Leica Summicron-R 50mm f/2 : Specifications and Opinions

Reviews

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Airy

sent on 21 Maggio 2024

Pros: Exquisite rendering, decent sharpness wide open, good bokeh, excellent manufacturing quality, excellent handling, good value for money, easy mount conversion.

Cons: outdated coatings

Opinion: I have the second version (with built-in shade). It was already converted to Nikon mount when I bought it, so there are no diaph nor electrical couplings. Conversion is rather easy (from my limited experience with a 180/4). The Summicron R has been my favourite 50mm lens on the Nikon Df, alongside the Zeiss Milvus 50/2 (macro). While the latter is better in every respect, the rendering of those two lenses is very different. The Summicron is able to produce exquisite images, with lots of details, little aberration, and intermediate contrast (compared with the Zeiss). One should not shoot against the light, that's all. On mirrorless bodies (Zf), the handling is slightly less comfortable, as the manual closing of the diaphragm will "darken" the image in the viewfinder (make it look noisy, that is). Of course you get DOF preview as a compensation. Also, the rotation direction of the focus ring is opposite, compared to Nikon lenses, so you'll have to get used to it.

The following opinions have been automatically translated with Google Translate.

Francesco Redaelli

sent on 20 Maggio 2024

Pros: Photo rendering, build quality and materials, price

Cons: Not easy to use against the light due to outdated anti-glare coatings

Opinion: I have the first Wetzlar version and it's my favorite lens among those I have (I prefer it to the Canon 70-200 f2.8L and 50mm 1.8 STM) because the rendering of the photo is unique. I use it on Canon R6 via K&F Concept adapter. The colors are simply beautiful and without casts. At F2 the shadows are more "open", less dark than the other lenses. The blur is beautiful, more bubble-like than the creamy Canon L and gives the photo a three-dimensional rendering. At F2 there is vignetting but it is nice, closing the aperture disappears. In in-focus areas, sharpness is perfect, and the transition between in-focus and out-of-focus areas is smooth. In some backlit angles the contrast drops a lot, but after a little experience you can get excellent results. On the other hand, in backlighting at F2 in the morning or at sunset you can create very beautiful effects such as a rainbow arc or the circular reflection of the lenses with a cross inside. I recommend this lens to those who want to upgrade from the modern 50mm f1.8 as I did and also to those who already own a professional 50mm but want to try to have photos with a different rendering.

Giosanta

sent on 12 Febbraio 2022

Pros: Unparalleled optical and build quality

Cons: Nobody

Opinion: The Summicron R 50mm, speaking of what I own or the first type with VI or 44mm series filters, as typical of Leica optics, is able to add the Z axis to the photographic representation, where normally only X and Y are present. Using films such as the Ferrania P30, the Kodak Ektar 100 or the Rollei Superpan 200, it becomes almost instinctive to stretch out your hand to perceive the depth of the subject on the prints. The colors vibrate, the B / W has a sculptural quality. He doesn't even blink with his Elpro in close-range shots. The build quality, attention to detail and materials are moving. Mounted on a Leicaflex SL or R8 you feel armored and enjoy the world through their sights in Cinemascope. Of course it should also be added that Leica does not give anything even if, new or used, it is worth every penny of what it costs.

Andreas73

sent on 17 Settembre 2021

Pros: build quality (like all Leitz Wetzlar optics), bokeh, sharpness, colors

Cons: f2 vignetting, especially in version 1 (more a feature than a defect) and focus-shift on version 1 at closed apertures

Opinion: Two more masterpieces by Walter Mandler. Owning both versions (the first black and the second limited Safari - Made in Canada), I can only confirm what Marco Cavina wrote: they are two optics with different characteristics, the first is optimized for infinity, while the second, for short-medium distances. It follows that the second version is more suitable for everyday photos (portrait, street, etc.), while the first is more suitable for landscape photos. To fans of Leitz Wetzlar optics, I can only recommend the purchase of both, while to photographers, I can only say to try both and then decide which one best suits your photographic style. Surely you will be fascinated by both and it will be difficult to decide. I use them both with Fujifilm X-T2 and X-E3 bodies, with great satisfaction, both for the focus (focus peaking) and for the photographic rendering.

Leo45

sent on 07 Ottobre 2020

Pros: What model are we talking about? I think you mixed it all up.

Cons: There is some confusion in the re-comes of this goal.... let's see each other clearer...

Opinion: ...... what model are we talking about? There are two models: the first one in 1964 (which should be the subject of this re-enactment as indicated in the list of re-enactments) is without integrated lampshade, was built only in Germany (in the 1960s leitz had not yet decentralized the assembly units in other countries for reasons of production costs) and is optimized for infinity. And the second model (which is absent from the list of reviewations) of the eighties conceived by Walter Mandler (to which we also owe all summicron (35, 50, 90) modern r and m, the 19mm f/2.8, the apo-telyt, some summilux, etc. In short, all the most famous leitz objectives), with integrated lampshade, optimized for medium distances and assembled in different assembly lines leitz in Germany, canada or Portugal but absolutely identical being precisely the same model only that was assembled in different units relocated for reasons of labor costs. For more than a year and a test visit the marco cavina website http://www.marcocavina.com/articoli_fotografici/Leitz_Summicron-R_50mm/00_pag.htm

Tom-bishop

sent on 21 Febbraio 2018

Pros: Materials, slow qualities, color yield, size

Cons: built-in lampshade a little short, findability, the addiction that creates

Opinion: I chose the Leica and not the zeiss because it found under price, the same to which I would take the planar to understand us, also take a lens F1.4 but have to close it to f2 to have according to many, a very good level of yield on a modern ml like the xt2 so much worth p make a lens that already at f2 was very good. For sharp speech, a separate chapter should be opened. Because if you go and take a vintage optics and demand a sharpness of a signa art maybe there is an initial misjudgment. Also for the human portrait to have a non-foreign sharpness to an open diaphragm as f2 allows a more gradual passage of the plans, solves some imperfections of the skin and leaves that feeling more dreamlike, all the more so on a very beautiful rendering as this leitz. On the xt-2 it becomes a 78mm eq to be precise, through focus peaking there are no problems to focus also because f2 is not so open. In my opinion taken at a price on 300 euros, maybe something less, but in good condition it is a lot of stuff and ties the shoes to many modern goals. Of course entering the leic world then creates addiction in fact now I'm desperate... jokes aside if you find it buy it without problems, if then you have a ml FF then it must be taken absolutely.

Daniele Ruggeri D2

sent on 28 Marzo 2016

Pros: Colors, materials, size, weight, quality.

Cons: Nobody.

Opinion: I have a German model in very good condition I use on Canon EOS 6D. I must say that the first thing that struck me is the care of the packaging and the materials and the precision with which it was built. At first use I found it hard to be a completely manual view. The meter does not work so it does not tell me if the photo is dark or clear, but I'm used to it now. We work on TV (Canon times) so we have a masked M function since the lens can change the aperture of the diaphragm from the ring. Looking at the PC for the first time, the photos were surprised by the COLORS: incredibly realistic, dominant, which I was used to to see, and above all blue to leave without words. Very nice also blur it, does not detach the focus and dissolves the background, this has a progressive blur that tells the depth of field and a nice 3D effect. At f / 2 it is very sharp already, but it still improves af / 2.8. While still af / 2 the portraits are special%2C seems to be a kind of Orton effect that makes the faces already clean and polished, I've never seen such a thing, really beautiful. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND = Two options were made for this purpose: German the first, Canada the second. The German model is more expensive construction, with all the glasses of the double gauss curved; On the contrary, in the Canadian model, some of these have become straightforward to make Opti's production cheaper during the crisis. It seems that the difference between the two (according to Cavina: http://www.marcocavina.com/articoli_fotografici/Leitz_Summicron-R_50mm/00_pag.htm) is that the German model is optimized for short and long distances and less to medium, on the contrary Of the Canadian that is better at distances than average Mafs. I can confirm what Cavina said for the German model, shooting at short distances has an incredible contrast to the media.

Garciamarquez

sent on 14 Ottobre 2014

Pros: Color, size and weight

Cons: no one, except the obvious, ie that lacks focus

Opinion: I have a model 1976 body "experience" but with excellent lenses. I was surprised by the delicacy of color rendition. A lens that costs little and makes a lot, is to have in the kit. Board of ride inside a bayonet leitax, or at least a ring Novoflex, to taste it on reflex or even better on sony a7-a7r (electronic viewfinder helps in focusing, which becomes perfect).