50mm Rangefinder Lenses Bokeh Comparison – 12 Lenses

50mm Rangefinder Lenses Bokeh Comparison - 12 Lenses

Lens Review

50mm Rangefinder Lenses Bokeh Comparison – 12 Lenses

Since the pandemic, I was not able to travel to other countries for photos but instead, I turned to test some of the lenses at different apertures and would like to show you how different these lenses can be and which Bokeh do you like. In recent years, different new 50mm has come out from Voigtlander, to 7artisans. Cheaper options available but in terms of Bokeh how do vintage lenses still get a seat and how different these lenses at wide open can be?

I have used most of these lenses for years and Noctilux is always my first choice despite its heavyweight and fat barrel. For street photography and travelling, I prefer Summicron 50/2 Rigid because it has wonderful performances on both film and digital.

50mm-rangefinder-lenses-bokeh-comparison-film-kodak-500T-5219-wide-open-character-12-lenses-leica-noctilux-canon-alpa-voigtlander-apo-fast-lenses-zeiss-zm-nokton-m-mount-lens-bayonet-front-barrel-look
50mm-rangefinder-lenses-bokeh-comparison-film-kodak-500T-5219-wide-open-character-12-lenses-leica-noctilux-canon-alpa-voigtlander-apo-fast-lenses-zeiss-zm-nokton-m-mount-lens-bayonet-coating-colour

Personal Favourite

Before we start looking at the results, I have selected three of my picks in terms of artsy, bokeh and character.

Most artistic lens: Canon 50mm f0.95 

    • Because of the Glow and softness

My Favourite: Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 E58 V1

    • Perfect bokeh for me and super-fast aperture elevate the image

Personal pick for character: Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 Original L39

    • Unique bokeh and rendering that is like an oil painting

Film used for testing

Kodak Vision 3 5219 500T developed in ECN-2 and Scanned by Colorluxe Express

analog-film-review-kodak-vision3-vision-3-5219-7219-500T-800T-tungsten-photography-low-light-rem-jet-cinematic-cinematography-cannister-film-stripe-blog-character-characteristic-feature-ECN-2-C41-processing

List of 12 Rangefinder Lenses Tested

  1. Leica Summicron 50mm f2 Rigid Type 2
  2. Leica Summicron 50mm f2 Dual Range DR Late Type
  3. Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 Original L39
  4. Carl Zeiss Sonnar S 50mm f1.5 ZM
  5. Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.2 ASPH VM
  6. Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 50mm f2 ASPH VM
  7. Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 V2 (II)
  8. Alpa Kern Macro Switar 50mm f1.9 AR
  9. Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 II SC VM
  10. Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 E58 V1 (First batch)
  11. Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 E60 V4
  12. Canon 50mm f0.95 Converted to M Mount

All Lenses Shot at Wide open

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