50mm ASPH Summilux f/1.4 shots

PaulN · September 15, 2005

I ordered a 50mm summilux weeks ago and it finally came in. Unfortunately, I haven't had the ability to shoot with it as much as I would have hoped. The lens is incredible though; razor sharp & great bokeh.

All shots taken on an Epson R-D1:

Taken while in mid-swing. You can count the individual hairs, it is amazing. And pretty impressive that my wife now lows manual focus lenses. Yeah, that's me in the background.

fore & aft bokeh:

Andy · September 15, 2005

, welcome to dgrin

lovely - talk about sharp, too

do you have a gallery? would love to see more shots from that epson. also, how about a little comments on that camera

gtc · September 15, 2005

very sharp
very very sharp-I will wait and see how it performs in low light.
that lens and the voigtlander f1.2 noctilux are ,imho, the nicest 50mm lenses.

PaulN wrote:

I ordered a 50mm summilux weeks ago and it finally came in. Unfortunately, I haven't had the ability to shoot with it as much as I would have hoped. The lens is incredible though; razor sharp & great bokeh.

All shots taken on an Epson R-D1:

Taken while in mid-swing. You can count the individual hairs, it is amazing. And pretty impressive that my wife now lows manual focus lenses. Yeah, that's me in the background.

fore & aft bokeh:

gluwater · September 15, 2005

Wow.........
those are really amazing. I just took some shots of my cousin on a swing like that and it was real hard to focus right, even with autofocus. I agree with Andy, I would love to see a gallery of your work.

PaulN · September 15, 2005

andy wrote:

, welcome to dgrin

lovely - talk about sharp, too
do you have a gallery? would love to see more shots from that epson. also, how about a little comments on that camera

You can see more pics from the 'lux by clicking here. The pics of him sleeping were taken at f/1.4 with a yellow filter. A small 60watt bulb lit the room. I think the shutter speed was 1/30.

The camera? I love it. My previous cameras were a D30 & D60. I had a bunch of lenses (28-135 USM,70-200L, 100mm macro, etc) and loved the cameras, but hated the bulk. I also hated the attention I got whenever I would pull out the DSLR to take a picture. They screamed 'professional' and always changed the atmosphere in the room. When the R-D1 was announced, I followed it with great anticipation. Small camera, interchangeable lenses, manual everything (although it does an have an aperture priority mode).

This camera has changed the way I take pictures. It makes me think about the picture I am trying to take. It is small and portable, and can mount arguably the best lenses in the world. I love the B&W mode, with 'virtual' filters. In the past, I used to develop b&w prints, and the R-D1 is very similar to tri-x dipped in D-76.

The funny thing is that this camera re-invoked my longing for film, and I find myself now shooting film & digital simultaneously. When I need a 50mm lense, I slap it on a leica rangefinder that I picked up.. Both cameras in a bag, with multiple lenses and it is way lighter then my DSLR setup.

With regards to lenses, the beauty of the R-D1 is that it can take old Leica threadmount lenses. Some of these lenses are simply amazing in the way that they draw light. I picked up a 50mm summicron from the mid-50's, and a leica summar from 1937. The summar draws light like no other lense that I have. Yeah, it is hazy, yes, there scratches on the surface, and yep, lots of vignetting & aberrations, but I love it and the bokeh. Here's a pic from the beach:

Strangely enough, my wife, who knew nothing about cameras _loves_ the R-D1. She's been asking me about the relationship between the aperture & shutter speed, depth of field, etc. Before this, she looked at the D60/D30 as a large complex camera with too many buttons & settings. Not so with the R-D1; it is a simple camera. The film advance lever cocks the shutter, and the shutter release button is mechanical and immediate. When I pickup my D60, or my friends 20d, the shutter lag drives me crazy. I hate the autofocus, I hate the shutter lag. It slows me down.

I still use my D60 for landscape & macro work, but my primary camera is now the R-D1, and the lecia for film. I am a total rangefinder convert. It's small, does not draw attention, and because it accepts leica mount lenses, I have 70 years of lense designs to choose from.

Problems with the R-D1? Yeah, I'm on my third body. Epson is great though, and has really gone the extra mile to replace cameras with defects. Would I buy one again, absolutely. My wife, who hated cameras before the R-D1, calls it 'her' camera when I'm shooting with the leica.

PaulN · September 15, 2005

gluwater wrote:

those are really amazing. I just took some shots of my cousin on a swing like that and it was real hard to focus right, even with autofocus. I agree with Andy, I would love to see a gallery of your work.

Haha, I need to put something together. You can find the summilux gallery here. I have to warn you though, it is no gallery by any means, just a bunch of pics thrown together. I'm using smugmug as a place to put up pics for family, but that is changing as I add some of 'my' intended galleries from Rome, etc.

The first swing pic posted earlier was taken by my wife, this one is my version.

gluwater · September 16, 2005

Thanks for the galleries Paul. And just for the record my entire smugmug site is just a bunch of pics thrown together

. I don't know much about the Epson but I saw it on their site when it first came out and thought it was interesting. Thanks for showing us what it can do. You have a gift with that camera, thanks for sharing it with us. BTW I think your son is adorable and has some of the best facial expressions ever.

Welcome to DGrin and I hope you decide to stay here for a long time.

DavidTO · September 16, 2005

Beautiful shots.

I love your Project Nigel Movie (yes, I did a little snooping).

marlof · September 16, 2005

Great shots! As someone who tried his first pictures with a cheap rangefinder with a fixed lens, I'm still deeply in love with the rangefinder concept. I did find the Epson and Leica lenses a very interesting combo, but pricewise it's far out of the league of what I can justify for this hobby of mine. It'll be interesting to see what Leica comes up with in the Digital M. With lovely pictures like yours, in the end they even might convince me (or my dw) that it's time to spend some more money on this...

ian408 · September 16, 2005

What a nice shot on the swing. I love the crisp images.

ian

Bystander · September 16, 2005

PaulN wrote:

I ordered a 50mm summilux weeks ago and it finally came in. Unfortunately, I haven't had the ability to shoot with it as much as I would have hoped. The lens is incredible though; razor sharp & great bokeh.

Well now you've done it. Now I'm feeling guilty.

I sold all my screw mount gear to buy Canon digital stuff 20d etc.

Still have my M3 and a couple of lenses and am about to sell 'em. Still will sell but not without wondering what I might be able to do with an Epson.

Been thinking of getting a Panasonic -- either FZ30 or LC1. Not as simple as the Epson but -- more capable? Less simple is more like it. And the lens may say Leica but I'm sure it is not the same.

But in the end its the lenses -- and the uncoated screw mount lenses are really wonderful.
Your photos are great. They show what freedom a rangefinder gives you.

My ultimate photo hero is HCB -- I don't think he would be running around with a 20 pound backpack full of gear...

Cheers,
Frank

Peter Dumont · September 16, 2005

Hello Paul !
I love the "look" of your pictures .
Very nice pictures indeed!

I will be looking forward to see more of your B/W Epson pictures.

Bye,

Peter Dumont

gtc · September 17, 2005

i'm with you
I'm with you on the film and digital pathway but with a very much less advanced film camera-I picked up a very clean Spotmatic recently,for not much at all, and have mated it to a SMC Takumar 200/4-great lens and I am enjoying having a film camera in the pack-its also quite small when compared to my 20d so gets carried around a lot more for street shooting etc-the 50/1.4 Super Takumar it came with is a nice lens also.

The Epson looks very nice,apart from the steep price, however access to the Leica glass is very tempting but once one goes there....

PaulN wrote:

You can see more pics from the 'lux by clicking here. The pics of him sleeping were taken at f/1.4 with a yellow filter. A small 60watt bulb lit the room. I think the shutter speed was 1/30.

The camera? I love it. My previous cameras were a D30 & D60. I had a bunch of lenses (28-135 USM,70-200L, 100mm macro, etc) and loved the cameras, but hated the bulk. I also hated the attention I got whenever I would pull out the DSLR to take a picture. They screamed 'professional' and always changed the atmosphere in the room. When the R-D1 was announced, I followed it with great anticipation. Small camera, interchangeable lenses, manual everything (although it does an have an aperture priority mode).

This camera has changed the way I take pictures. It makes me think about the picture I am trying to take. It is small and portable, and can mount arguably the best lenses in the world. I love the B&W mode, with 'virtual' filters. In the past, I used to develop b&w prints, and the R-D1 is very similar to tri-x dipped in D-76.

The funny thing is that this camera re-invoked my longing for film, and I find myself now shooting film & digital simultaneously. When I need a 50mm lense, I slap it on a leica rangefinder that I picked up.. Both cameras in a bag, with multiple lenses and it is way lighter then my DSLR setup.

With regards to lenses, the beauty of the R-D1 is that it can take old Leica threadmount lenses. Some of these lenses are simply amazing in the way that they draw light. I picked up a 50mm summicron from the mid-50's, and a leica summar from 1937. The summar draws light like no other lense that I have. Yeah, it is hazy, yes, there scratches on the surface, and yep, lots of vignetting & aberrations, but I love it and the bokeh. Here's a pic from the beach:

Strangely enough, my wife, who knew nothing about cameras _loves_ the R-D1. She's been asking me about the relationship between the aperture & shutter speed, depth of field, etc. Before this, she looked at the D60/D30 as a large complex camera with too many buttons & settings. Not so with the R-D1; it is a simple camera. The film advance lever cocks the shutter, and the shutter release button is mechanical and immediate. When I pickup my D60, or my friends 20d, the shutter lag drives me crazy. I hate the autofocus, I hate the shutter lag. It slows me down.

I still use my D60 for landscape & macro work, but my primary camera is now the R-D1, and the lecia for film. I am a total rangefinder convert. It's small, does not draw attention, and because it accepts leica mount lenses, I have 70 years of lense designs to choose from.

Problems with the R-D1? Yeah, I'm on my third body. Epson is great though, and has really gone the extra mile to replace cameras with defects. Would I buy one again, absolutely. My wife, who hated cameras before the R-D1, calls it 'her' camera when I'm shooting with the leica.

50mm ASPH Summilux f/1.4 shots

Comments