Smc Pentax-M 1.7/50 vs Leitz Summicron-R 2/50

[timo832000]

After receiving my old SMC Pentax M back from service, I decited to compare this small, cheap and sharp lens against my favorite 50.
A heavy, alot more expensive Leitz Summicron-R 2/50 (1st version).
By the way the Leitz is about 15 years older than the Pentax.
Today I started shooting a test chart. This test is non scientific, maybe I did some big mistakes!

4 Testing Zones: 1.center, 2.halfway from center to border, 3.color-field, 4.inner-corner
4 Apertures Pentax 1.7, 2, 2.8, 4; Leitz 2, 2.8, 4
Exposure time: f1.7: 1/80; f2: 1/60; f2.8: 1/30; f4: 1/15
Testing camera was Pentax K-r.

Now have a look at my results:

the test-chart:


center


half way to border


inner-corner


color-field



There is just one thing that came into my mind: This Pentax lens is really good!

Maybe I did some focussing mistakes or did not reach perfect parellelism of camera-sensor and chart.
During the next days I will try to do some further test and also will discuss my results.

Timo

[GrahamNR17]

This is no surprise to me. I have often considered that Pentax are the Japanese Leica, until I realised they were actually better, so not like Leica at all

[hoanpham]

[timo832000]

Today i did the hole test twice, with nearly the same results.
The Pentax wins in terms of sharpnes.
At F2 the Leitz is brighter than the Pentax.

It´s the first comparision I did between this two lenses. My experience from real life shooting told me the Leitz would be more sharp and more contrasty than the Pentax. Maybe the revision of the Pentax made it. Or maybe the Leitz suffers from strong field curvature.
So as soon as the weather is more comfortable i will take both out for shooting real things, not test-charts.


Timo

[Attila]

Most of the 50mm lens is this good no matter who made it, Konica, KMZ Helios or Nikon etc.

[erkie]

[ManualFocus-G]

Interestingly I tested the Canon EF 50/1.8 II against the Carl Zeiss Planar 50/1.7 once, using a test chart and the Canon won easily When I shot at infinity, the Zeiss won easily. And when I took portraits, the Canon images looked flat and the Zeiss images practically popped out of the screen. I have since given up with test charts, except with long lenses to test for CA

P.s. The Pentax 50/1.7 is brilliant regardless

[rbelyell]

graham, honestly, i looked at these and i glazed over. i'm sorry, but i just dont understand these tests--who shoots this stuff? imho, and realyy imho, because i dont want to insult anyone, i just dont get it. why do we test our lenses in a way in which we dont actually use them? if you make your living taking pictures of pinwheels, then this is important. but to me, you test doing what you do, and you look at the whole, not a 1000% crop of the left freaking corner. like i said, i just dont get it. apologies.

[GrahamNR17]

[Keysersoze27]

A bokeh test might be very interesting.

Cron v1 has not the smoothest of the bokeh in the 50mm region...

[scsambrook]

Lens "testing" can be a great way to spend a miserable, cold, wet and windy afternoon. Better than watching an old movie on TV. Maybe.

Real world or not, I enjoy looking at what folks turn up doing this. Sometimes I try it myself but usually finish up knowing that somehow I fluffed part of the process and failed to get the focus right or missed the perpendicular or something . . . so Well Done, Timo. Don't be put off by knowing that virtually all stanfard lenses are "excellent" - they still have different characteristics, after all.

Might be interesting to try them out at infinity sometime. When the weather's warmer perhaps

[kuuan]

thank you Timo for the time and effort for this test and for posting it!
I find this kind of test telling, specially tests of sharpness of corners, for even though many 50mm may be comparably good, differences in corners at open apertures may be considerable. In real life when using a lens wide open the object in focus many times is more close to the corner than in the middle of the frame.

a great portrait Hoan!

[hoanpham]

Thanks Andreas. I like your shots from the poll club too.
I have been around Mekong delta since 1990, using ME super with M50/1.4. I still have the best images from that trip - snake farm, dog farm, ruins, limestone formations...

Back to the OP,
50mm has not changed the design much. As I know, all 50's are good, especially f1.7 and f1.8. I did compare pentax M50/1.4 and M50/1.7 earlier. The M50/1.7 wins. Thanks for your great work.

[kuuan]

whhooa, Hoan, now you made me mighty curious to see those photos from 10, 20 years ago!
glad you like the pool hall pics. In retrospect I am happy to have posted the last pic with the neat girls and wished I had taken some of the place too, as those from the 'atmospheric pool hall' only may give a wrong impression of this very enjoyable place.

I look forward to using my rel. 'new' M1.7/50 more often, thank you for your encouragement

[jjphoto]

Testing has it's place and can be quite useful. However, you have to be very careful as to the conclusions you draw from any single test.

JJ

[John Poirier]

[John Poirier]