[stevebrot]

However, to provide more detail, My K 35mm f3.5 and my K 55mm 1.8 would be my baselines here. They are simply wonderful lenses.

I would think one might expect similar on-paper performance from Leica R for those focal lengths. The difference would in details of rendering, contrast, and (maybe) bokeh. Whether any of those equates to "better" is hard to say.


Steve

[btnapa]

One of my proudest moments as a photographer, but it was all about content and really not at all about technical quality...

That is true. I guess we were not as obsessed as we now are about sensor issues such high ISO noise, or lens issues such as CA, bokeh, etc. I had a few choice lenses, namely the Nikon 105 f2.5, 24mm f2, 55 f2.8 micro and other goodies but the 16mm f2.8 fisheye was something else. It made projected images so much more spectacular.

---------- Post added 06-21-19 at 02:41 PM ----------

I had a similar experience when I compared the results of using a non-Pentax brand of lens to an equivalent Pentax lens in a camera store. I bought the Pentax lens. The difference in the colour rendition of the two lenses was very noticeable, and I expected the Pentax lenses to be relatively consistent in this regard between themselves.

Charles, we can go on trading stories for sometime to come! Now that you mentioned color rendition of various systems, it reminds me of a story I want to share. This is almost at the end of my Nikon film camera era, circa 1998-99. I had a shop in Belmont, MA printing canvas prints and other art reproductions for artists and other clients. I got a request to photograph a customer's wedding. I knew how to take pics but had not done any weddings up to that point. So just to be safe, I enlisted a photographer friend's help as a back up and also to cover the event if it got too busy. My friend was a Canon shooter. So when I got the 4x6 proofs back from the lab, I was shocked. What do I know. This was my first introduction to lens influencing color. Nikon shots all had a warm tone and all the Canons had a cooler tone to them. We used the same film so the color variation was from the lenses. I presented the work to that client as it was and I don't think they picked up on the color difference nor did they care. This was not a high end wedding with picky/difficult clients. With today's digital manipulation software, I could have made some adjustments to bring the colors closer to each other but this was still film era and digital was just starting.

---------- Post added 06-21-19 at 02:53 PM ----------

How much better could it be to justify that price?

I love to own a Leica but can never justify the cost. I call my FA limited trio (31,43,77) my "poor man's" Leicas! Other than serious CA issue with all three, optically, they can go with best of them. However, I think the A85 f1.4 is a cut above my FA Limiteds. It is a mechanical and optical work of art.

[ZombieArmy]

Which is better...Pentax-M 50mm f/2.0 or Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0 (type 4) FWIW, the Pentax-M 50/1.7 was close competition back in the day.


Steve

Stop em down to f8 and they'll all be the same!

[Ediz7531]

For the past month, I have been using a Leicaflex SL and Summicron R 50/2. I have also been using my Pentax Z-1p and a K series 50/1.4.
If you look at my Flickr stream, most of my recent photos are from either system.
My advice would be, don't hesitate and by the Leicaflex, but not because I believe it or the Summicron will make better photos, but because the Leicaflex SL and Summicron are just gorgeous and superbly made photographic tools.
As far as image quality differences between the Summicron and the Pentax 50, the only real noticeable difference is the Pentax has some barrel distortion whereas the Summicron has basically no distortion. Most other differences become very subjective and situation dependant.

While searching for testimony on this camera a couple of nights ago, I came across your posts on it on another thread. Until now, the most refined film SLR I have handled would be the Pentax SV. I noticed you made a comparison on this topic between the SL and the SV.

What Summicron version did you get by the way? 2-cam or 3-cam?

Your photographs are lovely by the way.

Ed

[E-man]

My dad bought a second hand Leicaflex with a 50mm lens back in the '70s but I don't recall ever seeing him actually use it. He was probably afraid to do so because it was such an "expensive" camera, even though he paid less than $100 for it. For him, it was more important to be able to say he owned it. He was kind of weird that way. The last time I saw that camera was when my parents were in the process of moving to a senior living facility about three years ago. I have no idea what became of it after that but I probably should have grabbed it just for the hell of it, even though the lens had a real bad case of fungus. Like others have noted, it was monstrously heavy and to me felt unbalanced like it wanted to tip forward in my hands, even though it just had a 50mm lens on it. The user interface was almost identical to that of a Pentax K1000.

[TaoMaas]

This was my first introduction to lens influencing color. Nikon shots all had a warm tone and all the Canons had a cooler tone to them. We used the same film so the color variation was from the lenses.

This was my experience back in the film days, too. Nikon was generally warmer and Canon rendered things cooler. It was this difference that brought me to Pentax. Pentax also had those warmer colors, but at a lower price point than Nikon gear. Plus, since so many other camera companies used the Pentax M42 mount...and later the K mount...you had options as to how you got into the Pentax system. I started with a Yashica TL Electro, but bought Takumars to use on it. Back then, the body was just a box. It was the lenses that made the difference.

[btnapa]

This was my experience back in the film days, too. Nikon was generally warmer and Canon rendered things cooler. It was this difference that brought me to Pentax. Pentax also had those warmer colors, but at a lower price point than Nikon gear. Plus, since so many other camera companies used the Pentax M42 mount...and later the K mount...you had options as to how you got into the Pentax system. I started with a Yashica TL Electro, but bought Takumars to use on it. Back then, the body was just a box. It was the lenses that made the difference.

Somehow I feel it is the same today too. Lenses make all the difference. Most cameras, regardless of the brand are capable of producing amazing images at low ISO settings. Most of the capability differences come at the extremes such as high ISO, say above 1600. My Canon 7D produced awefull images above 1600 ISO were as a KP can do ISO 6400 all day.

Off topic, I also learned something interesting this weekend. I stopped by Sam’s club optical department because I noticed a bunch of Pentax frames. As it turned out they are all safety glass frames. In talking to the person in charge of the department, I was told that starting about 6 months ago, Pentax supplies the lenses for ALL their prescription glasses. They switched from Seiko and another brand that I cannot recall. Good for Pentax. It is piece of business which will supply Pentax with a nice revenue stream.

[WPRESTO]

Which is better...Pentax-M 50mm f/2.0 or Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0 (type 4) FWIW, the Pentax-M 50/1.7 was close competition back in the day.Steve

Without hesitation I would pick the Sumicron as superior. The Pentax 50mm f2 was always their bargain lens, the least expensive of their 50mm offerings for full-frame. That said, if you presented a series of 30 images taken with one lens or the other, each stopped down to f5.6~f8, I'll wager very few could get better than random chance (= within one standard deviation) of identifying which lens took which picture,

NOTE: It's one thing to compare images pairs of a resolution chart, one taken with with each lens at the same aperture, shutter speed, lighting, etc. and quite another to be presented with a scenic, then a portrait, then a picture of a flower, then a picture of a parade, then a different portrait, then people playing football, etc. and asked which lens took each image, without knowing for sure if there 15 taken with one of the lenses and 15 with the other, or whether 28 were taken with the Pentax and only two with the Sumicron. But if you cannot tell one lens from the other in the latter case, then which lens you use for your routine, typical photography doesn't matter at all.

---------- Post added 06-23-19 at 07:36 PM ----------

Stop em down to f8 and they'll all be the same!

Sorry ZA that I did not read this comment before posting essentially the same observation.

[cpk]

Originally posted by ZombieArmy*
Stop em down to f8 and they'll all be the same!
Sorry ZA that I did not read this comment before posting essentially the same observation.

Exactly what I learned in my testing. See my earlier post #3.