Leica LTM Always use a hood with Summar?

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses

Always use a hood with Summar?

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TheMapleLeafForever

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I wanted to ask about how everyone shoots their Summars. The uncoated ones, even in good condition, flare easily as we all know, so how many of you always use a hood when shooting? How many of you only use a hood sometimes?

I made a poll! Really interested in seeing everyone's responses to it.
 
I don't own a Summar yet but would would be interested to know what type of hood folks use? Looks like the SOOMP is Leitz's standard and I like that design (although it is big) vs. a barn-door type (which is a bit more unwieldy). Looks like there are other alternatives too.

But I am curious also why they changed to the bard-door type for the Summitar and Collapsible Summicron and can they be used on the Summar?
 
raydm6 said:
I don't own a Summar yet but would would be interested to know what type of hood folks use? Looks like the SOOMP is Leitz's standard and I like that design (although it is big) vs. a barn-door type (which is a bit more unwieldy). Looks like there are other alternatives too.

But I am curious also why they changed to the bard-door type for the Summitar and Collapsible Summicron and can they be used on the Summar?
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When I use a hood, I personally use the FIKUS more often. Not necessarily because it is better (I do like that it is kinda smaller though), but I don't want to be worrying about losing my SOOMP. From what I see on eBay right now, that thing can cost several hundred dollars.
 
I would go further. I would say always use a hood with any old lens that has no coating or more "primitive" early coatings due to their propensity to flare. When I was a kid and long before I ever owned a camera I learned a kind of "rule" from adults who did use cameras that you should never shoot a photo where the sun was forward of the lens and might spill its rays into the lens. The above is the reason for that rule or what I suppose was really a rule of thumb. We tend not to worry too much about that "rule" these days, our modern lens coatings being so good on almost any modern lens you would care to name but it was common place back then.

I have been tempted on a few occasions to buy a Summar lens but these "took off" price wise before I ever did and I think their are somewhat over priced as a result though I willingly accept that not everyone feels this way. Consequently, I have never followed through and besides, I already own a Summitar lens which I think of as a kind of "super Summar" possessing some of its optical characteristics. If I did buy a Summar I planned to use an old after market hood for it by Walz which I have kept for many years for just this purpose.

9b1f007a-cb5d-11e6-991c-e00f4031b725.jpg
 
There are other threads about the Summar hood, much ground has been covered.

There is no folding 'barn door' type hood for a Summar. This was introduced for Summitar and Summicron in an attempt to make them more compact when carrying around.

SOOMP is quite unwieldy and expensive, see what's on the other relevant threads for solutions used.
 
The Summar is a "Keep the sun behind you lens" and a "Don't shoot strong backlit subjects lens".
One with cleaning marks- I used eyeglass repair kit on this one,


The Summar used for the above shot was $15 with a Leica IIIa on it. No Complaints.

This is my third, has perfect glass and I cleaned all haze out of it. $60 at a camera show, 5 years ago.



Still flares with strong backlight.









 
"it depends" on what condition your Summar is and how summary you want your pictures. Mine was 50$ AS-IS, with scratched front lens and loads of funny things inside, even after CLA w/o hood it was very, very dreamy.

MliVvpn.jpg
 
My Summar was "flaring easily" until I cleaned all of the lenses. It became normal old lens since then.
 
Ko.Fe. said:
My Summar was "flaring easily" until I cleaned all of the lenses. It became normal old lens since then.
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Even when cleaned, it is still an uncoated lens and the tiniest ray of stray light will clearly manifest itself.
You may say that this is the case for all old uncoated lenses, but the Summar has 6 elements and 8 lens-to-air surfaces - that is 2 more than a Tessar and that means a lot when we are talking about uncoated surfaces.
The uncoated Tessar in my 1937 Rolleiflex is much easier to control than my 1934 Summar, both recently cleaned and both scratch free.
 
The black anti-reflective paint on doublet in front of the aperture can also be a problem. I just touched mine up, will see if it reduces reflections. This was also an issue for my pre-war 8.5cm F2 Sonnar. Has never been an issue for my 5cm F2 and F1.5 Sonnars.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
The black anti-reflective paint on doublet in front of the aperture can also be a problem. I just touched mine up, will see if it reduces reflections. This was also an issue for my pre-war 8.5cm F2 Sonnar. Has never been an issue for my 5cm F2 and F1.5 Sonnars.
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Right. It will help - it was repainted on mine.
 
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