Sonnar, Planar, Cron, or ... (50mm)

Joris M · Oct 2, 2017

With too many 50's I decide todat to try a few of my fifties on my A7Rii. I picked a 'cron, sonnar, a planar, and something modern aspherical. No real testing but I shot a number of pictures with all 4 lenses. I used in camera jpgs with, I think, auto WB on all pictures. I made them slightly smaller in PS (3000x4500 px). I did make a few mistakes in focusing and framing, but anyway - here they are:

All of them are in this flickr album.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pjoris/albums/72157689006178046/show

and one set of pictures:

Lens A:

Lens B:

Lens C:

Lens D:

Curious to hear:

a. of which lens do you enjoy the picture the most ?

b. why ?

c. which is the summicron, sonnar, planar or modern aspherical

d. can you guess which lenses these are ? (Hint none of them are SLR lenses).

I probably like lens D the best in these pictures, with second place to lens A but in these pictures with that much leaves and grass I think the rendering is too green/yellow.

Joris

mg_k · Oct 2, 2017

Joris M said:
Curious to hear:

a. of which lens do you enjoy the picture the most ?

I can't really tell.

Joris M said:
b. why ?

Because I can't.

Joris M said:
c. which is the summicron, sonnar, planar or modern aspherical

Images are too small to judge.

Joris M said:
d. can you guess which lenses these are ? (Hint none of them are SLR lenses).

Not a chance.

Joris M said:
I probably like lens D the best in these pictures, with second place to lens A but in these pictures with that much leaves and grass I think the rendering is too green/yellow.

Joris

If you really want any meaningful response share the test shots in original size (or close to).

--
My Flickr
My Getty Images

Armin Hermann · Oct 2, 2017

Joris M said:
I probably like lens D the best in these pictures, with second place to lens A but in these pictures with that much leaves and grass I think the rendering is too green/yellow.

Joris

Nice comparison.
If you normalize the color using a color checker, those shots were indistinguishable from each other. Seems you look for some secret sauce or magic ingredient in any of those 50s. There is no such thing. You are just wasting your time. I used to do that too.

Get rational, take your pick, sell the others.

My 2c,
-Armin

Joris M · Oct 2, 2017

Thanks for the comments - just learning to get the pictures in this forum. The versions in Flickr should be 3000x4500 pixels, which I hoped would be sufficient.

Loading…

www.flickr.com

Please advice if this is insufficient and I'll add the full size files to flickr.

Thanks !

Joris

Joris M · Oct 2, 2017

Armin Hermann said:
Get rational, take your pick, sell the others.

<My 2c,
-Armin

Thanks, I'll try to get rational ! At the moment still enjoying wasting time ...

Joris

juanmaasecas · Oct 2, 2017

a. of which lens do you enjoy the picture the most ?

In general the first one maybe, altough the third has a lot of character...

b. why ?

Interesting look.

c. which is the summicron, sonnar, planar or modern aspherical

The last one is the modern one. It's the best technically.

d. can you guess which lenses these are ? (Hint none of them are SLR lenses).

The last one is the flattest and more boring modern lenses, but for most of applications should be the best. The third one is the worst but with a lot of 3D pop...

sebbe · Oct 2, 2017

Joris M said:
With too many 50's I decide todat to try a few of my fifties on my A7Rii. I picked a 'cron, sonnar, a planar, and something modern aspherical. No real testing but I shot a number of pictures with all 4 lenses. I used in camera jpgs with, I think, auto WB on all pictures. I made them slightly smaller in PS (3000x4500 px). I did make a few mistakes in focusing and framing, but anyway - here they are:

All of them are in this flickr album.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pjoris/albums/72157689006178046/show

and one set of pictures:

I like such tests.

Even though I may be completely wrong here are my suggestions:

As the white balance is not the same, it's difficult to compare them...

Joris M said:
Lens A:

very good over all. It's a modern lens and the most expensive on the list. Sony Carl Zeiss Planar 50/f1.4?

Joris M said:
Lens B:

bad corners. Otherwise very identical to A. I think it's a "cheap" modern lens. Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar 55/1.8?

Joris M said:
Lens C:

horrible to the corners at f2.8. Contrast looks like a very old lens. There is no distortion correction. Leitz Wetzlar or Leica Summicron 50/f2?

Joris M said:
Lens D:

Warmer green tones and typical bokeh. Looks like Vogtländer Nokton 50/1.5?

Joris M said:
Curious to hear:

a. of which lens do you enjoy the picture the most ?

I like them all.

Joris M said:
b. why ?

c. which is the summicron, sonnar, planar or modern aspherical

d. can you guess which lenses these are ? (Hint none of them are SLR lenses).

I probably like lens D the best in these pictures, with second place to lens A but in these pictures with that much leaves and grass I think the rendering is too green/yellow.

Joris

--
flickr

Joris M · Oct 2, 2017

juanmaasecas said:
The last one is the flattest and more boring modern lenses, but for most of applications should be the best. The third one is the worst but with a lot of 3D pop...

Thanks, interesting answer ! Joris

Joris M · Oct 2, 2017

sebbe said:
I like such tests. Even though I may be completely wrong here are my suggestions:

As the white balance is not the same, it's difficult to compare them...

Great, I liked doing the test and love reading the answers. I'll take more care of getting a consistent WB next time

sebbe said:
sebbe said:

Lens A:

Click to expand...

very good over all. It's a modern lens and the most expensive on the list. Sony Carl Zeiss Planar 50/f1.4?

sebbe said:

Lens B:

Click to expand...

bad corners. Otherwise very identical to A. I think it's a "cheap" modern lens. Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar 55/1.8?

sebbe said:

Lens C:

Click to expand...

horrible to the corners at f2.8. Contrast looks like a very old lens. There is no distortion correction. Leitz Wetzlar or Leica Summicron 50/f2?

sebbe said:

Lens D:

Click to expand...

Warmer green tones and typical bokeh. Looks like Vogtländer Nokton 50/1.5

Good guesses ! A & D are very close ...

Thanks for the response.

Joris

Everythingis1 · Oct 2, 2017

The sample images are 0.3 MP... at that size you could use a potato as a lens and no one would care.

Joris M · Oct 2, 2017

Everythingis1 said:
The sample images are 0.3 MP... at that size you could use a potato as a lens and no one would care.

Thanks for the comment - in the flickr link (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pjoris/sets/72157689006178046/ ) are more images, at higher resolution up to 3000x4500. As I understood I am not supposed to post a lot of images (in this case 24) in one thread. I also understand a link to flickr is maybe not ideal too ..., especially as getting to full resolution asks a lot of clicks. (Just using the looking glass in the flickr does however give you a good idea of sharpness in the corners.) Any advice on how to do this properly ? Thanks, Joris

Armin Hermann · Oct 3, 2017

juanmaasecas said:
The last one is the flattest and more boring modern lenses, but for most of applications should be the best. The third one is the worst but with a lot of 3D pop...

This discussion reminds me on audiophiles pointing out spatial sound characteristics of speaker cable.

-a

jmbillings · Oct 3, 2017

Armin Hermann said:
Armin Hermann said:

The last one is the flattest and more boring modern lenses, but for most of applications should be the best. The third one is the worst but with a lot of 3D pop...

Click to expand...

This discussion reminds me on audiophiles pointing out spatial sound characteristics of speaker cable.

-a

A friend of a friend apparently knew someone who spent an absolute fortune on the power cable for his amp. Because of course that last metre from the plug socket on the wall makes all the difference over a hundred miles of power lines :/

Joris M · Oct 4, 2017

For those who would care (I would hope those who don't care have better things to do than to read or comment on this thread ...).

Joris M said:
Lens A: Zeiss Loxia 50mm/f2

Lens B: Leica Summicron 50mm/f2 version 3

Lens C: 7artisans 50mm/f1.1

Lens D: Voigtländer Nokton 50mm/f1.1

(Remember more/higher resolution pics are in https://www.flickr.com/photos/pjoris/sets/72157689006178046/).

Thanks for the input ! I will be posting a bit more of these types of comparisons, but probably in the Adapted Lenses forum.

Joris

NickyNoodles · Oct 4, 2017

Without looking at the answers, and looking at the high res on Flickr I preferred A and D.

Hard to say whether A is too green without having been there. I mean, most of that stuff is pretty green!

The edges of wood on D look like they're starting to become too blue shifted, almost purple. (My monitor is calibrated).

This also reinforces my view that Leica stuff is massively overhyped

gatorengineer · Oct 4, 2017

Well thanks for posting this.... I know that they are all RF lenses, It would also be interesting to see "low" end in this compare like a Canon LTM in the mix, and some other less expensive glass.... I know you shot what you had, and many thanks for doing it.

So much of this forum is my lense is more expensive than yours, and posts like this point out that it doesnt matter that much.

My guess is the Cron is C.... and Zeiss is B, Voigtland is A and Sony is D.

Joris M · Oct 4, 2017

NickyNoodles said:
This also reinforces my view that Leica stuff is massively overhyped

In all fairness to Leica, this is the oldest lens of the test and was a lot cheaper than the (also 2nd hand) Loxia & Nokton. This version 3 is one of the less popular of the summicrons. It also does need a lens hood !

Joris M · Oct 4, 2017

gatorengineer said:
Well thanks for posting this.... I know that they are all RF lenses, It would also be interesting to see "low" end in this compare like a Canon LTM in the mix, and some other less expensive glass.... I know you shot what you had, and many thanks for doing it.

Thanks - I do have cheaper RF 50mm's lying around (canon LTM, industar 61, jupiter). I have done a bit of shopping lately ;-) ... I'll take them out on on a trip soon. I do not want to take/test more than 3 & 4 at a time however.

sebbe · Oct 4, 2017

I'm happy that I'm wrong with B & C.

Voe · Oct 5, 2017

Lens "A" (Loxia) has the best colors, contrast, resolution and uniformity. After seeing the comparison against the summicron or the rest is the only lens I would buy out of this list. Coming from someone, who was considering summicron 50mm for his A7II.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/voe/
“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept” (Henri Cartier Bresson)
“There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” (Ansel Adams)

Sonnar, Planar, Cron, or ... (50mm)

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