faster than 50/2

I have a Leicaflex with a 50/2 Summicron but I want a 50/1.4 lens.

That Summilux piece is pricey....

I'm looking for a 50/1.4 (or slightly longer/faster e.g. 58/1.2) lens that isn't too expensive, with low contrast (preferably but not a requirement), decent sharpness and good bokeh at f1.4. Bokeh is subjective but the out of focus rendering on my 50/2 Summicron is much nicer than my 50/2 Nikkor HC. I only want manual focus lenses and with bodies that support all-matte focusing screens (I think most bodies in the manual-focus era had this feature, but I might be wrong) and are all-mechanical (I dislike batteries).

I love my Leicaflex, but I'm not necessarily committed to that mount. I mean, it isn't difficult to obtain an inexpensive film body from another mount. Unless that mount is Alpa or whatever.

1. What are some options for lenses cheaper than the Summilux. I haven't followed the prices too closely but I think the Summilux is $1k+ and most Japanese 50 1.4's go for 10% of that.

2. If I were feeling rich, then is the 50/1.4 Summilux a truly great lens? I have the impression that most vintage fast 50's are accessible but not great. There is the new(er) ZF lenses too....those are costly but not absurdly so.

I'm using this with B&W 100 and 400 speed films like Ilford FP4+/HP5+, handheld, and so it isn't like I'm pushing the resolution to the limits or anything.

Funny you should ask.. . I'm selling a wonderful 50 1.5 ONLY because I got a summilux. . It's a stellar performer .


Link to listing

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I have a couple of Leicaflexes too, and have the Summicron. As you say the Summilux is very expensive so I never got around to getting one. While I have never tried the R Summilux, the M version has wonderful OOF rendering. As for fast fifties, my favourite is always the 50mm Super Takumar, and it's readily available and cheap, don't know if you can get it on the Leica though.
As Katie says, the 50mm 1.5 Nokton from Cosina is a really top lens, I have it in Nikon mount, but once again, not sure about adapting it to a Leicaflex.

Pentax. Reputed to be the best thing going in vintage 1.4's, and cheap bodies available. It did sound like you were willing to buy a new body from your post, but the vintage pentax finders aren't going to rival your Leicaflex. The later ME, etc have great finders; not usually all matte, but might be available.

Thanks.

Katie, the lens that you are selling is for a rangefinder, right? I'm looking for an SLR lens. I'm actually happy with my vintage contax 50/1.5 Sonnar (adapted to M mount) on a RF, but now I'm looking for something that fast/smooth, on an SLR.

I'll look into the 50/1.5 Nokton in F mount and the Pentax lens. I don't mind getting a Nikon or Pentax body, those should be easy to obtain. Not sure if they will rival the Leicaflex though.. Nikon F lenses can be adopted to R mount, right? Or was it the other way around.

Yes, sorry, for rangefinder. I'm not familiar with leicaflex...

If you can adapt a 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar, you have a wonderful lens for black and white. Inexpensive too. I love the lens and have an adapter for my Canon EOS-3, and it performs extremely well against any Leica lens I've compared it to.

If you don't think Leica is all that great then get a Pentax KX with the 50mm f/1.4 lens. I don't know about the leicaflex body but the 50 f/2 is fine in my opnion. There is no need for apeed. Take it back if I can get many more stops in speed that's cool but not 1 stop it's not worth it.

You say you're not committed to a Leica mount and want a vintage look. In the 70s the Minolta MC 58/1.2 tested as good if not better than Leica glass. The 58/1.2 is cult optic with super Bokeh. Cost is under $500.

I use my 58/1.2 for portraits and saved the cost of buying a Lux. The OOF and edge sharpness are outstanding.

Chan Tran, the Summicron is a great lens. I just want more DOF control for portraits.

Richard, I'll look into the Rokkor. I've heard many great things about that lens.

I love my 50/1.4 Super Takumar. The 8-element version might be right up your alley...I love mine for what you are talking about.

M42 is quite easily adapted to any body you might want to use with it. Since you're using it for portraits most (if not all) of any mirror contact issues are not of any concern.

I will also recommend the Pentax-M 50mm 1.4. Pentax made some great lenses. I liked the Pentax 50 so much I adapted it to Leica-M mount. Killer lens. Cheap too. if you end up going that route and need a body, I have a ME-Super I could sell you for cheap.

If you decide to get pentax body, I recommend Pentax MX followed by ME Super. For the vintage look get Super Takumar, I'm looking out for this particular lens just for that reason. You will need m42 adapter to use this lens.

msbarnes said:

Chan Tran, the Summicron is a great lens. I just want more DOF control for portraits.

Click to expand...

If that is the case, you should consider the Summicron-R 90mm. Superb out-of-focus rendering. They sell for around $500.

Hello,
I hope all of you know that the Leicaflex/Leica R cameras have the largest register (distance between lense flange and film plane) of all 35 mm SLR's. Therefore it is not possible to adapt third party lenses (e.g. the superb SMC Takumar 1,4/50) to a Leitz/Leica SLR. This was the intention of Leitz. Leitz persued every maker of third party lenses with Leitz bayonet and did not give licences to other lens makers. So you will find only very few lenses of other brands like Angenieux or Schneider shift-wide angles.

You will have a different system because of the aforementioned lensmount to film distance. You also said you wanted a all matt focusing screen. That will mean interchangeable focusing screens. That would probably mean a Nikon F2, if you like a heavy body or an Olympus OM-1n if you prefer a lighter system. Some other systems had this feature but finding screens now is much harder for those other brands.

The Nikon F2 or Olympus OM-1n would also fill your requirement for an all mechanical body.

Michel, I would like to suggest some "oddballs" . First, there is the Miranda 50mm 1.4, old version ( an 8 element, 6 groups lens!). They can be found fairly easily and they are not expensive. It has the old look: dreamy and sharp. For a mechanical body try a Miranda F or G. Second, there is the Topcon route, but that is more expensive. Third, there is the lovely Mamiya 50mm 1.4 cs for the Mamiya NC1000. Do have a look at Pbase (search for jajong) to see what the mamiya and miranda can do.

Cheers,
Jan

yes - Topcon (Topcor 58 1.4 - love it to bits..)

How about a Contax 50 1.4 for the Contax SLR line, and put it on an RTS II? The RTS II is battery dependent only for the meter (I believe). That combo would probably set you back $400-ish for the lens, and the body would be $100-ish. Or for something a tad more modern, an S2/S2b, which will run you $250-300 (there's one at KEH right now for $250). The S2 is all-mechanical except for the meter.

Not much help, but I would say that the Leica 1.4 50mm Summilux is the best lens I have ever used. It seems to have edge to edge sharpness at all stops and in my opinion is just the Bees knees of lenses.