Why I love Fedex.....

[jonoslack]

Each to their own I guess...

I do not see much difference in the reds at all. In fact, I find the raw converter makes more of a difference than the filters on red; LR accentuates it more than C1. However, I actually prefer the slight yellow pop in vegetation greens when unfiltered, finding them far more accurate than the filtered ones, which I see as rather heavily skewed toward cyan...


,

Indeed - each to his own - mind you, greens are my only real point of excellence, and a shoot of some huge Gunnera in a cornish garden this time last year was the last straw (the greens were horrible and unrecoverable).
Whatever - your sphere of excellence is (amongst many other things) lenses, and I need to know whether I should buy this 50mm pre-ash titanium ex dem 50 'lux (with full warranty) . . . . . . . should I?
Please note, I already have some 50's
Nocti
50 'cron
zeiss 50 f1.5 softar

 

[Jack]

Jono:

IMO, there is only a slight difference in the look between a Noct at f1.4 and the pre-Lux at f1.4; the Noct perhaps showing a bit more fall-off. Big difference in the ergonomics of use though...

 

[jonoslack]

Jono:

IMO, there is only a slight difference in the look between a Noct at f1.4 and the pre-Lux at f1.4; the Noct perhaps showing a bit more fall-off. Big difference in the ergonomics of use though...

Hi Jack
Thank you - presumably the focus shift on the pre-Lux is a little less er controversial than on the Noct?
As you say about the ergonomics!
My thinking is to get rid of the 'cron and the zeiss 50 and get the pre-lux to replace it.
I have the 35 'cron and the 75 'cron in case I want the modern brutal look, so I feel that the 50 asph lux is probably unnecessary.
Difficult decision!
By the way, do you know any pros/cons of titanium lenses?

 

[jonoslack]

It's gone!
funny really, I finally cracked, rang them with credit details, they couldn't find it, and it turned out they sold it three weeks ago!

 

[Jack]

Hi Jack
Thank you - presumably the focus shift on the pre-Lux is a little less er controversial than on the Noct?
SNIP
By the way, do you know any pros/cons of titanium lenses?

I do not notice ANY focus shift on my pre-Lux.

I am pretty sure the Titanium lenses, like the chrome lenses, have all brass outer barrels while the black lenses are anodized aluminum outer barrels with brass inner sleeves and threads. Thus the main big difference is weight...

Cheers,

 

[Terry]

Since I seem to welcome new lenses into my bag by taking them out for dinner, tonight the new 50 lux went out to dinner.

ISO 1250 f1.4 1/8s
View attachment 1710


We didn't drink quite as much as in some of my other lens tests but I was playing around with DOF
ISO 1250 f1.4 1.8s
View attachment 1711

I'm on my "retired" ibook which doesn't have enough horsepower to run Lightroom so these are jpegs straight from the M8

 

[Jack]

Magic look, isn't it?

 

[Terry]

I love it. In addition the place we were eating was very dark and I got good exposures without stupid low shutter speeds. I went out to shoot some stuff at the other extreme (stopped down mountain shots at sunrise). Can only have a look at the jpegs on this computer (Lightroom is so slow it isn't worth it). I can't believe I actually used this as my main computer until a year ago and now it feels like an ancient relic.

 

[Jack]

Time for a new MBP

 

[Terry]

Time for a new MBP

I almost ordered one the day we got back from Moab....but was hearing that Apple was gearing up for some February announcements (I know the iPhone software developers kit is coming this month). Then I saw this article.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ng_dry_in_the_channel_ahead_of_refreshes.html

I am fine working at home on my set up in NY. In AZ I'm on an old G4 iMac and decided not to travel this weekend with the MacBook I had in Moab because I was too lazy this week to clear out the full hard drive to make it more useable.

 

[Maggie O]

How does the new lens handle color? The B&W is gorgeous.

 

[Jack]

Terry: It is inevitable for the MBP to get the new Harpertown notebook processor equivalents, but from what I've read they don't have the performance jump over the predecessor the Mac Pro had. Still, since you have a system presently, it is certainly worth a bit f a wait to get the latest.

Maggie: IMO the pre-lux shows a slight watercolor/painterly look at the wider apertures (f1.4 through f2) compared to the Asph.

FWIW, my .02 comparison expanded... I found the Asph to be the sharpest 50 I ever shot, even wide open, and in fact it may be the sharpest lens I have ever used period. Also note that bokeh is very nice and smooth, yet the lens maintains very high contrast at all apertures. By comparison the pre shows softer contrast at the wider apertures, while still being quite sharp, but not as sharp as the Asph. The pre (a regular spherical design) also offers visible highlight aberrations at the wide apertures which gives it a kind of swirly bokeh in some lighting situations and a kind of veiling in others which are not present in the Asph. However, by f4 there is not enough difference between these lenses to tell them apart. As such, you get more "variety" of look with the pre, and at the widest apertures, a creamier or more watercolor look to the image; while you get a more consistent look across all apertures with the Asph.

Hope that helps clarify,

 

[Terry]

Terry: It is inevitable for the MBP to get the new Harpertown notebook processor equivalents, but from what I've read they don't have the performance jump over the predecessor the Mac Pro had. Still, since you have a system presently, it is certainly worth a bit f a wait to get the latest.

Hope that helps clarify,

The beauty is that there is usually still a window of opportunity to buy the old once the new is announced and you can sometimes save a few bucks. If it were months away I wouldn't wait but I think we are now counting in days. What would be radical and totally cool is if they did something like putting both a smaller ssd and a regular hard drive into a new pro to give both plenty of space and some fast access. Something like what you were talking about with your mac pro and adding an ssd as a scratch disk.

 

[Jack]

but I think we are now counting in days.

What would be radical and totally cool is if they did something like putting both a smaller ssd and a regular hard drive into a new pro to give both plenty of space and some fast access. Something like what you were talking about with your mac pro and adding an ssd as a scratch disk.

I suspect you are correct

And yes, that would be VERY cool! In fact, I want to use an SSD in my Mac Pro for scratch --- but I'll wait until the prices get a bit more reasonable...

 

[Chuck Jones]

Jono, mine is not coded and it sure seems just fine to me!

 

[Terry]

Not a lot of room for focus errors

50 lux pre asph ISO 1250 f1.4 1/45
View attachment 1846

 

[Jack]

VERY nice capture Terry!

 

[Digital Dude]

No i don't own the pre Asph , I have the ASPH 50mm which is a killer in sharpness and resoultion. I thought about the Pre though but I have a 35mm version IV cron and a 75 lux which most likely would give me the same look and feel. Also my issue is i don't use the 50mm often enough to have 2. Need to think ahead with FF hopefully coming and my 35mm maybe my lens cap than.

Hello Guy,
Interesting, when I brought up this same perspective I was essentially told to buy now based on what you can use now. However, I see that you’re looking ahead too. I just received part two of my lens set (50-lux) you recommended to me back in November (28/50/21). I was planning on the 21 as my third lens although “if” FF comes to pass on the M8 then I may be more inclined to go for a revised set of Leica (28/35/50) or (28/50/90). Any thoughts on this? I can’t afford a lens collection although I can justify a good set of three balanced primes as a primarily general-purpose shooter.
Regards,:shocked:

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Well I still see the 21mm as the lens for you though . Having the 28 and 50 that next gap is 21. Be it FF or Crop. Now a 90 would be ideal also. Nice kit in a 21,28,50,90. It's nice to think FF but if it comes that maybe a year from now as if we need to switch around a little than we have no lose of money in our glass.

 

[Digital Dude]

Thanks Guy,
So be it; the 21 it is.
Regards,:thumbup: