Shootout Quick Comparison - Leica 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux and Mitakon Speedmaster II "Dark Knight" 50mm f/0.95

I borrowed my brother's Leica 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux today to do a quick comparison with my Mitakon Speedmaster II "Dark Knight" 50mm f/0.95 lens.

I shot both lenses on my Sony A7, the Mitakon natively, and the Leica using an adapter. The lenses are similar in weight and size:

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It was freezing and overcast here in Boston, MA. I only had about 30 minutes to shoot, so I looked for still test subjects, not artistic compositions. Processing was done using default settings from Capture One Pro 8.1. I'll make the RAW files available in the second post.

Each image presented below is resized with a 100% crop showing the area of focus. I'll leave the conclusions to the viewer without further commentary.

Update: Full-resolution JPEGs and RAW files for download can be found in the second post in this thread.

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Full-resolution JPEGs - Control-click (Command-click on a Mac) on these in a tabbed browser to compare full screen by switching tabs:
Leica @ f/0.95: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7513/16258449362_4fe2f82315_o.jpg
Mitakon @ f/0.95: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7517/15639375503_b9afb1ddb9_o.jpg
Leica @ f/0.95: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8632/16259274255_6eb2f03b3a_o.jpg
Mitakon @ f/0.95: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8609/16257450981_cf88fae037_o.jpg
Leica @ f/0.95: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7503/16257450861_9258763dff_o.jpg
Mitakon @ f/0.95: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8666/16073422017_73bd5ff897_o.jpg
Leica @ f/0.95: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8587/16073421957_6066430dfe_o.jpg
Mitakon @ f/0.95: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7525/16073136159_bec8158604_o.jpg
Leica @ f/0.95: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8663/15636866524_23fd600737_o.jpg
Mitakon @ f/0.95: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7512/16259273265_0a167acda9_o.jpg
Leica @ f/4: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8661/16259273545_7f8f5a8121_o.jpg
Mitakon @ f/4: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7517/15639374143_1718362388_o.jpg

RAW files for download: Mitakon-Noctilux.zip

The A7 meters the Noctilux as being about 1/3 stop faster (eg, 1/400s for Leica vs 1/320s for Mitakon with both lenses wide open) though the Mitakon seems to have less light falloff wide open.

 

Thanks, all!

My quick takeaways:

• Size and weight are comparable
• Mitakon has better center sharpness both wide open and stopped down.
• Leica has better edge sharpness wide open.
• Mitakon has overall smoother bokeh, and more even across the frame. With near bokeh, Leica has less blur on the foreground on the sides of the frame (due to field curvature).
• Field curvature is very different for the two lenses - see the f/4 shots with the same mid-distance focus target - Leica much more in focus in the foreground on the edges, Mitakon much more in focus in the background on the edges.
• Longitudinal CA is a wash. Both have a fair amount.
• Leica meters 1/3 stop faster but has more light falloff, so less than 1/3 stop faster when you include the edges.

Overall I prefer the Mitakon rendering. Would prefer clicks for apertures and Leica build.

 

Thanks, Dave. Yes, tripod and self timer. One of the reasons I didn't use the Leica on my Leica M and Mitakon on my Sony was that it's tough to change bodies without changing composition, even on a tripod with quick release plates. This way I could just swap out the lenses.

The focus rings are smooth with a long throw on both lenses. The aperture ring is clickless on the Mitakon and clicking on the Leica. I prefer clicks but no big deal really. The aperture ring is tough to turn on the Mitakon, but I like it that way since I don't plan to stop this lens down much. I guess it's to give smooth aperture control for video.

The Noctilux doesn't change much on the M240. It has bit better color fidelity and sharpness on the edges, but overall rendition is no different, center sharpness is no different. All in all, not much different.