it. However, it makes tracking a moving target more
difficult, especially as the throw from around 6 feet to three feet requires
a huge wrist action.

Second sharpness. Both lenses are critically sharp from 2.8 onwards, but I'm
really interested in what happens wide open. Here they are radically
different. The Nokton is very, very sharp even wide open. The Summilux has
lower contrast wide open which makes it appear less sharp unless you are
ABSOLUTELY spot on with the focus, in which case the whole frame twangs and
you realise it is actually a very sharp lens too. I would say the Nokton has
the edge, though. The nature of the sharpness is very different, too. The
Nokton makes everything look almost 'engraved'. I might be bullshitting here
but my guts tell me it is better at edges than gradations. The Leica is
quite the opposite. Everything has a silky sweetness which, especially in a
good 'tone' film like APX 400, makes you want to go mmmmmm. I don't get this
with the Nokton, though the 75 color-heliar does a pretty good impression.

Third flare. Both lenses have to be pointed into the sun to flare
egregiously. Not like the 35 Summilux. Both very well behaved. However, in
adverse light the Nokton is subject to an overall lowering of contrast which
you only really notice when you compare it to the Summilux, which just
doesn't suffer from the same thing.

Fourth, and the biggest difference, bokeh. The problem with the Nokton for
me is that the out-of-focus (OOF) detail just looked ugly. I found the same
thing with the Minolta Rokkor 28. In a 1.4 lens your OOF areas need to look
good. Bokeh is tremendously hard to describe, but one of the effects of this
in the Nokton is that (to me) it draws attention to the OOF areas. In the
Leica lens, however, the bokeh is very good. Nearfield areas have that
familiar 'glow' while the distant field has a complex bokeh which I think is
probably some 'ni-sen' variation (ie it renders out-of-focus straight lines
as two lines to a greater or lesser extent). For example, the Nokton will
render a point highlight in the bg as a round white disk with a quite sharp
fall off, whereas the Leica will render it as a disk with a slight halo,
like a fuzzy donut.

The difference this makes is quite surprising to me. The Summilux appears to
have more of the picture in focus because (key point) the transition from
in-focus to out-of-focus is less obvious. Pictures with the Leica lens look
'sweet'. That's the only way I can describe it (but will post examples soon
on my Human Traffic site). The Nokton's bokeh is, I am afraid, 'grubby'...
mainly I think because it has quite a high edge contrast. Not blurry bokeh
at all.

You might guess from this 'review' that I think the lenses are pretty close.
Well, I don't. The Leica wins hands down for me, simply because the out of
focus areas look 'right' to me and with the Nokton they don't. Of course,
this is a personaly opinion and you may just think it's another Leica idiot
convincing himself he can count angels on the head of a pin, but I don't
think that's the case. Anyway, will put up some pix shortly and you can
judge for yourselves.

Hope this helps...

- --
Johnny Deadman

photos:      http://www.pinkheadedbug.com
music:       http://www.jukebox.demon.co.uk