Why the 50mm APO SL lens? .... why not?

Stetson's Open Road Hat; imagined for Summer. 

Well displayed and merchandised at Maufrais on South Congress. 

As must be painfully aware to long time readers of the blog I have an affection and a deep comfort with the 50mm focal length for lenses that are being used on the 24x36mm format cameras. It's certainly my "desert island" lens. It's the one I have way too many of. But it's the focal length at which I've launched 100 explorations to find the "magical" one. The lens that will resonate perfectly with my imagined end result of "perfect" images. Even though I am painfully aware that so many other things make the difference between poor, good, great and near perfect photos. But I can't help myself, like an ersatz cult member I just can't stop believing that there is one perfect 50mm lens out there that will change everything. 

I've owned so many. Where to start? Why start? Let's just say that I've tried just about every brand's 50mm lens (or 55mm, or 58mm ) and in those trials every speed of lens. From f1.0 to f2.8. So many of the lenses in this focal range are quite good. Some are great. But I think the feature set I've been searching for is a lens that's 50mm but unlike all the lenses based on the ancient and ubiquitous "Gauss" designs is both sharp when used wide open and up close as well as at normal shooting distances. Nearly every DSLR era (and previous) 50mm lens I've shot with, and even the 50mm rangefinder lenses I've shot with are described as being "a bit soft at (whatever their maximum f-stop is) but "really good once you stop down a couple of stops."  By the same token most of the lenses are computed to deliver the sharpest results at about 50X the focal length distance from the subject. Let's just say the majority of even the best lenses from the past are at their best stopped down to f2.8 or f4 (or even further) and used at distances between six feet and twelve feet. And that's been my experience when testing the majority of 50 or so lenses. 

What am I looking for? What's my Holy Grail for 50mm lens performance? I always imagined it would be a lens that would allow you to shoot wide open for extremely narrow depth of field, at a close focusing distance to a person/subject, which also out performed every other contender for sharpness and resolution, acuity and character.  Neutrality and insanely good color discrimination. And, after reading reviews and seeing test results, and even playing with a sample copy, I decided that the Leica 50mm APO SL (f2) lens for the SL ( L mount alliance) might just fit the bill. I bought one from the Leica store in Miami. 

I was going to take it along to Montreal with me but at the last minute I resisted. I conjectured that the lens and body together might become to burdensome as long days progressed. I regret not sticking with my plan to take just the lens and one body and to make it work as a universal street shooting tool. But it's not like I won't have other chances. 

The combination of the lens and the 47 megapixel SL2 body is amazingly good. They complement each other. The lens actually is as sharp as I could ever want when used wide open and close, or stopped down and far away from the subject. The character of the depth of field fall off (bokeh?) is smooth and graceful. Called by some trusted reviewers as, "the best they've ever seen." The combination of high sharpness and very shallow depth of field combined with beautiful background blur rendering is exactly the magic that many are looking for; whether they know it or not. 

It might be folly for some to buy such an expensive lens but the real stumbling block isn't necessarily the price but the weight. It's a heavy lens. But it's built that way because of the incredibly complex optical design which requires tight tolerances and a bit of over-engineering to insure long term reliability. 

I'm sure that, in the market now, there are several 50mm lenses from other makers that can challenge the Leica 50 for performance and I might test a few more but the look I can get from sharp subject to comfortable background is pretty amazing and the way the lens and body together dive into color and tone discrimination is something different than what one  can see from specs. 

After more experiences with this lens I'm committed, at least in the moment, to carrying the combo everywhere and using it until it becomes either irreplaceable or just another sample on the shelf. Second most loved lens when used with an adapter on my SL cameras? That would be the Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar for the M cameras. It's 97.5% of the way there. The third place contender is the Carl Zeiss 50mm Planar ZM. So sharp it's a bit brittle but it sure makes an entrance. Guaranteed to satisfy sharpness and contrast freaks. 

The APO SL is different. It's subdued. All the performance is there in the mix but it doesn't punch you in the face, instead it delivers layer upon layer of detail along with color that's so satisfying. 

You might think I'm just trying to justify a purchase but in fact I've spent much more on various lenses. This one has a flaw. It's heavy. But in every other regard I haven't found a single thing to complain about. It's pretty much optically perfect. And I guess that's what I always wanted in a 50mm for a full frame system. YMMV.