The best 50 ever?

tony lockerbie · Apr 29, 2006

Trolling through the various discussions I'm always interested in peoples thoughts on the quality of lenses, particularly the so called standard 50mm. So which do you consider to be the best of the best? The Leitz summicron or f2 planar from the Contarex spring to mind. Maybe a f2 Nikkor or 1.4 Takumar take your fancy, love to hear your thoughts.

Andy K · Apr 29, 2006

In my experience the zuiko 50mm 1.4 is quite tasty...

Dave Parker · Apr 29, 2006

As far as 50mm lenses go, you could not pry my Minolta 50mm f/1.7 and f/1.4 from my dead hands, they are going to be buried with me! I think the whole term "Best" is subjective at Best!

Dave

PhotoJim · Apr 29, 2006

There are a lot of good 50s on the market. However, the Nikkor 50/2 (any version, even the old Nikkor-H with the single coating - I've not tried the older Nikkor-S with seven elements though) is an excellent lens. So too is the AF 50/1.8 Nikkor. I never used a Planar but just about all of them are good.

One un-obvious choice is the 50/2 Pentax. The 1.7 is just as good. Pentax shooters should definitely own one of these lenses.

I have the 50/2 AI Nikkor and an AF Nikkor 50/1.4D and am happy with both, but the 2 is a hair better than the 1.4. The 50/2 Jupiter-8 Russian lens is pretty nice too, but in a different way...

tony lockerbie · Apr 29, 2006

Great to see a Russian lens in there! Sure is a very subjective thing and I know that there will be heaps of different answers. I have my own personal favourite and it's a bit left field- let you know later. I may even have a new favourite by then!

Andy K · Apr 29, 2006

Ps. The Prakticar Pentacon 50mm 1.8 is a damn fine lens too.

AZLF · Apr 29, 2006

I'm fond of my Summar f-2 col. It is not a lens for every occasion but within the area that an uncoated lens may work in it is a very sharp lens. Stopped down it produces the tack sharp images associated with Leica and when opened up it blurs the background in a pleasing (to my eye) manner. I also have one of the f 1.7 Minolta 50mm's (md) and agree that it is very good.

jsouther · Apr 29, 2006

Can 55mm qualify? I love my zuiko 55mm f1.2. Not only does it perform very well, I like how its focal length matches my eye's perpective more than any other lens I have. Its definitely a keeper.

Tom Hoskinson · Apr 29, 2006

The MC 50mm/1.8 CZJ Pancolar should also be included and the new Zeiss M 50/2 Planar as well.

bob01721 · Apr 29, 2006

Satinsnow said:
"... you could not pry my Minolta 50mm f/1.7 and f/1.4 from my dead hands, they are going to be buried with me...!"

LOL! I agree. That Rokkor glass is some good stuff. The f/1.2 is a monster, too!

bobfowler · Apr 29, 2006

I would say that the Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.4 (the screw mount version) is the top of the heap of all the 50's I've used, followed closely by the 50mm f/2 Nikkor.

firecracker · Apr 29, 2006

Canon NFD 50mm F1.4 is one of my favorite lenses. I can live with this 50mm, and 28mm F2.8, and 135mm F2.8 for my New F1 body with the eye-level finder.

Also NFD 50mm F3.5 macro is really good, too. I like it without the extension tube.

Magnus W · Apr 29, 2006

bobfowler said:
I would say that the Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.4 (the screw mount version) is the top of the heap of all the 50's I've used ...

Both the smc-m 50/1.4 and the smc-a 50/1.4 are excellent. I have no personal experience of the screw mount version, but I hold the Pentax 50's in very high regard.

-- MW

Dan Fromm · Apr 29, 2006

This is an old old question that was beaten to death roughly every other year from the late '60s to the early '80s in Modern Photography magazine. What they found every time was that at and below f/5.6 all "decent" (=, I think, 6/4 or more complex double Gauss type) f/1.7-f/2 50 mm lenses produced equally good results. Wider open than f/5.6 the differences weren't large enough to justify choosing one over another. They're all as near perfect lenses as can be bought.

There's an interesting article from MP on the possibility of resolving 100 lp/mm with normal lenses for 35 mm SLRs. Short answer, they did it on TP but doing so took ideal conditions and technique; so much effort than in practice none of us can hope to come close.

Faster 50s as reported on by MP are another story entirely. I've always thought, with not a lot of data to support the idea, that the 57/1.2 Konica Hexanon is the best of that class. Yeah, its longer than 50 mm but it was the fast normal lens for Konica AutoReflexes.

Tony, if you want improve to the image quality you produce with 35 mm film, the magic bullet you're seeking is not a lens. Improve your technique and use the highest resolution film you can deal with. By the early 70s the "slow" normal lens wasn't the weakest link in the process.

Richard Wasserman · Apr 29, 2006

I haven't used a lot of 50's, but my vote goes to the Leica 50mm Dual Range Summicron. Very high resolution without too much contrast. I only shoot black and white and don't know how any lenses look with color film.

Richard Wasserman

Dave Parker · Apr 29, 2006

Dan Fromm said:
This is an old old question that was beaten to death roughly every other year from the late '60s to the early '80s in Modern Photography magazine.

Ya but Dan,

it is always good to hash it out again, every once in a while! Some of us don't remember the time frame from the 60's to the 80's, big blur, with lots of fun in between!

LOL

Dave

tony lockerbie · Apr 29, 2006

Yes, probably has been argued black and blue but it's always interesting to see where people are at. I have no problem with getting good quality with 35mm and I have heaps of them from Zenits to Contarexes. The mark of a good lens is the maximum aperture performance and the gong here usually goes to Leica. My personal favourite at the moment is the 50mm f2 Septon on my Bessamatic, tack sharp but with a little of that old fashioned quality that marks the good German lenses.

gnashings · Apr 29, 2006

This is probably the hardest question to answer, because there is hardly a more refined focal length in 35mm lenses - its that one lens that at its worst is still very good (as has already been mentioned). Because of that, I tend to agree with Dave that "Best is subjective at Best". Aside from phenomenon such as the "Leica glow" and other highly questionable claims, I look at these lenses like so: the budget brands that usually are a little more flare prone and show some of that angular bokeh (apparently due to the number of apperture blades), and everything from 1.4 (usually - but not exclusively - this is the threshold, please keep in mind exceptions of high end, lower speed lenses) up. In a special place are the things like the Nocti-Nikkor that is specifically corrected for night photos, the legendary Noctilux, and the Canon 1.2 SSC ASP, which apparently outperforms them both... On the other hand is the argument that those lenses are so optimized for wide open, high contrats night work, that they are not nearly as good for general photography as their less exotic cousins...
One could go on, and on, and on...
But, perhaps a more productive approach would be to ask:
"What is YOUR favourite 50mm, and WHY?"
That way we could see the little individual traits that endear one lens to one person for one reason, while keeping in mind that these are preferences not be all and end all judgements based on miniscule differences.

Peter.

Jim Jones · Apr 29, 2006

34 years ago I did a quick, but very critical, test on about 35 lenses for 35mm cameras, mostly Leica and Nikon. The four best were 55mm f/3.5 Micro-Nikkor, 45mm f/2.8 GN-Nikkor, 50mm f/2.8 Elmar, and 50mm f/2.8 EL-Nikkor. Most other Leica and Nikkor 50mm lenses lagged a little behind. A 50mm Pentax macro lens wasn't as good. Unfortunately, I didn't keep notes on each lens.

The testing was done by projecting a Spiratone microfilm copy of the entire Bible on one 2x2 inch chip through the test lens onto a screen. Even the best of lenses showed some unsharpness and color fringing of such a high resolution target. With some lenses the text was entirely unreadable. Standard MTF or resolution tests on film would be far more realistic and objective.

kwmullet · Apr 29, 2006

My very favorite 50 is my Canon FL 55mm 1.2. It's fun to use and gives me wonderful images. I doubt that I'll ever buy another normal lens for 35mm again, unless I Dead Link Removed of the same for a gift or spare.

-KwM-

tony lockerbie · Apr 30, 2006

Peter is quite right and the answers to this thread would indicate that people have their own favourites. Lens testing is a difficult and time consuming exercise so I will go with Jim and dust off my 3.5 micro- nikkor!

Charles Webb · Apr 30, 2006

Originally Posted by bobfowler
I would say that the Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.4 (the screw mount version) is the top of the heap of all the 50's I've used ...

This long forgotten chunk of coke bottle stands on the summit, pretty much alone in my mind. Yes, I mean the screwmount!

Charlie.......................................

Christopher Walrath · Apr 30, 2006

I'm always on the lookout for a cheap 1.4 minolta md, but my 1.7 is just about the cat's me . . .uh, never mind.

Tom Hoskinson · Apr 30, 2006

Not Cheap, not Inexpensive - just very, very good! The Zeiss ZF 50/1.4 Planar.

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

gnashings · Apr 30, 2006

Tom Hoskinson said:
Not Cheap, not Inexpensive - just very, very good! The Zeiss ZF 50/1.4 Planar.

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

Still, given the optical excellence and high speed, any 50 is a bargain compared to anything that good or that fast from a comparible manufacturer!
Perhaps my mind will change - but for now, a 50 is on my SLR's probably 75% of the time: even if the length is not ideal, I have a 50mm f1.4 - anything else that says 1.4 on it is probably more expensive than my whole SLR kit put together!
Well, a bit off topic, but I love my 50's!

Peter.

The best 50 ever?

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