Duel at the Summit
By José Manuel Serrano Esparza
The launching into market
of the formidable manual focusing Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* on
October 7, 2013 meant a milestone in both the design and manufacture of 50/55
mm f/1.4 standard lenses worldwide, becoming the benchmark of quality in its
scope until the introduction of the also formidable Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm
f/1.4 ASPH Autofocus in September 2017, which has been the yardstick since
then, thanks to its operation with an exceedingly fast and accurate AF system
enabling it to work handheld at a much higher speed and with a superior rate of
huge quality results, because to be able to get maximum focusing precision is a
key factor to try to draw as much potential as possible of the extraordinary
Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T*.
Obviously, only the
Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH can nowadays rival with it (outperforming it
shooting hand and wrist, because under controlled conditions with the camera on
a tripod, particularly within studio, things are pretty even, with the Zeiss
Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T * being in my opinion slightly better from an
overall viewpoint in photographic environments where it is possible to make
things quietly and to take one´s time to manually focus with accuracy).
Thus, inevitably, a
question arises: How can an extraordinary lens like the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4
ASPH engage in a duel with a stratopsheric lens like the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4
Apo-Distagon T* being clearly superior in virtually every aspect related to
image quality achieved and mechanical construction ?
Let´s see.
Evidently, the 12 elements
(one of them being aspherical, together with six more featuring very special
optical glass with anomalous partial dispersion) in 10 groups Zeiss Otus 55 mm
f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* is also more advanced from an evolutive standpoint
(something understandable, since the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH was launched
into market in 2004 and the Zeiss Otus 50 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* in late
2013, and nine years are a whole world in the technological and optical realms
at the highest level).
But to my humble
understanding, it is important to bear in mind some key factors:
a) The Zeiss Otus 55 mm
f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* was designed with no compromise whatsoever regarding size
and weight (141 mm length x 92 mm
diameter, with a weight of 1030 g in ZE mount for Canon EOS and 970 g in ZF.2
mount for Nikon F), so shots with accurate focus on photographing handheld
(specially in the range 1/15 s-1/125 s) are much more difficult to attain with
the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 than with the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH (whose
weight is 335 g, that´s to say, almost three times lighter than the Otus) and
besides, the Otus 55 1.4 will be front heavy when connected to any camera,
because of its huge weight and dimensions.
On the other hand, though
being apparent that the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH is a non retrofocus design
making possible its deep insertion in the camera body, with its most rear
element located very near the digital sensor (as well as enabling to reduce the
number of optical elements and groups) unlike the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4
Apo-Distagon T* which is a retrofocus design having to save the ascending
movement of the reflex mirror, it shouldn´t be forgotten that the most
difficult task by far for any optical designer when tackling striving after
creating a high optomechanical quality lens is the combination of small size
and weight, because every software of optical designing (including the most
advanced ones handled by Leica and Zeiss) will steadily beget a very large and
heavy lens from the very moment in which parameters of excellent image quality
are introduced, and hugely big and heavy if those parameters aim at getting a
stratospheric optical performance.
b) The Zeiss Otus 55 mm
f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* includes DNA of
the highly successful and proved 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 (6 x 6 cm) Carl Zeiss Distagon
medium format optical scheme, whose entrance pupil is much smaller than the
exit one.
Id est, it is a very
brilliant adaptation of an optical formula mostly used with wideangle lenses,
optimizing its optical performance to be used with full frame 24 x 36 mm format
professional reflex cameras Canon and Nikon, particularly with the Nikon D800E,
whose top-notch sensor needs first-rate lenses to be able to tap its full
potential, which is surpassed even at f/1.4 in borders and corners by this
reference-class lens having become a landmark on its own merits.
That´s why its
extraordinary bokeh boasts such a great smoothness and subtlety (typical of the medium format, with the
peculiarity that though within a standard lens perspective, it resembles the
out of focus rendering generated by a 85 mm or 90 mm lens, enhanced by its
painstakingly built 9 blade diaphragm) unbeatable in the 24 x 36 mm domain
(although the likewise extraordinary bokeh generated by the Leica Summilux-SL
50 mm f/1.4 ASPH being strongly inspired by the Noctilux-M 50 mm f/1 designed
by Walter Mandler in 1975 is not far behind), in the same way as happens with
its truly praiseworthy correction of optical aberrations, its wonderful
exquisiteness depicting the tonal gradations, the tridimensional quality in the
look of the images it yields and the swift transition between focused and
unfocused areas, without forgetting his tremendous resolving power based on a
reference-class true apochromatic design.
c) It must also be added
that the unrestricted design of the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T*
regarding its size and weight has also enabled the genesis of a telecentric
behaviour (with the exit pupil being farther from the sensor surface, so the
light beams reach it in a more perpendicular way, so minimizing the artifacts
of microlenses, in addition to reducing the vignetting) in the five elements of
the rear telephoto optical group, of which the nearest to the 24 x 36 mm sensor
is the state-of-the-art double side aspheric element, by far the most important
one to get the yardstick image quality delivered by this lens, in synergy with
its likewise incredible control of flare and coma, along with its extraordinary
multicoating in the aforementioned rear elements making them less sensitive to
the reflections coming from the bright digital sensors.
d) The standard
viewfinders of the currently best digital full frame Canon and Nikon cameras
are far from reaching the qualitative level (as to viewing sharpness and easy
and quick focusing accuracy) of professional analogue 24 x 36 mm format cameras
like the Olympus OM-1, Nikon F2, Canon F1 New, Leica R6, etc, so any
photographer using the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Distagon T* lens shooting
handheld, won´t have easy at all to achieve exact focus with the standard
focusing screens presently featured by the flagship 24 x 36 mm format Canon and
Nikon cameras.
Therefore, in my opinion,
the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH launched into market in 2004 and designed by
Peter Karbe (Head of Optics Development at Leica Camera AG and the best optical
designer in the world) is from the viewpoint of designing difficulty a more
commendable lens than the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* (which
besides, had the advantage of having been designed almost ten years later),
because it is much smaller and lighter (almost three times shorter and roughly
a 300% less heavy) and its designing parameters were far more exacting not only
from an optical viewpoint, but also in regard to its mechanical metallic
components and overall structure, to be able to insert everything inside the
lens barrel in so exceedingly tiny for its maximum aperture dimensions,
starting a new era beyond the extraordinary and very solid groundwork firstly
fulfilled during seventies by Dr. Helmut Marx with his COMO program of
optimization (improved throughout eighties and nineties by Dr. Wolfgang
Vollrath, Sigrun Kammans and Michael Heiden) and Horst Schröder with his 01
Analysis Program during nineties, as well as making up an amazing optical feat
in itself, since Peter Karbe managed to solve the great hindrance of getting
all the optic and mechanic elements of the lens into the Summicron-M 50 mm f/2
existing mount.
Furthermore, albeit
without reaching the even more stratospheric levels in optical performance of
the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T*, the very compact for its widest
f/1.4 aperture Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH (whose superb image quality is at
f/1.4 very similar to the one yielded by the Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 Versions 4
and 5 designed by Walter Mandler at f/2, clearly beating it in the reproduction
of details on the farthest areas from image center, as well as delivering
extraordinary resolving power and contrast, along with a great bokeh excelling
at the beauty in out of focus areas and a remarkable smoothness in the
transition between focused and unfocused zones) will be most times the lens
obtaining the best image quality in uncontrolled photographic contexts shooting
handheld.
In addition, the
Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH is a lens whose manufacturing stage needed a far
superior level of optomechanic precision, with a movement of the focusing
helicoid which had to be thoroughly coordinated with the movement of the
floating helicoid, whose travel is of only 2 millimeters, and the whole
mechanism had to be installed inside the lens to ensure the unmatched
smoothness of the focusing ring, without forgetting the unavoidable high cost
of the expensive third element of the optical formula provided by the Leitz
Optical Glass Laboratory.
On the other hand, the
design of the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH had its deepest roots in the non
aspherical eight elements Summilux-M 50 mm f/2 Version 6, whose prototype was
created by Peter Karbe in 1989 and with which he could slightly outperform
(increasing the contrast value for 40 pairs of lines/mm up to approximately a
51% at f/2 on the entire image surface, as well as simultaneously boost the
optical performance in the drawing of details and nuances at such maximum
aperture and solve the lack of special optical glasses boasting high refraction
to attain a better correction of color chromatic aberrations, using high-end
optical glasses featuring anomalous partial dispersion that he placed in the
first and second elements, preserving Mandler´s configuration of the forward
elements located beyond the diaphragm, while in regard to the back elements he chose
the Summilux-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH scheme, reaching an excellent contrast value of
75% at 40 pairs of lines/mm in the image center and adjacent areas and more
than a 50% on the corners, it all complemented by an outstanding colour
correction, beating the mythical image quality of Walter Mandler´s Summicron-M 50 mm f/2
Version 4 (1979-1984) and Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 (1994-2013, sharing the same
optical formula as its predecessor) without aspherical or floating elements
whatsoever, something which was considered to be in the frontier of the
impossible, albeit such as had been foreseen by the great optical designer at
Leitz Midland, Ontario (Canada), such a small improvement meant a much steeper
manufacturing cost and the impossibility of series production and search of a
market niche, so the 8 elements non aspherical Summicron 50 mm f/2 Version 6
Project was abandoned.
As a matter of fact,
Walter Mandler´s top priority with its Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 Version 4 from
1979 (identical to the Version 5) had its essence in a fundamental keynote of
cost effective production without losing an atom of optical and mechanical quantity,
avoiding the use of the very expensive state-of-the-art LaK9 glass (which had
been present in three of the elements of the Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 first
version optical formula from 1953 and in four of the elements of the redesigned
Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 1957 second version), replacing it with an exceedingly
witty combination of flint glass elements featuring a relatively high
refraction index, remarkable clarity and brilliance, low Abbe number and
containing lead oxyde.
Mandler managed to do it
by dint of talent, huge experience, tremendous knowledge of materials and their
optical properties and a vast assortment of resources of his own: he applied
common radii all over the Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 1979 Version 4 lens, reducing
the number of grinding and polishing tools, made identical the front and rear
surfaces of the lens, in the same way as the convex external surfaces of both
doublets and their inner surfaces, whose cemented mount subsequently turned
into a designing advantage, significantly dropping the mechanizing and
centering cost of the optical elements, as well as keeping it clear of any
internal reflections, glare and flare, scoring an excellent optical performance
of contrast of 40 lines/mm at 60% along the whole image surface diagonal.
On the other hand, the
introduction of the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH in 2004 meant to all intents
and purposes the evolutive peak of 48 years of immense know-how implemented by
Leica in the field of aspheric technology which it began in 1966, being the first
firm in the world to mass produce lenses featuring aspherical surfaces (when
Gerd Bergmann and Dieter Jung could develop special machines able to grind and
polish with a remarkable accuracy for the time and that were used with
virtually handcrafted parameters, huge knowledge and devotion, to allow the
creation by Prof. Helmut Marx of the first Noctilux-M 50 mm f/1.2 ASPH), all of
which was subsequently very improved regarding the grinding and polishing of
such aspheric lenses in late nineties by Stefan Dahlhaus and Michael Thomas,
under the global supervision of Lothar Kölsch, Horst Schröder, Peter Karbe and
Sigrun Kammans (the best team of optical designers in the whole history of
photography) which set up the Center of Competence for Aspherical Technology
until 2002, designing and building some lenses of the highest optical and
mechanical level during nineties and the first two years of XXI Century which
were approximately 20 years ahead of their time, as for example the
Apo-Macro-Summicron-R 100 mm f/2, the Apo-Telyt-R 280 mm f/4 and the
Vario-Elmarit-R 28-90 mm f/2.8 - 4.5 ASPH (by far the best zoom lens in the
world optically and mechanically until the introduction of the Vario-Elmar-SL
24-90 f/2.8-4 ASPH for the Leica SL camera in late 2015), all of them currently
being stellar performers both with film and full frame 24 x 36 mm digital
sensors, which speaks volumes about the tremendous knowledge, prowess and
insight that gave birth to them.
Whatever it may be, it is
very clear that if a photographer works under controlled conditions and can
take his/her time to do things quietly, being able to accurately focus, both in
studio and outdoors, with the lens on a tripod, the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4
Apo-Distagon T* will get the best results.
But if already the
legendary world-class Leica expert Tom Abrahamsson doubted if vast majority of
Leica photographers could ever use the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH drawing its
full stunning potential, you can imagine the fairly good technique and
experience needed to obtain only the 90% potential of the Zeiss Otus f/1.4
Apo-Distagon T*, which is probably the most perfect lens designed and built
hitherto for any format (along with the Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH, the
Summarit-S 70 mm f/2.5 ASPH for Leica S, the almost limited by diffraction
Rodenstock Digaron-S 23 mm f/5.6 for digital backs, 112º coverage — equivalent
to a 16 mm lens in 24 x 36 mm format — , with a large image circle of 70 mm and
obtaining an extraordinary image quality in center, borders and corners, with a
great evenness of optical performance, even at its widest aperture, without any
fall-off, with the added advantage of a flange distance length of around 45 mm
enabling infinity focus with most of technical cameras and a state-of-the-art multicoating
spawning an admirable light transmission, great contrast and a virtual absence
of ghost and flare; the Leica Apo-Telyt-R 280 mm f/4 and the Olympus Zuiko
Digital for 4/3 sensors), delivering superlative levels of contrast, sharpness
and a very homogeneous illumination on the whole image surface, as evolutive
pinnacle of one of the optical designs having achieved a better performance in
history: the retrofocus Distagon, whose first high quality genealogical
offspring were the Distagon lenses designed throughout fifties with very little
help of computers.
Not in vain, the Zeiss
Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* includes a significant percentage of Erhardt
Glatzel´s DNA, since during sixties and seventies the great Head of Optical
Design at Carl Zeiss greatly improved the optical performance of the Distagon
optical scheme, both for 24 x 36 mm format and for 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 (6 x 6 cm)
medium format, through a symbiosis between the use of increasingly fast and
powerful computers, the specific lens designing programs and his colossal
knowledge, ingenuity, intuition and all kind of resources, epitomized by such
lenses as the Carl Zeiss Distagon C 60 mm f/3.5 C chromed from 1970s (which
already at that time delivered very good resolving power and contrast, a
laudable correction of the distortion and an excellent rendering of
microcontrast), the 10 elements in 9 groups Carl Zeiss Distagon CF 60 mm f/3.5
(with a weight of 1375 g and dimensions of 125 mm length x 104 mm diameter) for
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 (6 x 6 cm) format, the 7 elements in 7 groups Carl Zeiss Distagon
Cfi T* 60 mm (also for square medium format), the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35 mm
f/1.4 for 24 x 36 mm format Contax cameras and others.
Id est, with its Otus 55
mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* , Zeiss opts for following a full steam exotic and
uncommon way in the sphere of standard 50/55 mm f/1.4 lenses, which generally
adopt Double-Gauss or partially Double-Gauss (7 elements in 5 groups — Walter
Mandler´s non aspherical Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4, which was the benchmark during
44 years, between 1960 and 2008 — , 8 elements in 5 groups — Summilux-M 50 mm
f/1.4 ASPH from 2004 — , 7 elements in 6 groups — Takumar 50 mm f/1.4
Super-Multi-Coated from 1971-1972, Olympus Zuiko OM 50 mm f/1.4 Auto-S from
seventies (rendering a visible presence of vignetting and a simply acceptable
bokeh on focusing all of its optical formula to get very good contrast and
sharpness) — , and many others.
And it is highly
praiseworthy, because the Double-Gauss design has been the most widespread in
the whole history of photography along with Paul Rudolph´s 4 elements in 3
groups Tessar f/6.3 lens from 1902 (together with the later improvements and
more luminous widest f/3.5 and f/2.8 widest apertures introduced by Ernst
Wanderslab and Willy Merté) and the Rapid Rectilinear or Aplanat designed by
J.H.Dallmeyer and Dr. H.A. Steinheil (whose performance was limited by
astigmatism in the borders and corners of the image surface, because of the
Petzval´s sum, that´s to say, its optical scheme suffered from a visible image
curvature, intentionally preserved to foster its very good for the time
correction of distortion and the control of aberrations in a wide range of
distances) and was the most far-reaching one in XIX Century throughout 24
years, between 1866 and 1890.
Needless to say that the
Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* has meant a quantum leap in optical
design, because from a mechanical and particularly optical performance
(delivering a reference-class image quality) it has gone far beyond three great
optomechanical milestones in the history of photographic objectives:
a) The best Carl Zeiss
Distagon lenses for both 24 x 36 mm and 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 (6 x 6 cm) format
designed by the genius Erhardt Glatzel with his steadily improved Method of
Adaptive Optimization in Lens Designing, using computers and specific
softwares, subsequently adding his unutterable optical gift with personal
touches that were the ones making a difference.
It is important to keep in
mind that vast majority of lenses featuring a Distagon design and created by
Erhardt Glatzel (specially those ones produced for medium format) from 1960s
onwards deliver such a great image quality that are very adequate for
photogrammetry and aerial photography.
b) The Carl Zeiss Distagon
T* 35 mm f/3.5 for medium format Contax 645 camera, which gets an excellent
image quality on the whole frame surface, with an amazing uniformity of optical
performance between center, borders and corners at every diaphragm, together
with a laudable correction of distorsion.
c) The Carl Zeiss T*
Superachromat 250 mm f/5.6 for 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 (6 x 6 cm) medium format cameras,
one of the most perfect photographic lenses ever made (almost diffraction
limited — on a par in this aspect with the almost diffraction limited Leica
Apo-Macro-Elmarit-R 100 mm f/2.8 — and only beaten in this regard by the
diffraction limited Apo-Telyt-R 280 mm f/4), in addition to being one of the
yardsticks in unique sharpness, resolving power and contrast, not needing any infrared
correction whatsoever and obtaining virtually unbeatable colour precision (only
outperformed in this regard by the presently reference-class levels of very
high light transmission — particularly in the long light paths of the prisms —,
state-of-the-art antirreflective coatings and colour neutrality achieved by the
optical formula of the extraordinary Leica Noctivid binoculars designed by
Michael Hartmann and with which any observer can see almost 3D, with the added
benefit of a top-notch engineering accomplished by Sigrun Kammans and enabling
to keep identical optomechanical qualities throughout decades of intensive use)
and correction of the secondary spectrum.
To properly understand
what the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* for 24 x 36 mm format has meant
in the history of photographic lenses, it is also fundamental to know that it
outperforms the Carl Zeiss Jena Superachromat 250 mm f/5.6 as to a truly
commendable correction of the residual aberrations within the Raleygh limit of
focusing uncertainty.
But there hasn´t been,
there isn´t and there won´t be any 100% perfect lens.
Each objective has got its
strong and weaks points and both telecentric lenses and those ones using
telecentric schemes (opposed to the symmetrical designs in whcih their exit
pupils are near the image plane) in specific groups of their optical formula,
will have to feature a very large size and weight, with huge bayonet diameters,
such as happens with the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1,4 Apo-Distagon T*, a lens in
which Zeiss has put all of its optical expertise of more than one century in
the creation of a no compromise lens delivering an impressive sharpness on the
whole image surface at every diaphragm and focusing distance, a remarkable
absence of coma, a reduction of the longitudinal chromatic aberration to
negligible levels, a reference-class flatness of the image field, a focusing
ring boasting silky smoothness, state-of-the-art engineering and mechanical
construction, an almost unbeatable bokeh in the realm of standard 50/55 mm
f/1.4 lenses (in my opinion only very slightly beaten in this regard by the
Minolta MC Rokkor 58 mm f/1.2 and the Noctilux-M 50 mm f/1), an exceedingly
complex optomechanic design with massive use of bearings, a real and exceptional
apochromatic design correcting the three colours of the light (red, green and
blue) focusing each one on the same point to avoid colour fringing, a
staggering uniformity of optical performance at the highest level between
center, borders and corners, a top-notch correction of distortion (reducing it
to almost zero regarding pincushion one and approximately 0.80% in barrel going
unnoticed to practical effects on watching the images).
As a matter of fact, both
the Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* and the Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH
have inaugurated a new era in the history of photographic lenses, accomplishing
something unthinkable only ten years ago: a resolving power beginning to
approach to the area between the Rayleigh limit and the theoretically
impossible to transcend Werner Heisenberg´s Uncertainty Principle.
There were already some
techniques to attain super resolution beyond the Rayleigh limit in the scope of
reference-class microscopes, but the tremendous optical knowledge, proven
substantial experience, deep grasp on the properties of optical glases, mastery
in the location and configuration of the optical elements and groups along with
the interaction between them, perseverance and a myriad of tricks of their own
used by both the designer of the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* and the
designer of the Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH have been truly colossal
with these two photographic lenses for 24 x 36 mm format cameras, having fought
to their utmost with the diffraction limit implying that optical resolution is
limited by the light wavelength and the concept that the resolving power of an
optical system depends on the bandwidth of the spatial frequencies that are
collected by it.
And of course, both highly
luminous lenses approach very much to quantically feasible limit reagrding
resoloving power, with the best state-of-the art technology currently available
in the world, but above with immense optical talent and passion for
photography.
Definitely, both the Zeiss
Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* and the Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH do
confirm that no optical designing software or computer program can create by
themselves a lens boasting such formidable optomechanical qualities, and the
most decisive factor at this stratospheric level will always be the know-how,
prowess and intuition displayed by the optical designer, who must guide the
designing software towards the right direction, something of extreme
difficulty, particularly in highly luminous benchmark lenses like the Zeiss Otus
55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* and the Summilux-SL 55 mm f/1.4 ASPH, in which as
well as fulfilling a hugely praiseworthy correction of the different chromatic
aberrations, they had to control more than fifty dimensional mathematic spaces.
But the extraordinary
potential of this lens (which will above all excel in controlled environments
both indoors — particularly in studio — and outdoors) isn´t at all easy to
attain shooting handheld, because it is a very bulky and heavy manual focusing
lens, with a weight of one kg and very large size, so excellent very luminous
smaller and lighter lenses (in spite of being light years behind the
stratospheric Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Distagon T* from an optomechanical viewpoint ) like the
470 g Noct-Nikkor 58 mm f/1.2, the 205 g Takumar 55 mm f/1.8 Super-Multi-Coated
and the Summilux-R 50 mm f/1.4 Version from 1967 will get much more consistent
results than the Otus 55 mm f/1.4 from the standpoint of focusing accuracy,
stability and image quality achieved in a very significant percentage of the
pictures.
The upshot of it is that
the focusing precision is something of great relevance for the final image
quality obtained by any camera/lens binomium and an absolutely essential factor
to draw as much potential as possible of the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4
Apo-Distagon T*, the flagship among the large aperture f/1.4 standard lenses
along the Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH and the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4
ASPH, which play in another league in comparison to the rest of standard 50 mm
f/1.4 lenses of the photographic market.
Peter Karbe, the best
optical designer in the world and creator of the Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH
boasting a very small size and exceedingly low weight for its widest f/1.4
aperture, a full-fledged technological, optical and mechanical tour de force
accomplished in 2004 by the Head of Optics Development at Leica Camera AG.
Therefore, the Summilux-M
50 mm f/1.4 ASPH is at the moment the best third lens in the world in its focal
length and luminosity in regard to image quality achieved, but its compact size
and light weight (335 g) for its widest f/1.4 aperture (almost three times
smaller and less heavy than the Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 Apo-Distagon T* and than
the Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH ) turn it into a formidable photographic
tool through the adequate adapters to shoot handheld in a wide range of
contexts, particularly in symbiosis with the fabulous digital sensors of
professional mirrorless 24 x 36 mm format cameras like the Sony Alpha 7, Alpha
7 II, Alpha 7R, Alpha 7S, Alpha 7RS, Alpha 7RIII (together with other ones
featuring APS-C format like the Fujifilm X-Pro 1, X-Pro 2, XT-1, XT-2, X100F,
X-T20, XH-1, X-E3, X-A10, etc, and Micro Four Thirds format like the Olympus
OM-D E-M10 Mark III, EP M1, EP M2, Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5S, DCGH5L, DCGH5M,
DCGH5, DCGH5A, DCGH5LGA, DCM-GH4AGC, DMC-GH4GC, etc), with amazing levels of
stability and comfort, attaining very high rates of perfectly focused pictures
with extraordinary image quality, something also happening with the unbeatable
in compactness Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 Versions 4 and 5 (195 g), whose potential
of optomechanical performance (in the same way as with the Summilux-M 50 mm
f/1.4 ASPH) won´t be reached by most photographers, because one thing are the
MTF charts, lines/mm graphs, interferometers working with helium-neon laser,
the optical designing softwares, etc, and another one the very comprehensive
range of real photographic situations.
José Manuel Serrano
Esparza
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