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Leica Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (via adapter on Canon EOS) Review / Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (APS-C)
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published May 2007
Special thanks to Jonas B. for providing this lens!
Introduction
Every once in a while it's fun to take a weirdo for a test drive. Such a combination
is surely a Leica Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (E60) adapted to Canon EF mount used on the
Canon EOS 350D (Digital RebelXT). Now what does that mean ? Naturally the Leica
remains what it is - a manual focus lens - and using a conventional adapter
there is no electronic coupling to the camera whatsoever so the camera does
not even "know" that there's a lens attached to it. The viewfinder shows you
an aperture of f/0.0 regardless of the effective aperture. If you stop down the
lens (via its aperture ring) you do so immediately (thus the viewfinder image
gets darker and the depth-of-field increases) - there is no automatic aperture
available here which you would naturally have on a native Leica SLR/DSLR.
Consequently you can only take advantage of the manual and aperture priority program
modes. On the EOS 350D is was necessary to underexpose by about 1 f-stops
in order to achieve a valid metering - this may vary dependent on the specific
base DSLR. The focus indicator in the viewfinder does NOT work. However, this
specific aspect is only partly true because by now you can also buy electronic adapters
which fake a conventional EOS compatible lens thus activating the focus indicator
of the camera.
As you can see above the lens has seen some abuse over the years. Nonetheless
it remains a rock solid lens made of superb materials with exceptionally tight
tolerances. The focus ring operates very smooth and very well damped - no native
EOS lens offers such qualities here. You can change the aperture in half-stops from
f/1.4 down to f/16. Selecting a certain f-stops is very precise but doing so produces
a fairly loud "click". The lens extends a little when focusing towards close
focus distances. Leica has implemented a small built-in lens hood (not shown below).
| Specifications |
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| Equiv. focal length | 80 mm (full format equivalent) |
| Equiv. aperture | f/2.2 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field) |
| Optical construction | 8 elements in 7 groups |
| Number of aperture blades | 8 |
| min. focus distance | 0.5 m (max. magnification ratio 1:7.4) |
| Dimensions | 70 x 51 mm |
| Weight | 490 g |
| Filter size | 60 mm (non-rotating) |
| Hood | screw-in type (supplied) |
| Other features | - |
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