Leica LTM Leitz 5cm Summitar V 5cm Elmar

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses

Leitz 5cm Summitar V 5cm Elmar

  • Coated Summitar 5cm

    Votes: 147 59.0%
  • Coated Elmar 5cm

    Votes: 102 41.0%

  • Total voters
    249
I did an unscientific comparison last spring, shooting some peach blossoms with a 1949 coated Summitar that had been cleaned and adjusted, and a 1947 coated Elmar 50/3.5 that is in great shape. The photos were taken using an Oly E-PL1. First, the Summitar:

Peach Blossoms Summitar by bingley0522, on Flickr
 
I've had both and both were excellent performers.

If I had to choose one it would be the Summitar though - simply for f2 and the fact that when changing aperture (with a hood on) I never got thumb marks on the glass.

Can't really go wrong with either though.

John

Matches my opinion exactly.

FV100913.jpg

My personal (uncoated) Summitar Favorite photo

SR100624.jpg

And my favorite (coated) Elmar snapshot
 
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Thanks forThe Link of more Summitar magic,,,,BobYIL

Oh hey Pan....GREAT shots with the Elmar

Mind You ALL the shots in this Thread are Wonderful !!
 
Erik, that is a recognizable Dutch landscape. It could be from around the corner ;). And I love the subtle greys here. The (collapsible, I presume) Summicron is a lens I'm still missing in 50mm LTM and photos like this one make me want to have one.
The screwmount collapsible Summicron is the best of them all.

Leica IIIg, Summicron 50mm f/2 collapsible, Tmax400.

Erik.
 
i have tried clean summitar and scared radioactive summicron.
summicron have much more detail than summitar, my copy summitar was a little bit soft.
i would love to try a elmar some day.
 
I was interested in the Summitar mainly for landscape photography (inspired by Graham Battison's photos w/ a Summitar and a Leica IIIf), but I discovered it has a propensity to flare badly, and so you need to use a hood, which makes it less than a compact package. The Elmar can flare, too, but w/ the little hood that Leica made for it, it's still makes a compact kit, and sometimes the flare can be nice:

Autumn,-Carson-River by bingley0522, on Flickr
 
I voted for the Summitar. I like the speed and the rendering. Although I would love to still own the Nickel Elmar I had once...

Here are some Summitar shots of a friends wedding on film:

U2246I1328822156.SEQ.0.jpg


U2246I1328822158.SEQ.0.jpg


U2246I1328822160.SEQ.0.jpg


U2246I1328822162.SEQ.0.jpg
 
I forgot to say that my shots above are all taken at f/2, except the Bridemaids, which is around f/2.8 (weird aperture scale on the old Summitar).

Here is one more, wide open:

U2246I1328822690.SEQ.0.jpg
 
I like the Elmar but that is egocentric. I have never owned the other but I have many great B&W pictures with my lens which I have proudly owned for almost 50 years; last year (the first):

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1964


And I thought I'd put a fun color one in, but I'm sure the other one is just as good or even better (this one 1966):

5456937223_1fe13d0950.jpg
 
Simply love the compactness of the 5cm f3.5 LTM elmar...my friend called it "pocket rocket"...so compact on a LTM Barnack you can easily put in the your pocket and it can be extended out like a rocket launcher...:D

5695852191_e0b69b63a3_z.jpg


Leica IIIa | 5cm f3.5 Elmar | 400 TX | @f3.5
 
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