Portrait lens – Which One? 1-10

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5 Responses

  1. Andew says:

    If you get a chance there was a second version of the Leica Elmarit-R 90 that’s much lighter, better corrected and almost the same price (people usually can’t tell the difference).

  2. John Reed says:

    An interesting and useful comparison; especially since I’ve been looking for a portrait lens to my liking. I haven’t found it yet. What I want is something that gives a rendition similar to an old Leica Summicron 50mm. The Elmar 90mm doesn’t have it, because it’s a triplet, not a double-gaussian. Same goes for a 90mm Summicron-R preaspherical. The rendition of each actually looks pretty bad to me. I have the Voigtlander 75mm, and I find it to be Ok, nothing special. After thinking, reading, reviewing, and comparing, I now know, unfortunately, what I need: 75mm Summilux.

    • Fredrik Hägerström says:

      The 80mm Summilux-R is somewhat bigger, but performs better optically than the m-version (although not by far) according to Erwin Puts’ Leica lens compendium.

      The focal lenght should be more ideal for portraits too, especially is you want to complement a 50mm. I find the rendering much more similar to the noctilux pre-aspherical than the summicron; maybe mostly because of the virtualy identical depth of field wide open (the summilux actually being a tad shallower than the noctilux).

      The 75mm is also a gorgeous lens however, and more portable, so if you shoot a Leica m the choice should be given.

    • Federico says:

      Double gaussian would be a Biotar….$1200 to $4000 at today rates.

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