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Leica is a popular brand of lenses for photographers who want the best lenses regarding sharpness and clarity of images. The Leica Summilux-M 50mm F1.4 ASPH. (2023) is the latest version of this classic prime lens. This lens has previously earned popularity for its swift aperture and the specific character of images it provides, which the manufacturer is regarding to enrich with details, at the same time providing an opportunity to focus closer than most M lenses. While it is more false-colored than one might expect out of a high-end optic, it certainly does illustrate more false color than a Manner MA14’s lens does. In the following review, the author aims to describe the build quality, as well as the optical performance and the price-to-performance ratio of the 2023 Summilux-M 50mm F1. 4 ASPH.
Design and Build Quality
Other Leica lenses are famous for combining very high build quality and incorporating such features as Summilux-M 50mm F1. 4 ASPH. (2023) is no exception. Made entirely out of metal and glass, the lens has a very solid feel while at the same time not being overweight. The knurled focus ring rotates very freely and offers just the right amount of stiction for precise focusing manually.
The aperture ring is precise and has clear positive clicks even if the change is only between two half stops and the lens hood which was incorporated into the barrel can be flipped up when not needed. This lens is portable and perfect for street and tour Capture what your eyes see.
However, the barrel does not change its size and length while doing the close-focusing, it does not have any extending or telescoping feature at all. This enables photographers to work freely with minimal interference to the subject or the camera’s feel and functions.
Optical Performance
The Summilux-M 50mm F1. 4 ASPH. These lenses ensure that one gets the best values of money when it comes to high quality and unique painterly bokeh effect that separates the subject from the background perfectly. Here’s a breakdown of its performance:Here’s a breakdown of its performance:
Sharpness: At f/1. So, in speaking of this lens, it produces a rather soft center sharpness which might be to some people’s liking at f/1.4 or lesser even at f/2 or f/2. 8 leads to nan sharpness for the whole of the frame area. It stays clear up to f/11 making it be ideal for portrait and landscape shooting.
Distortion and Vignetting: Distortion is barrel type, which is well corrected at both tele and wide end; vignetting is observed at f/1. 4 hence increases sharply as plates are added to the group and decreases as the aperture is closed. At narrower apertures the frame is kept evenly illuminated and the distortion is not excessively noticeable.
Color Rendering: The lens allows that the colours to be produced looks natural warm and vibrant. Flesh tones are natural, just like the contrasts which give the picture a rather contrasting, yet believable appearance.
Bokeh: The lens’s nine-blade aperture assures wide and rounded bokeh orbs that make the background to appear rather surreal at wider openings. Smoothing of the scene is also facilitated by lens softening the foreground components so that the subject is distinctly separated.
Chromatic Aberration: The achilles of the Summilux-M 50mm F1. 4 ASPH. The primary disadvantage of CMI seniority-based strategy <OE: the major issue in relation to CMI’s seniority-based strategy for 2023> is in chromatic aberration. When shot at f/1. 4, it has quite visible color fringing mainly around the areas of high contrast. This aberration is, however, reduced when the lens is stopped down to smaller apertures; but one would expect better from a lens at this class and at this price point.
Focusing
Focusing on this lens is indeed manual and due to the short focus throw, it’s very easy to switch from capturing subjects that are close or far away. In calculating the lens characteristics it is necessary to indicate the close-focus distance which is equal to 0 for this model. 45m), which, of course is much closer than the former M lenses. This makes it suitable for use in capturing of detailed subjects at closer range as it is quality in capturing images.
The performance is even more impressive when the lens is used along with a rangefinder; The lens is Summilux-M 50mm F1. 4 ASPH. gives correct focus even when shot wide opened, given that the rangefinder is reliable.
Price and Competition
Even Leica lenses are to this date pricey, and the company did not shoot that $1095 pricy Summilux-M 50mm F1. 4 ASPH. (2023) is no exception. Additionally, due to expensive parts, it is more popular among enthusiasts or professionals who appreciate its optical sign and build. However, it is packaged as a tight competitor to other high end 50mm lenses.
There are other options that offer much more for a similar price; Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/2 is a good example of a lens that produces sharpness and rich colors for much less money. Other alternatives are Leica’s own APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH, or Zeiss’ ZM 50mm f/2 Milvus. another is the pentax K-<|ai|>, which also has a compact build, slightly less amount of color fringing, but it’s pricey in comparison to the k200d.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
1. Rich Image Quality: Offers high contrast wide colors and a sharp glowing bokeh that looks very good.
2. Solid Build Quality: The build quality, the collapsible hood, and the focusing ring contributes highly to the professional feel of it.
3. Compact Design: Portability: small and light, which is perfect for traveling or using in a city.
4. Close Focus Distance: Reduction to 0 zoomed in or brought in closer. 45m, which will be useful to have good possibilities to shoot frames and create detailed compositions.
Cons:
1. Chromatic Aberration: Shows quite pronounced chromatic aberrations at the wide apertures, which raise quite a few questions regarding the lens’ price range.
2. Premium Pricing: Thus, interactivity hampers is less suitable for amateur photographers due to its higher cost.
3. Manual Focus Only: The viewer does not have autofocus which could influence some interested people.
Conclusion
Although the Leica Summilux-M 50mm F1 may sound like simply the small lens in front of a relatively standard 50mm f/1. 4 ASPH. (2023) represents a pair of glasses that combines classic approach to its design with the modern approaches to the creation of lenses. It delivers impressive looking with beautiful isolating ability, saturated colors and excellent level of details that recommended the lens for portrait, travel and street photography. What wears thin is how bulky it is compared to the FL series models and that focusing to as close as 0.5m is new.
Nevertheless, the visible CA and the high price could spoil the fun for those Leica fans and professionals who appreciate the brand’s niche rendering perspectives. For those who appreciate disjointedness of the optical character of a Summilux lens and the deliberate haptic feedback of focusing, the 50mm F1. 4 ASPH. is still a decent inclusion to any M-system ensemble.
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