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Leica Summicron Test in 8K

Christoph Tilley

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Our rental bought a set of Leica Summicrons and they gave it to us for one day to test. We shot a little bit on the side on our Weapon Helium in 8K and our Movi Pro, while being on set preparing for another job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZMyyLtkI5Q

We mainly used 40mm and 75mm for these shots. Grading was done quickly in Premiere with Lutify LUTs (lutify.me)
I really liked the look of the Summicrons - clean, but more character to it than Zeiss lenses, in my opinion. Nice flare!

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Best,
Chris
 
nice Chris
 
Been shooting a lot with the Summicrons. They're really fantastic and true-to-life with that heightened element. Plus the full 8K coverage is killer. Nice to skin tones and wonderfully sharp make them great for a lot of jobs.
 
Nice footage - clean and pleasant with nice but not spectacular flare. I assume that these resolve at least 8K? For that money, they ought to. ;-) I don't quite think you showed these off enough, though (not that you had the time). I'd love to see a walk in the park in the early to mid evening, with a clear sky. Light through the trees, longer shadows, etc. I didn't get a true feel for the bokeh here.

BTW, I have heard that the witness marks are not sufficient for shooting wide-open, unlike the Summilux-C's. Is that something that you agree with? I have no idea, I'm just curious as to differing opinions.
 
Nice footage - clean and pleasant with nice but not spectacular flare. I assume that these resolve at least 8K? For that money, they ought to. ;-) I don't quite think you showed these off enough, though (not that you had the time). I'd love to see a walk in the park in the early to mid evening, with a clear sky. Light through the trees, longer shadows, etc. I didn't get a true feel for the bokeh here.

BTW, I have heard that the witness marks are not sufficient for shooting wide-open, unlike the Summilux-C's. Is that something that you agree with? I have no idea, I'm just curious as to differing opinions.


Yeah, I really had just a few hours on the prep day with them, but I can definitely get them for another test. I think a walk in the park is a good idea!

Regarding focus marks I can't really tell. The gimbal shots were pulled by our postproduction supervisor who pulled focus the very first time in his life :-) And for the handheld shots I pulled focus myself without a ff, basically trusting the peaking on the monitor. But I can check that the next time I get my hands on them.
 
I Just shot a pilot on them exclusively for a couple of weeks. Love them. Had the 18, 25, 35, 50, 75 and 100. 25 or 35 lived on our Movi Pro either handheld or on a black arm car mount. A few screengrabs on this thread..

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...elping-our-new-car-film&p=1766084#post1766084

The size and weight for the performance is brilliant and they are sharp with a nice falloff. Definitely not too clinical for my tastes.

I think the 15, 25, 40, 75 would make an awesome set.
 
This looks incredible in my opinion. I would like to see a real world test between the summerlux c and the summercrons. I know Shane Hurlbut did a shoot out. What you did here gives me a true feel for these lens. Thank you for sharing this!
 
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Summilux have a cleaner more “perfect” image whereas the summicron’s have a little more character to them. I love the summicrons, it’s the right amount of 3D depth, fall off, and character to not make them “perfect” but also sharp. I prefer them to the lux but I’m a little biased, try them out for yourself!
 
Thanks Shawn, really appreciate your feedback! I only had the chance to play with Summiluxes once, but can't exactly recall the differences to the summicrons. But I feel Chad knows what he is talking about.
 
I have a question for both yourself and Chad. If you had the opportunity would you own those or do you feel they serve better as rental?
 
I have a question for both yourself and Chad. If you had the opportunity would you own those or do you feel they serve better as rental?

Good question! I shoot commercials and right now I’m crazy for anamorphics (like everyone else). So I’d rather invest in the Kowa Evolution rebuild from P+S, which I might actually do as soon as they are available.

But you can’t really go wrong if you invest in Leicas, I’d say.
 
Nice! Loved how sharp these lenses are. And on that Helium 😱! Which frame rate were you at? Compression ratio? YouTube Export settings out of Premiere?
 
Nice! Loved how sharp these lenses are. And on that Helium ��! Which frame rate were you at? Compression ratio? YouTube Export settings out of Premiere?

Thanks man! Shot @ 50fps, I think 11:1 and Prores proxies. Went straight out from Premiere to YT with the 8K export preset.
 
Very nice footage Christoph!
 
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