An excellent standard lens.

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On the Leica M10. I added the red indexing dome.

When I first profiled the Canon 50mm f/1.4 LTM lens attached to my Leica M3 film camera I described it as “An affordable standard lens”. Now with some test images aboard the Leica M10 digital camera that description needs an update. It’s an excellent standard lens. Film dumbs down everything.

Here are the test images taken at all apertures from f/1.4 down to f/22 – I used a 6-bit coded LTM-to-M adapter for in camera correction of chromatic aberration and vignetting, coded to be the 50mm Summilux-M pre-ASPH:

Test images from f/1.4 to f/22.

Except for minor corrections of a less than level camera hold by yours truly, these are SOOC.

You can view all 9 images in medium size by clicking here.

To view full size 22mb originals click here. It’s a large file so be patient when downloading. You can zoom in on these to your heart’s content.

Conclusions?

• Slight flare at f/1.4, easily cured with LRc’s ‘Dehaze’ slider
• At f/1.4 the extreme edges benefit from a touch on the Sharpening slider, say to 120. At that point the whole frame is usable and will easily make a large print with excellent resolution
• At f/2.8 all flare is gone and the image is sharp edge-to-edge with no need for additional sharpening
• Peak definition is reached at f/8 but there’s very little to choose between f/4, f/5.6 and f/8
• From f/11 diffraction starts to reduce definition but the lens remains very usable even at f/22
• No meaningful color fringing or vignetting at any aperture – that’s the 6-bit coding doing its magic

By the way, disregard the f stop data in the EXIF information. The M10, even with a 6-bit coded adapter does a very poor job of estimating the aperture used. (There is no electrical or mechanical link between the lens’s aperture setting and the camera, so Leica estimates the aperture based on the shutter speed and ISO used). Go by the file names, moving the decimal point in the last three digits one place to the left to see the aperture used. So, for example ‘220’ means f/22.

A special lens with the caveat being that you will likely have to buy from Japan on eBay where most listings are from, and you have to disregard all the nonsense about ‘Ex+++’ and ‘Mint’ sellers there seem to revel in. Any mention of ‘tiny fungus’, ‘minor balsam separation’ or ‘cleaning scratches’ means you should move on. These are 50 years old lenses so it takes diligence to find a clean one. ‘Tiny dusts’ (sic) are usually OK but you want a smoothly rotating focus collar and well defined click stops. Ask before paying to get the seller on the record with eBay. Don’t worry if the listing states ‘No returns’. If you have the seller’s responses on the record and they are clearly fraudulent, eBay will refund you. I know, having been there. I paid $331 for mine with tax and shipping, plus $35 for the correct Fotodiox Pro 6-bit adapter. I explain how to fill in the coding pits for best results here. Add a few pennies for the red indexing dome and $20 for a multi-coated 48mm UV filter (strange size) and my total outlay was $400.

If you can get a good one and do not fancy paying Leica’s ridiculous prices, new or used, the 50mm f/1.4 Canon, which handles beautifully on the Leica M body, is recommended.