No Love for the Summitar?

[Big Hairy Bee]

Having just acquired my first RF a IIIF with a 50 Summitar I am curious as to the praise for the Elmar and the Summicron and Summar but little mention of the Summitar. Should I look into one of these other lenses?

Harry

 

[Rob-F]

Having just acquired my first RF a IIIF with a 50 Summitar I am curious as to the praise for the Elmar and the Summicron and Summar but little mention of the Summitar. Should I look into one of these other lenses?

Harry

---No, not necessarily. The Summitar is the immediate forerunner of the Collapsible Summicron, which is slightly improved. But the Summitar has plenty of admirers! Sherry Krauter, for one, says it is a fine lens. I think you should use it for a while, with Black & White and Color, before making any changes. You might just be very happy with it!

 

[sirius]

It's a good lens. You're lucky if you have a sample without cleaning marks or internal hazing. I have one with some haze. It flares like crazy and has ruined more shots than I like because of that. This lens is beautiful when used for portraits, wide-open and close.

Have a look at this thread for samples and discussion.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39364

Yeah, they are pretty soft lenses too. One of my favorite vintage screw-mounts however...

 

[rumbliegeos]

Congratulations, that is the combination that I started with in Leica as well. I think there are plenty of Summitar fans in the forum, but Elmars in particular are very attractive to use because they are so compact, light, and original to the earlier models. I had a later coated one for a while, and it was a nice lens, but that example definitely was not as sharp as the Summitar.

Something that is not discussed often is that there is a variation in Summitars that could affect one aspect of performance: some have 6 blade apertures, and others have rounder apertures. My Summitar has a very sharp in focus rendition, but some pretty wild bokeh. BTW, does the Summitar follow a standard lens formula, i.e. Gauss, Planar, etc?

 

[kully]

Mmmm.. I have a uncoated summitar which flares like Travolta's trousers (without the barndoor hood - much improved without).

Having said that, it has a look which none of my modern lenses have:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=58730

and another attached.

 

[Philippe D.]

Welcome to the club Harry!

Having just acquired my first RF a IIIF with a 50 Summitar I am curious as to the praise for the Elmar and the Summicron and Summar but little mention of the Summitar. Should I look into one of these other lenses?

I also had a Summitar with my 1st IIIc, i sold it away and got a "yellow" Summicron instead.
Now i have a Summarit (clean and sharp), a Summar (for women's portraits, so i can make a lot girl friends with) 😉
The other screw lens are 35mm Summaron on IIIf too.

 

[Nikon Bob]

Harry

Give the Summitar a good workout before you decide you need another 50. I have found both my examples good enough that I didn't bother to get an M mount 50 for my M4.

Bob

 

[Marc-A.]

Harry,
the Summitar is my prime lens. Lately, I've sold my Summicron (rigid) which was in perfect optical condition, but I kept the Summitar. I can't imagine selling it ... only big money issues could lead me to sell it. I posted some pictures here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=695238#post695238
Keep the summitar, explore/exploit its capacities, you'll love it for sure.
Enjoy.

 

[kully]

I was wondering when you would post here Marc ;-)

 

[Bingley]

I don't own a summitar, but I certainly like the photos I've seen taken w/ it, including ones by the other posters on this thread. If your summitar is in good shape, you may be very pleasantly surprised at what it can do! It may be just the lens for you.

 

[Marc-A.]

I was wondering when you would post here Marc ;-)

LOL, you know when I hear "Summitar", I'm like Pavlov's dog 😀

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Having just acquired my first RF a IIIF with a 50 Summitar I am curious as to the praise for the Elmar and the Summicron and Summar but little mention of the Summitar. Should I look into one of these other lenses?

Am I right to assume that you already think that there's no love for the Summitar?

I'm wondering because of your thread question, but you're not elaborating on it.

I also wonder whether there's the (very common) confusion between the Summitar and the Summarit going on here?

 

[rumbliegeos]

another Summitar example

another Summitar example

Here is some lichen on a Scottish crofthouse ruin, seen through a post-war, coated Summitar, equipped with a hood (the original is better).
gerry

 

[sirius]

Hey Gabriel!

You have lots of great summitar photos. Has that lens been overhauled or is it just a great example?

 

[Big Hairy Bee]

Am I right to assume that you already think that there's no love for the Summitar?

I'm wondering because of your thread question, but you're not elaborating on it.

I also wonder whether there's the (very common) confusion between the Summitar and the Summarit going on here?

I wasn't passing judgement at all, just curious as to why the Summitar doesn't seem to come up as frequent as the others. I am too new to this to do that. I like mine a lot so far and I am going to do some color after seeing some of the shots in this thread (esp Kully's). I wouldn't ditch mine for another lens, merely add another 50 for different situations.

 

[gregg]

My coated summitar has an awesome look to it and is very sharp with a pleasing OOF area. I haven't shot it a lot wide open, but all the images seem fine and is a great bargain.

If I were still on a super tight budget (as I was when I bought my iiic) it could suffice as my only lens. No slouch as others have said being it is the kissing cousin of the collapsible summicron.

Here it is under studio light:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdbrekke/350518505/

One in room light:
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/615/0799022r1e009vz7.jpg

Another:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=46853&ppuser=6210

It is my only screw-mount lens and sits on my iiic although I have an adapter and use it on the M6 now and then. Alas, I don't use the iiic very often...

 

[OldNick]

I owned a Summarit at one time and eventually traded it for a Summitar because of problems with my particular Summarit. The Summitar aperture ring was stiff, so I had the lens serviced and it is a fine performer. My favorite lenses for my Leica IIIf RD are the Summitar and a late model Jupiter 12.

Jim N.

 

[ferider]

In a way, Summitar photos look very similar to Noctilux photos 🙂

It has become kind of a cult lens in the last two years.

 

[David Murphy]

There are plenty of posts here lauding the Summitar, including some from me. It's a fantastic lens. Their resale values here and on eBay reflect that -- they are expensive, even examples in poor condition.

Having just acquired my first RF a IIIF with a 50 Summitar I am curious as to the praise for the Elmar and the Summicron and Summar but little mention of the Summitar. Should I look into one of these other lenses?

Harry

 

[cjm]

Wish I hadn't sold mine...