5D MkII + 24-70 f/2.8L + 50 f/1.2L & M9 + Summicron 50 f/2 Comparison (pics)

Spie · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:03

Today I've been comparing the performance of 3 lens on 2 cameras - the Canon EOS 5D MkII fitted with the EF 24-70 f/2.8L and EF 50 f/1.2L lenses and the Leica M9 fitted with the Summicron 50 f/2. Both are full frame cameras but of course the 5D2 is a DSLR wheraes the M9 is a Rangefinder.

Before I go any further I'd like to make it clear that I am not a professional reviewer and this whole exercise is just a bit of fun. My testing procedure is certainly not as stringent as those who do this for a living so as long as you understand the spirit in which this comparison was conducted, please read on.

Inside Shot

Cameras were tripod mounted at a distance of around 2m. Exposure was controlled by Aperture priority and did vary slightly as ambient light changed during the test. White Balance was set to Auto. ISO was set to 100 on the 5D2 and 160 on the M9.

Here are the 100% crops of the centre and edge.

Centre

@f/1.2

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

At f/2

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50/f2

At f/2.8

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50/f2

At f/4

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50/f2

At f/5.6

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50/f2

At f/8

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50/f2

Spie · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:03

Edge

@f/1.2

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

At f/2

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

At f/2.8

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

At f/4

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

At f/5.6

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

At f/8

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

No surprise that the Canon EF 50f/1.2L was very soft wide open, but it did improve quickly from f/2 and proved itself to be a very capable performer indeed. What amazed me was the Leica. Its performance here simply didn't live up to the superb results I have consistently obtained. Certainly the heavily centre weighted M9 was metering differently to the 5D2 which may have had some effect. At this point I realised I should have set exposure manually and kept it consistent throughout the test. I also think the tripod helped negate some of the advantage the M9's lack of mirror had in reducing camera shake.

Spie · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:04

Determined to make the test more scientific I ventured outside.

Outside Shot

This time exposure was set manually at 1/250 at f/2.8 and 1/125 at f/4.

Centre

At f/2.8

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

At f/4

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

Spie · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:04

Edge

At f/2.8

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

At f/4

Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L

Canon EF 50/f1.2L

Leica Summicron 50 f/2

No doubt at all that the M9 with Summicron 50 f/2 delivered the sharpest results this time.

I've kept my evaluation to a minimum so that you can make up your own mind.

Feel free to comment

bigredshark · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:16

Really fascinating comparison! I've long been tempted by the M9 instead of upgrading all my gear to full frame and it's interesting to see the comparison done, underwhelmed by the indoor results but the outdoor shots do show the Leica in a better light. Shame we're not all lucky enough to have both!

p0ss3s3d · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:24

^
Agreed indoor theres very little to write home about but outdoor you really see the M9+Summicron 50 shine, especially wide-open and in the corners.

Mud · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:26

I think we're on a similar wavelength; I'm a big lover of Zeiss glass and trying not to get into Nikon-converted Leica glass (leitax.com) - I'm on the fence over the Zeiss 2/100 vs. the Leica 90/2 APO. Hopefully you saw my comments on your proposed purchase of a Zeiss 50/1.4 in your other thread. It's good, but not stellar in relative terms.

I'm sure people are going to pull your testing apart (yes, I saw your disclaimer), and the results are a little strange. I've little doubt that your summicron is both very sharp wide open and sharp across the full frame. Have you seen this guide to Leica lenses?

bigredshark · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:31

Mud said:
I think we're on a similar wavelength; I'm a big lover of Zeiss glass and trying not to get into Nikon-converted Leica glass (leitax.com) - I'm on the fence over the Zeiss 2/100 vs. the Leica 90/2 APO. Hopefully you saw my comments on your proposed purchase of a Zeiss 50/1.4 in your other thread. It's good, but not stellar in relative terms.

Indeed, one interesting new use of the Leica lenses is there is an adaptor (or several) available for micro four thirds use, I've seen a few shots from a friend who used a few older Leica primes with a E-P1 and produced some lovely results. Sure focus can be a bit tricky but the results look worth it.

olv · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:40

That must be quite some broom to require that level of protection

On a serious note, very interesting results. One of the things worth noting with the 50mm f/1.2 L is that a large number of them suffer front/back focus issues which are more noticeable wide open. It may be worth having a play around with the micro AF adjustment on the 5D to see if you can get a sharper image wide open. The centre sharpness by f/5.6 is certainly impressive.

The corner sharpness of the Leica in that last shot is superb.

Blackbadger · 3 Apr 2010 at 18:14

On the indoor middle shots the cannon lens performs far greater (the ring of stars above forest gumps head is clearly visible on the canon, with the lacia its all a bit of a blur.)
Edit: On closer inspection it's not stars but wording.. but the point still stands.

Indoor edge shots the Leica appears to give a better image overall, with clearer colours and texture detail in the LOTR box.

asim18 · 3 Apr 2010 at 20:50

Blackbadger said:
On the indoor middle shots the cannon lens performs far greater (the ring of stars above forest gumps head is clearly visible on the canon, with the lacia its all a bit of a blur.)
Edit: On closer inspection it's not stars but wording.. but the point still stands.

Are you talking about the Paramount logo? I'm pretty sure those ARE stars.

Blackbadger · 3 Apr 2010 at 22:32

Indeed they are..

mcc49 · 3 Apr 2010 at 23:04

Bleh, threads like these makes me want to sell my 5D kit and get a M9 myself but I know for a fact I wont get on well with MF! I m really itching to try a Rangefinder camera though , they seem so cool!

Adrianr · 3 Apr 2010 at 23:23

I'm on my phone so viewing the pictures is useless, but have you normalised the crop to ensure you're viewing the images at the same size? (IE both a 10x8 print or similar) If not the Canon system is at an immediate disadvantage, as due to the higher megapixel count you're viewing the image with greater scrutiny (like comparing a larger print with a smaller one).

growse · 3 Apr 2010 at 23:23

Is it me, or does the 24-70 spank the Canon 50?

Spie · 3 Apr 2010 at 23:25

Adrianr said:
I'm on my phone so viewing the pictures is useless, but have you normalised the crop to ensure you're viewing the images at the same size? (IE both a 10x8 print or similar) If not the Canon system is at an immediate disadvantage, as due to the higher megapixel count you're viewing the image with greater scrutiny (like comparing a larger print with a smaller one).

They are just 100% crops, so pixel per pixel.

olv · 4 Apr 2010 at 11:28

growse said:
Is it me, or does the 24-70 spank the Canon 50?

It's just you

bigredshark · 4 Apr 2010 at 12:10

mcc49 said:
Bleh, threads like these makes me want to sell my 5D kit and get a M9 myself but I know for a fact I wont get on well with MF! I m really itching to try a Rangefinder camera though , they seem so cool!

Plenty of cheap options on the bay to try out, you should be able to grab a cheap 35mm rangefinder with a 35/50mm prime for £50-100 easily. I've been meaning to for a while as a little project and develop the film myself...

Sinopa · 4 Apr 2010 at 12:18

olv said:
On a serious note, very interesting results. One of the things worth noting with the 50mm f/1.2 L is that a large number of them suffer front/back focus issues which are more noticeable wide open. It may be worth having a play around with the micro AF adjustment on the 5D to see if you can get a sharper image wide open.

I believe it's not so much front/back focus as focus shift which is a different problem that can't be corrected by micro AF adjustment. Of course, it may have front/back focus as well.

Phate · 4 Apr 2010 at 16:28

Spie, a question for you.

These differences, are they only noticeable at a cropped level? Or when you take 2 images and initially import them are the differences negligible?

5D MkII + 24-70 f/2.8L + 50 f/1.2L & M9 + Summicron 50 f/2 Comparison (pics)

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