September is finally here after a summer that felt as if it’d never end. Which means I’m publishing as many blog posts as I can before the endless busyness and stress of school and other career-related responsibilities take over.
Back in November of 2018, I managed to fit in a shoot with my friend, Sarah, in the middle of my hectic school schedule.
For this shoot, I brought a Leica M240, Leica SL, Zeiss 50mm 1.4 Milvus ZF.2, Zeiss 35mm 1.4 Distagon ZM, and the real oddity of the show, the long-heralded Leica 80mm 1.4 Summilux-R.
Massive glass for massive bokeh!
To be completely honest, after years of reading about the hype behind this lens, I was underwhelmed by the performance and rendering of it. But, that was only on digital. My expectations for the lens were skewed, because I expected it to be a sharp, versatile portrait lens on a digital camera. I was wrong.
The Leica 80 Summilux-R was meant to be used on film, on a proper R-body, like the R9, with its amazing focus prism system and accurate metering. Used on digital, the 80 Summilux-R is extremely soft, and honestly, terrible if you miss focus even by the slightest touch. The Leica SL’s sensor is leagues beyond what this 80 was meant to resolve on. However, on film, the 80 Summilux-R pops with amazing color, 3D feel, and higher perceived sharpness. I can’t truthfully explain why that is, which is why I’ve only chosen to include one digital sample from the 80 Summilux-R below (it’s the fourth photo from last):
