Leica LTM 1940 13.5cm Hektor

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
doubs43

doubs43

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Last week I got a 1940 13.5cm f/4.5 Hektor. Uncoated and with a light haze inside, it's well-worn finish indicates a fair amount of use over the years. Interestingly where the black paint is missing around the focus collar, it shows a bright steel color rather than the normal brass found on earlier examples.

I ran a roll of EDU-200 Ultra through a IIIf Black Dial using the Hektor for most of the shots. The attached pictures are examples.

The last shot was taken in deep shade with a bright background. I'm surprised at how well the lens handled the extreme contrast and gave good detail in the shadows.

Walker
 
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Rich Silfver said:
Excellent result. How did you scan it?
Click to expand...

Thanks, Rich. I appreciate the nice comment.

I use an Epson 4180 flatbed scanner and used 3200dpi with grain reduction and the lowest desharp mask setting. The scan was in 48 bit color and desaturated later. I cropped slightly and then reduced the dpi to 300. I also worked with the tone curve a little. I view the manipulations much as I would burning and dodging in a wet darkroom to improve the print.

I've been doing a lot of shooting lately using uncoated lenses and they are surprisingly good. Even the Summars are better than I thought they'd be.

Walker
 
Really like the looks of that, Walker. You did good, friend, real good. I keep telling myself I don't need a 13.5 ~ you're not helping. :/
 
Joe, you need another lens like I need another 50.

Unless you'd let that Canon 135 go if you got this...then by all means... :D
 
oh no, i'm not suggesting another lens for me.
and the canon 135/3.5 is gonna be all this cowboy needs for a long lens.
 
Awesome.

As much as I love the look of this lens (and trust me, that's a lot), I think that a 135 would be a bit long for me. I'm pondering doing the 35/50/85/100 thing. Having only the P, the 85 would be the only thing I need a finder for...and that's how I'd like to keep it for now.

It's a great shot, though. Good bokeh and excellent sharpness. What aperture was the attached photo at?
 
Stephanie Brim said:
It's a great shot, though. Good bokeh and excellent sharpness. What aperture was the attached photo at?
Click to expand...

Stephanie, as I recall, it was at f/6.3 and 1/100. I'm going to attcah a couple of more taken with the same lens and just scanned this evening.

Walker
 
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