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Some Summar 50/2 Photos


robert_whiten

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From time to time there is some discussion about the Summar lens and its unique qualities. I very rarely see shots posted with this lens so I decided to post a few recent photos. For refrence my lens has a fair amount of cleaning marks on the front element and a small amount of internal haze which is supposed to be typical for this lens. I would characterize this lens as producing a look you might see in postcards from the 30's in a antique store. My flatbed scans from 4X6 prints don't do justice.

<a href="">http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1299459851</a>

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  • 11 months later...

Hi all:

 

Just uploaded some sample photos taken with the 50mm Summar. They are taken using Kodak Gold 100. (I have to apologise for the quality of these pictures ¡V I did them using my home monitor whose calibration is off. Thus the actual prints that I have are darker and more contrasty than the jpegs).

 

Nevertheless, from the first shot, you should be able to see the rendition of the lens. Image is low-saturation, but the central characters just pop out of the foliage, basking in a sort of Leica glow. This is not just due to shallow DoF, and the effect is subtler than in some of the modern lens. But very nice.

 

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=249279

 

 

However, do not use it against the sun. In the second picture, you can see the effect of a non-coated lens. But the Summar seems to suffer more than other lens of the same generation. I have increased the saturation and contrast so you can see what¡¦s in the picture, the actual print is much worse.

 

I have compared this with a shot taken with a 35mm Summilux ASPH using the same aperture and shutter speed. Well what can one say? The 35 lux is an amazing hunk of glass.

 

So, the Summar has its place, but it will not be the only lens I carry. I endeavour to do more testing in B&W.

 

Johnson

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