[Leica] Less you scoff at R lenses compared to 21st Century M lenses.........

[red735i at verizon.net (Frank Filippone)]

#1. if you do not wish to read about techie stuff, quit now.  This is a very
nerdy test that takes absolutely no interesting pictures.  It is a Lens
test.  Period.

 

For a while I have been trying to cut the weight and bulk of my M kit, at
the same time, making travel photography less complicated.  

My preference is towards the least user intervention in the photographic
process.  Changing lenses is a big distraction.  

Getting a SL and lenses, is not in my budget, even after they dropped the
price of the body by almost $1500. 

 

Museums and Churches are dark places.  I want one fast lens to do Churches
and museums.  50mm seems the right lens.

To that end, I collected a bunch of lenses, and ( thanks to Doug, yet again)
a Sony A7II body (24MP body).

Using that body as my test device, I tested out my 50mm lenses for use in
low light conditions.. Full open Aperture..  For zooms, they were only
evaluated at 50mm.

I used a tripod, self timer, manual focusing at max magnification, distance
of about 12 feet, in bright light, ISO 50.  

My subject is the cedar fence ( now 45 years old) in my front yard.  Lens
Hoods were used in all cases.

I took 3 images for each lens, keeping the best , and evaluated all the
images through LRCC at 1:1.  

Only the center of each image is evaluated, at full aperture ( F1.4 or
whatever)  Because that is how I will use this lens.  Full open aperture.

 

For the results..  Best to worst.. This is all about central resolution, and
ability to get fine detail... 

1)    Leica M 50mm F1.4 ASPH.  Wins by a big margin optically.  Fully manual
operation, as are all M and R lenses.

2)    LeicaFLEX Vario Elmar R 28-70 F3.5-4.5 ( 1990 design, Rom version,
with Novoflex adapter.  Fully manual)  ( Stick that in your .. "old lenses
suck". pipe and smoke it)

3)    Sony 55mm F1.8 ( very close to the Leicaflex lens.  Lightest lens in
the test and it is AF and auto-aperture)

4)    Leica M 50mm F2 ( early 1990's vintage)

The next bunch are pretty close, but if you leave out 1 lens, the
differentials are greater. so the lenses do decrease in capability

5)    Leica M 28/35/50 Tri Elmar F4

6)    Sony 28-70 F4.5-5.6 Zoom (AF)

7)    Nikon 50mm F1.4 AF non D lens ( with Fotodiox adapter, no AF as it has
a mechanical aperture connection to the body)

8)    Nikon 50mm F1.4 G lens ( which will AF on the Sony body with the
Fotodiox adapter)

Big gap in image quality, but that is not the prime purpose of these lenses

9)    7 Artisans 50mm F1.1 Chinese (New, $369, 400grams, delivered in 1
week!) 

10)                       Noctilux 50mm F1.0

 

Yes, the best lens of the bunch  was the 21st century marvel.  But you
probably believed that before you started to read this.

To me, the surprise was the Leicaflex lens doing so well...  FYI, I believe
this lens is a Leica design produced by Sigma in Japan

And to me, the most rewarding part of the test is how well the Sony 55 F1.8
lens did..since that lens is part of my proposed new kit.  Optically, it IS
good enough to do what I ask of it..

 

Remember, these results are specific to MY lenses and MY needs (wants?).  If
you were to evaluate your kit, or, even using my images, or making up new
images using my lenses, may result in a different order.  (YMMV)

 

Comments?

 

I also tested the Sony 16-35 Zoom lens against the Leica 16/18/21mm Wide
Angle Tri Elmar.  

Hands down, the Leica lens is superior at 16mm.  At 18mm, they are much
closer, but the Leica is still better.  At 21mm, the Sony lens is superior.


At these focal lengths, manual focusing errors are more prone to happen,  AF
was used and results were gathered from the AF Sony images.

 

BTW, my time to do this came about as I tend to my Wife, as she is now lying
prone ( last 4 weeks) with back issues. so getting further than the cedar
fence surrounding the house is an issue..

 

Frank Filippone

 

Red735i at verizon.net