Musings with the Summicron R

[Airy]

Very pleasing shots with the Summicron. But I do miss the 'bite' of the Voigtländer...

I just tried to make some comparative tests. The Summicron pics are generally darker; this may be due to the unavoidable stopped-down metering (the Leitax mount has no diaph lever), while the Voigtländer is always wide open, with lots of vignetting, during metering.

At f/1.4, and still (to a much lesser extent) f/2.0, the Voigt has some blueish haze; the Summicron provides marginally better blacks at f/2. Otherwise, the Voigt has some focus shift (rearwards on stopping down), the cron has about none. Maybe those are reasons for the Summicron-R giving the impression that the focus "snaps".

Both have LoCA, but the cron has less. The Voigt has some field curvature (corners towards camera), the cron apparently less, anyway I do not care much about corners.
Concerning the "bite", it is hard to tell. Maybe my post-processing is to be blamed.

By the way, the Noct has the same troubles (focus shift...) than the Voigt, only worse. One is however rewarded by better bokeh, among others.

The Zeiss 50/2 seems to be consistently better than the Summicron, especially the bokeh - well, it is 6 blades against 9 blades, and the Zeiss shows even less bokeh outlining.

[John Geerts]

I just tried to make some comparative tests. The Summicron pics are generally darker; this may be due to the unavoidable stopped-down metering (the Leitax mount has no diaph lever), while the Voigtländer is always wide open, with lots of vignetting, during metering.

At f/1.4, and still (to a much lesser extent) f/2.0, the Voigt has some blueish haze; the Summicron provides marginally better blacks at f/2. Otherwise, the Voigt has some focus shift (rearwards on stopping down), the cron has about none. Maybe those are reasons for the Summicron-R giving the impression that the focus "snaps".

Both have LoCA, but the cron has less. The Voigt has some field curvature (corners towards camera), the cron apparently less, anyway I do not care much about corners.
Concerning the "bite", it is hard to tell. Maybe my post-processing is to be blamed.

By the way, the Noct has the same troubles (focus shift...) than the Voigt, only worse. One is however rewarded by better bokeh, among others.

The Zeiss 50/2 seems to be consistently better than the Summicron, especially the bokeh - well, it is 6 blades against 9 blades, and the Zeiss shows even less bokeh outlining.

Thanks for the comparision Airy !

Pretty close what I understand.   It is always possible post processing can be handled a bit differently. Is there an automatic profile for the Voigt that can play a role?  (I noticed those automatic lens-profiles do sometimes not the best for your personal post processing)

[Airy]

Indeed, pretty close. As a matter of fact, the FL is the biggest differentiating factor; at any given distance from the subject, the Voigt will separate subject from background more efficiently. I also suspect that the Voigt has the better coatings, and is therefore more of an all-weather lens. Close focus ability is also a plus.

Again, the slightest misfocus at wide apertures will change the perceived "hierarchy" between lenses. So better practice MF often, this will bring more satisfaction than buying the "ultimate lens" and ending up in disappointment.