Which screwmount lenses?

Which extra screwmount lens would you recommend for my IIIa with its

Summar? Of course an M lens won't fit. Summitar or Summicron? Or

Elmar? I quite like 50s and faster ones.

Matter of personal taste I think.

 

You already have a Summar for that "old-fashioned" look, so I suggest a screwmount Summicron. Check for coating damage and fogging of course.

 

My favorite Leica screw mount lens is the postwar coated Summitar. They are fairly cheap and take amazing images.

 

Good luck!

Someone said a while back: 'Real men shoot elmars' (and no, it was not Travis). Though I don't have a LTM Leica, I think that the Elmars fit best on a LTM: Small, the same look and optically quite ok, though a bit slow.

I have coated Elmar and Summitars. I must say that the Summitar takes beautiful B+W images. I'm less impressed with it for color, though I've gotten some lovely portraits with it. The Elmar seems to be good too.

 

I'm thinking of buying a new Voigtlander 50mm, f/2.5 for a modern lens design, though. Anyone have experience with that new lens?

If you are the more adventurous type and like the 50's look, you could try those russian jupiters/industars. Be warned tho that it could be frustrating to find one that works with your IIIa 8^) Below is a picture take with a russian elmar copy (scanned from a 5x7 print).

 

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Buy appropriate (clean) lens set for age; uncoated chrome from 1935-1940, 35 &90 mm Elmars, 135 Hektor, & if you have any money left, a 50mm Elmar. With lens hoods, these modest lenses perform well. The Summar is OK but not so good, particularly with colour film.

If you went for a collapsible Summicron in LTM I think you'd be pleasantly surprised with its performance over the Summar, but I'd recommend the Elmar for the smaller screwmount cameras like the IIIa. Someone mentioned the new Voigtlander 50, which would give you modern performance, but a coated Elmar is hard to beat for synergy with the IIIa. The faster screwmount lenses always felt awkward to me on anything but a IIIg or IIIf...(or with an adaptor on an M). Just my .02...

Barring of course the expensive limited edition screwmounts Leica brough out a couple of years ago (I have the 35 F2 Asph on my IIIg and it's a killer combo), I'd recommend either the 50mm F1.8 Canon or the 50mm F1.4 Nikkor. The Canon in particular is less expensive than the Summicron from the same age, and unless you need the compactness of the Elmar, it is so much more useable in low light. Still has the 'old style' feel (optically) as the Leitz lenses.

The Nikkor is also very good, quite soft though at 1.4 and usually quite expensive. The aforementioned 35 plus the Canon 50 are my standard kit.

try the emlar 3.5. Excellent for compact use .

 

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Thanks for all the suggstions, and Arnell and Travis, I like your pix

- each quite different. Nothing wrong with those old lenses! Quite a

choice out there, Elmar or Summitar are tempting in 50, I also like

the idea of the collapsible 90. Thanks again.

I have the Summitar which I love, the Canon 50mm f/1.8 and the Canon 50mm f/1.2. The 1.2 is a lens you will love or hate. If you like fast 50 in LTM, then you owe it to yourself to try the Canon 50mm f/1.2