"Iris wide open" - Summitar and Elmar at max. aperture

Hi All,

 

After some encouraging rsults form new IIIc and summitar 50/2 and Elmar 90/4, I

decided to see what they would do wide open. These are some more "around the

house shots" of family and friends. So far so good except that I get some kind

of occasional light leak ("Leica leak") which I need to diagnose and have taken

care of when I send in for a CLA. Currently I am running a few rolls through as

a diagnostic test and...O hell, I am am having too much fun to part with it just

yet!

 

here's the fist pic. My Mother in Law had an minor eye operation last week so I

did a follow up to the pic everyone seemed to like so much. My feelings? I LOVE

my Summitar!!!!!

 

- Paul<div></div>

Check out this one!

 

"Thambars? We don't need no stinkin' Thambars..."<div></div>

Here's my late-model Elmar at f/4...check out the weird highlights from the watch! I thought the multicoatings would've taken care of that...oh well.<div></div>

Here's the Elmar at 5.6, smooth but a bit more defined.<div></div>

Here's the Summitar at 5.6, very nice detail. This lens is incredible. Any second thoughts I ever had about going with a LTM have been completely eradicated by the results of this lens.<div></div>

OK, last one...here's your fearless Leica photographer with the lens turned on him. Elmar at 5.6. Decent detail at this aperature. Still smooth and flattering, however.<div></div>

Woah, Bessie! I forgot to shrink that last one...I look as if I'm going to jump off the screen and attack you...sorry! Listening to Elton John while I am posting these and I easily space-out.

 

All of these shots were printed on Agfa W/T, R/C grade 2 except the one of me which is on Kentmere W/T, FB. I used Delta 400 developed in Pyro PMK.

 

Overall I have to say that I like the Elmar but better at f/8 for my tastes. The Summitar is very versitle as it can be wonderfully atmospheric at f/2 and deadly sharp at f/5.6 and beyond.

 

If anyone is as interested in old, funky lenses as me, be sure check out my blog, there are many examples there.

 

www.sacredbluephoto.blogspot.com

 

Yours,

 

Paul

Nice, Paul.

This is destiny. I ran across a nice Summitar with spotless glass and was trying to find a reason to absolutely *need* it. You tipped the scale for me, Paul.

 

Thanks for posting those pics.

Paul, thanks for posting the great Summitar and Elmar photo's.

Tom, you won't regret buying that Summitar. Hesitate no longer!

Thanks, guys!

 

Tom, you won't regret the purchase. I am super-pleased with mine. It's really a great deal, like having two lenses in one. The difference between the f/2 and stopped down is amazing. I have heard similar things about Tessars, but I have used many of them and the summitar is better is every respect. I don't like tessars as portrait lenses but like them fine for landscapes. Moreover the difference between apertures is so much greater, like a soft-focus lens built into a super-sharp one.

 

So far the 9 cm Elmar is fine, but nothing to write home about. I was spoiled when I had a Nikkor 105/2.5 Ai and the 90mm length doesn't thrill me. Below 5.6, as you can see, it's just generally soft (tessar-like) but nothing special as with the Summitar.

 

- Paul

If you like the Summitar, you will love the Summarit. Problem is they are even harder to find in nice condition. And you need a lens shade to match as much as the Summitar needs one.

 

The old glass is cool. I will neve sell mine, but I rather like my new version 50 2.8 too. Guess I`m a lens junke. Oh well there are worse things to spend money on.

Very nice pictures!

You are quite right about the 105 Nikkor, I sold all my mf Nikkors when I went digital, but not the 105 - it kind of annoys me to have an emotional attachment to a lump of metal and glass but the qualities of the lens at various apertures is quite beguiling - I can see where you're coming from with the Summitar thing !

Re: The f2 Summitar. I have a Canon 7 and would like to use the Summitar on this camera. However I notice on several articles on the web that the advice being given is not to use a collapsible lens on the Canon as it may damage the light baffles. Has anybody any experience with the Summitar on a 7? If not I have a Serenar f1.8 and I shall have to use that as my prime at all times. Thanks in anticipation for any advice, Ian

Now that I have a SOOPD for my clean Summitar, life is humming. Some of my IIIc's exposures showed narrow bands of light near one long edge. They were those which had been in the film gate when I had changed lenses (in the open, but not aiming the mount at the sun). The IIIc and, I expect, other screw Leicas have three light shields: one each vertical on the wind and rewind sides, the third horizontal, below the lens mount (over the slow speed mechanism if there is one). My repair person sealed the light leak at the horizontal shield.

Very informative thread Paul. Thank you.