The Sumcron Rigid and DR are identical in their optical cells and have identical performance. This lens has very good image quality, but suffers from flare (veiling glare and secondary reflections), probably caused by the thin air lens and the quality of the coating. The second design had a larger distance between the front element (1,52mm), but still the narrow throat as the lens had to be mounted into the very complex dual range mount. The first generation of the Summicron had a collabsible mount and a narrow throat as it should fit the thread mount cameras.Īlready in 1952 the Leitz designers were working on a second generation lens, that came available in 1956/57: the Summicron Rigid. In 1954 the Glass lab of Leitz and Schott created a new glass with the same properties and without the thorium oxide: this is the wellknown LaK9. This glass (SBC) had a thorium oxide in its formula and was slightly radio active. In 1949 the final design was derived with a smaller diatance between the front elements (0.28mm) and glass of higher index (1.69100). In 1947 there is a new design where the front element has a higher index. The first one was splitted into separate lenses (distance of the air lens was 0.78mm), but the glass (BK7) had a too low index of refraction. The Summitar design has two lenses in the front group, consisting of cemented elements. Then the incoming rays can be bend more smoothly when traveling through the glass. One of the 'tricks' is to split a lens element in two separate elements.

They had to use different methods to crate improved imagery. In those days, the available optical glasses restricted the designer in his wishes for ever better image quality. The Summicron design started in 1943 and was derived from the Summitar. The Summicron lens was introduced in 1953, slightly ahead of the Leica M camera, that came in 1954.

The Summilux ASPH works better in low light and is more flare resistant than the Cron and is as sharp as I need.Leica Summicron-M 1:2/50mm: 50 years at the leading edge Plenty more testing to be done with each lens but those are my initial findings.Īfter having the Summicron 50mm and Summilux 50mm for more time I tend to use the Summilux for most applications when chosing that focal length. The Lux can be quite clinical in it’s rendering whereas I think the Cron is closer to the Sonnar with more character. It focuses closer than the Zeiss ZM Sonnar 50/1.5 (Cron = ~0.68M / ZM 0.9M) and is lighter and smaller than the Leica Summilux ASPH 50mm f1.4 (“Lux”) lens. The Leica Summicron 50mm f2 v5 (“Cron”) is fast becoming my go-to 50mm Leica M mount lens. Leica Summicron 50 vs Summilux 50 vs Sonnar 50 Sample images using the Summicron 50mm v5 on my Leica Summicron 50mm f2 Sample Photos

Leica summicron 50