I just accidentally bought elmar 50/3.5

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kmerenkov

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Hi all,

Today I bought elmar 50/3.5, almost accidentally. It just happened that it was very cheap and my mood was GASy.
I mounted it onto my M6, it looks terribly funny (if you know what I mean), and yet it brings a new level of photography to me, changes the way I shoot.
All the time, I was pre-adjusting exposure settings, and then corrected minor errors by adjusting aperture. It is hard to do so with elmar, so I am adjusting shutter speed instead, or sometimes just leaving stuff as it is (+-1/2 of a stop errors).

Feeling myself like using my bronica with waist level finder or my smena8m. Meter once - and do corrections as you change your position relatively to sources of light or as you go in or out from shadows. It feels amazingly cool :-D

I am still in my first roll of film, will develop negatives soon.

What bothers me is that it is a bit off at infinity. I don't worry much though, my j8 was off on my bessa r3a and yet delivered cool results (though j8 is not off on my leica). Also its metal front piece is heavily damaged, yet glass looks okay.


If you own one or had one, tell me your stories (pictures are also appreciated).
From what I read, people love this small piece of metal, though it seems that it is not widespread.
 
A few days ago I started a thread related to the elmar 50mm 3.5 because I have bought the Red-Scale version of this, as my first lens for the M2.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73327

I still havent seen the results of my first roll, which I finished yesterday.
But I love using this lens, especially how the focussing works with its lever.
The only thing I found a bit difficult, was changing the aperture because I have a hood attached on it.
Overall as far as I can say (even without having seen the pictures it does), yet is that it will surely stay on my M2 for a quite long time ;)

have fun!
 
My Elmar f3.5 is one of my favourite lenses. I love using it indoors with Tri-X at 1600ISO. I develop it in Rodinal 1:100 stand development.

I also have an Industar-22, which is much cheaper yet excellent. I get a bit more contrast from the Industar-22 but the rendering is similar. Both give beautiful tones. With colour film, the Industar-22 give more saturated colours.
 
Sebo69 said:
A few days ago I started a thread related to the elmar 50mm 3.5 because I have bought the Red-Scale version of this, as my first lens for the M2.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73327

I still havent seen the results of my first roll, which I finished yesterday.
But I love using this lens, especially how the focussing works with its lever.
The only thing I found a bit difficult, was changing the aperture because I have a hood attached on it.
Overall as far as I can say (even without having seen the pictures it does), yet is that it will surely stay on my M2 for a quite long time ;)

have fun!
Click to expand...

Thank you, almost everything I wanted to know is answered in your thread, except approx. lens age :)
My is not red scale (nothing red in it at all).

Serial number is either 6-digits or front metal piece is that damaged that damage ate the last number. First three numbers are 231 (nice isn't it).
 
The ones from after the war provide a little bit more contrast since they are coated. I have two from 1948, which are very different in finish and in coating - one in feet the other in meters, here is a pic together with their russian cousin, the Indu 22: (btw I prefer shooting with my 1940 Summitar: more contrast, more sharpness)

Elmars%20and%20Industar.jpg
 
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Ron (Netherlands) said:
The ones from after the war provide a little bit more contrast since they are coated. I have two from 1948, which are very different in finish and in coating - one in feet the other in meters, here is a pic together with their russian cousin, the Indu 22: (btw I prefer shooting with my 1940 Summitar: more contrast, more sharpness)

Elmars%20and%20Industar.jpg
Click to expand...

My looks like one in the middle. Yay.
 
To Sebo 69 and others - There is a solution to the Elmar lens hood problem, but it's very expensive. Do a search for < MJ Metal Lens Hood with Aperture Scale
for Leica Elmar 50mm f/3.5 lens> It's made in Japan and has an interlocking tab so the apertures are visible from mabove the hood.
 
Leigh Youdale said:
To Sebo 69 and others - There is a solution to the Elmar lens hood problem, but it's very expensive. Do a search for < MJ Metal Lens Hood with Aperture Scale
for Leica Elmar 50mm f/3.5 lens> It's made in Japan and has an interlocking tab so the apertures are visible from mabove the hood.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information.
Though, it looks ugly. I would never consider wearing it onto my lens.

There is something special to having set aperture with difficulties, I don't want to pay $180 for this :)
If I want a comfortable 50 I can always take my j8 or nokton f/1.5. Probably others have few 50s too, so I doubt it can be called a problem.

Flares can also be nice :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmerenkov/3105121280/ <- J8 pointed straight to the sun, without any hoods.
Though I don't know how tessars (right?) respond to bright light sources.
 
I never found changing the aperture on an Elmar to be that big of a deal. I usually don't change the aperture very often. Perhaps only two or three times during an outing.

The MJ Metal Lens Hood is really nice but its a copy of the Leitz VALOO hood. The original can actually be found for less money than the new MJ version. Though it may be harder to find and they're usually not in perfect condition.

Another solution to the aperture problem is the Leitz VOOLA. It's a metal ring that fits inside a Leitz FISON hood or a Leitz A36 filter and then clamps onto the aperture lever. To change the aperture, you loosen and turn the FISON hood or A36 filter accordingly. As far as looks are concerned, the FISON is the cutest hood ever made, in my opinion. The chrome version looks very nice on an Elmar. Unfortunately, the cost of a FISON and a VOOLA is probably more than the cost of the MJ hood.

Konstantin,

Thank you. Tri-X at 1600 with Rodinal 1:100 is a magical combination. :)
 
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@ nando: Great fotos! I like the 2nd!
These pictures have a great tonality, too! Did you scan from print or negative?
This is Tri-X.

-

Changing the aperture is a bit difficult, but not really a problem, though I could easily manage to compensate by changing the shutter time. this way of taking pictures in my opinion exactly fits to the whole manual M Leica handling.
 
I have just bought an industar 22 which I have put on my bessar. The lens does not fully collapse but it does not seem to do any damage. Any experience with this combo?
 
Sebo69 said:
@ nando: Great fotos! I like the 2nd!
These pictures have a great tonality, too! Did you scan from print or negative?
This is Tri-X.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I scanned directly from the negative with my Nikon Coolscan V with all the options turned off in Vuescan. Then only manipulation I did in photoshop was to set the black and white points in levels.

I must thank RFF'er P. Lynn Miller as I was using his development methods.
 
So, is "accidentally" buying a lens anything like those people on daytime TV who "accidentally" got their girlfriend's sister pregnant? ;)
 
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