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M9 Portrait lenses

Lloyd

Active member
Mike, I've had a boatload of lenses, 75 Cron/Lux, etc. I'll throw in a vote for that stellar little CV 75 Heliar. Small, lightweight, and a really wonderful portrait lens.

Some examples:







Of course, there's also the CV 90/3.5 APO Lanthar, which I actually prefer to the 90 pre lux:



 

Lloyd

Active member
Wow that CV 75/2.5 has really good color and the 90/3.5 seems very sharp Lloyd.
Like I've said, I have the Leica glass, but really believe these two CV lenses are very much under appreciated. Real solid performers, and cheap enough to essentially be disposable by comparison.
 

Riccis

New member
90 pre-ASPH or the 85 Summarex... I believe David Farkas has a Summarex in excellent condition for sale... You should give him a call to see if it's still available.

Cheers,
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Like I've said, I have the Leica glass, but really believe these two CV lenses are very much under appreciated. Real solid performers, and cheap enough to essentially be disposable by comparison.
Lloyd

What a great set of images...perfect application of the CV lenses . Sharpness isn t an issue ..its how the lens handles contrast and creates tone separation. This is what is giving the skin tone life.

Plus ..I must claim that you have an unfair advantage with such great looking subjects. :D
 

carstenw

Active member
90 pre-ASPH or the 85 Summarex... I believe David Farkas has a Summarex in excellent condition for sale... You should give him a call to see if it's still available.
800g! And the shade is huge (see my linked image earlier in this thread). I tried one in my Leica store, next to my 75 Lux, and found the Summarex a bit too soft wide open, and prone to flare, but I have also seen very nice results from it.
 

simonclivehughes

Active member
Mike, I've had a boatload of lenses, 75 Cron/Lux, etc. I'll throw in a vote for that stellar little CV 75 Heliar. Small, lightweight, and a really wonderful portrait lens.
Lloyd,

Simply lovely pictures (as usual, your portraits are immaculate). Just curious, is this with the M8? Also, would they have been shot wide open in these pictures?

I've just ordered the CV 50mm f1.5 for the GF1 I've got on order but I'm considering either the CV 75 or 90 for the long end. I've had both lenses (75 and 90) before and you're right on, they're just spectacular for their cost. I'll probably lean toward the 75 to gain the faster speed.

Cheers,
 

Lloyd

Active member
Lloyd,

Simply lovely pictures (as usual, your portraits are immaculate). Just curious, is this with the M8? Also, would they have been shot wide open in these pictures?

I've just ordered the CV 50mm f1.5 for the GF1 I've got on order but I'm considering either the CV 75 or 90 for the long end. I've had both lenses (75 and 90) before and you're right on, they're just spectacular for their cost. I'll probably lean toward the 75 to gain the faster speed.

Cheers,
Yes, those are all on the M8, and mostly wide open. I really like the 90 wide open as a portrait lens, the DOF is not too shallow, but shallow enough to give nice OOF areas.

As I said above, I have, or have had most of the Leica glass in the equivalent focal lengths, and there are some superb optics, but for size, convenience, and price, tough to beat the CVs. Plus, when it comes to portraiture, which was the question of this thread, I actually prefer the CVs over the Leica glass, with the 90 pre ASPH running a close second.
 

robsteve

Subscriber
Mike:

I did a quick search in Lightroom to see if I have any 90mm APO Asph portraits. This was probably at the close focus limit on the M8. Straight out of Capture One and resized in Photoshop.

There is a smoothness to the 90mm APO asph that is lacking on some of the more modern APO ASPH, such as the 75mm Summicon. Sort of like the transition out of the Mandler age.

 
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Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Whatever 90 mm you get I can guarantee after using the M9 for 5 days it was maybe the most used lens after the 35 cron. So buy accordingly.
 

Mike Hatam

Senior Subscriber Member
I like using the 1.25x magnifier, but it makes the 28 cron tough to use on the M9, and the 28 cron is my favorite wide lens. But I'm not usually too critical on my framing anyway, so it might still work.

Robert - that's a nice shot. I'm currently leaning toward just using the 90 APO as my portrait lens, as you suggested.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
73 Hecktor!!!

Second choice, 80 Summarex.

Third choice, 105 Mountain Elmar :D

Fourth choice, and easiest of the above to find and use until you get one of the above, a pre-APO 90 Cron.
 
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