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MS-Optical Sonnetar 50mm f1.1 for Leica M

kuujinbo

New member
-- By far the smallest and lightest 50 at that speed you can buy.
-- One man shop, so there is sample variation - the copy I had only focused down to 0.9m, even though it's spec'ed to 0.8m.
-- Some people don't like the small screw-in focusing lever, or the fact that the aperture is above the focus ring.
-- Soft wide open, and depending on the background, a unique look - 1st photo below.
-- Pretty sharp even stopped down to f2 or f2.8 - 2nd photo @f2.8 or f4, don't remember.

If you like Sonnar designed lenses, you will love it. Reason I sold? Wide-open just not my taste (why buy f1.1 unless you plan to use it a lot wide open).









 

mmbma

Active member
there is a whole user group in Flickr for this lens. you can go check out photos there.

One thing I dislike about this lens is it doens't have click aperture and thing thing rotates without you knowing when you turn the barrel to focus. Since the lens is so small my finger often touches the aperture ring and the lens changes aperture while I focus. very annoying when that happens.

Having said that, I sold my noctilux after I got this lens. the better but much much heavier Noctilux became to unweildy for me and I always worry about it getting damaged.
 
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