Leica Summilux-C Vs Master Prime

[Opeyemi Ilesanmi]

What's your take on this 2 lenses as they are similar in price.
How are they compared in terms of techincal capability.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

What's your take on this 2 lenses as they are similar in price.
How are they compared in terms of techincal capability.

This are the two top of the line Cine lenses, in third place comes the Cooke, which I don't like...

Now if you are asking which is better, that will be completely objective and subjective to taste of the user, but if you are looking for its purely Technical aspects of each lens, then I can give you the quick few obvious and none.


The Master Primes, are BIG lenses, much bigger then Leica Cine Primes, almost double in circumference size, in length they are close one to an other in their standard sizes, see pic below.

What I like about the Master Primes Design:

They have a super comfortable Rubber Ring above the Focusing Ring markings, which makes it nice and comfortable when Solo Manual Focusing, which I tend to do a lot, the Leica and any other Cine lens, doesn't have this.

The Focusing mechanism is buttery smooth, and I mean incredibly and gently soft a true joy to use, vs. others which are much more stiffer, Leica Cine is also stiffer.

The Focus Marking Ring is user swappable via removing few tiny screws you can flip it to either Imperial or Metric, a nice touch, Leica Cine primes do not have this.



What I like about the Leica Cine Primes Design:

They are lighter, almost half the weight of the Masters.


So as you can see, the technical aspect of the design of the Leica Cine Primes vs. the Master Primes, have no much to offer, other then they are smaller and lighter, but smaller only in Circumference, which to me means nothing really, I prefer short lenses, and they can be as thick as you want, of course the weight that does mean a lot, and in fact i wish the world that there were a MINI Master design... But all hopes are not lost on this one.. Can't say anything more on it...



NOW: to the aspect of what one offers vs. the other as far as image quality its an other story all together, and here come in play, the facts of taste of one user vs. the other, but... However there are facts which no matter what one likes are evident and indisputable.

Funny thing is that the Master Primes, by all means are considered old lenses, and the Leica's are a brand new lens with all that the new technology has to offer, in fact I am certain that if the Master Primes, were to be built today, they will easily be half the weight as well.

Leica has done and admirable thing entering the Cine lenses realm, and their offering is a superb one, how superb I will tell you as soon as we get our First set...


However I would have designed them in a much different way, and not in the OLD style cine lenses as they did, as I have no nostalgia at all of old gear, and the new Leica look, well, OLD!!


If you want to see a Modern wonder of Leica glass have a look at the LEICA S series of Medium Format glass, both in term of Design and specs to their image quality, which has made them the best Still glass ever made by any company, not just my strong opinion but that of many of my Colleagues Photographers as well... SO I expected the Cine primes to be in that Design realm of specs and instead I was disappointed by the OLD look design.

I however do hope to be blown away by their image quality, and look forward to have our Comprehensive test of Leica Cine primes against Master Primes done soon to insure we don't take delivery of lenses we will then sale soon after.


Image wise, apart form the obvious, were ZEISS glass is neutral and cold, Leica has their particular look which is also on the neutral cold side but have a particular crisp and contrast to it, unique ot Leica glass, and this is what made many Leica Aficionados, both lenses are SUPER COLOR Matched, handle Chromatic Aberration, Distortion, Flaring, and inner barrel movements extremely well, and both have nearly no breathing or at list none that you or I o any one can see at naked eye.


I suggest strongly that before buying you also do your own test, and choose which one is best for you and your work, if size and weight matters, then the Master Primes could be out of the game right off the top before even entering, as they are the second largest and heaviest Primes, and this is also the only real reason I am considering strongly the Leica, other wise Master Primes remain my absolute most favorite Cine Glass.

 

[Phil Holland]

Good info Ketch. I'm a bit more familiar with Master Primes as well and I've literally spent one day with a 40mm Leica Summilux-C (and I really liked what we saw). I also had about an hour with the 75mm. If adding the Cooke S5i into the mix they are about the same relative size to the Master Primes, but physically a hair shorter. As Ketch mentioned the Leica's are smaller and lighter weight.

The Cooke's actually have a very impressive close focus. That may or may not be important to you. The Master Primes have their diopters. Leica hasn't announced anything on that front yet.

I wasn't bothered by the "firmness" on focus ring of the 40mm Summilux-C. Feels like it's got a little push to your pull which is interesting.

The Master Primes have been around an they have completely fleshed out lengths. I know people who swear by the 27mm and 32mm, which don't exist in the Leica line up yet. That's being pretty damn picky though considering there's 25mm and 35mm.

If you're considering purchasing any sets of this level, Ketch's advice is really the best advice. Rent them for a week and do some tests.

One piece of advice when doing those tests, at least from what I've noticed, is to pay very special attention to what happens within 5, 10, and 20 feet (common narrative focus) and past 20 feet. It's interesting stuff. I hope I can test out the Leica's and Cooke's down the line. I'd love to know more about what they can do.

If I had the change in my pockets and the sky was always blue, I'd say I'm leaning a bit more towards the Leica's just for some the size advantages they provide.

 

[Carlo Rho]

Hi Opeyemi,
we published last year a pretty extensive and deep technical evaluation of the Leica's Summilux-C compared with Arri's and Cooke's series, you can download it in pdf from ours DoP website. Have a look around there's a lot of others about optics and cameras as Epic, RedOne MX or Alexa.

 

[Fred Salaff]

We have both Master Prime and Leica Summilux-C sets for sale...new. MP's below list. Leicas way above list. Ready to ship this coming week.

 

[Ken Wilson]

Fantastic information. Thank you very much guys for your so valuable answers!

 

[Matt Ryan]

Master Primes vs. Leica Summilux - C's plus other fast lenses : http://matthayslett.com/salt-iii-high-speed-lens-shootout-wfo/