Leica LTM B&W Wedding with 1939 Summitar - LOVELY RESULTS

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
Very nice stuff. I read most of what you wrote, and then scrolled down to the pictures. My first reaction was, "did he use NeatImage or something on these?" I think the 'effect' is too obvious, and i'd love to see these images with their natural grain. Otherwise, the couple should be quite happy.
 
Wonderful photos and great look to them. Thats quite brave of you, I dont know if I would have chosen that lens if I had to choose between that and sumilux!

I can't comment on Leica lenses, but I would have been reluctant to choose the 1600 film. What a great choice it turned out to be! I would be surprised it they don't want 8x10 or even larger of some of those.
 
A good photographer coupled with an excellent choice in lens and film produced this fine result. I am sure the couple will be more than happy. Hard to beat a Summitar or 35/3.5 Summaron for that look.

Bob
 
Very good work with a great atmosphere I'm looking forward to receiving my Summitar even more now. Did you use the handheld meter as an incident or reflective?
 
Very very lovely, and the lens is only part of it.

You have good eyes for composition and the right coordination for the right moments. Good job!
 
Well SLEPPYHEAD/Yaron
Its all your FAULT...... :)
I just ordered a 1950 Summitar
and am TRES excited
Should receive it next Tuesday

If it does not fit on my rd1s (but you did say it does Work on the rd1)
then it will be eternally on my M4

Cheers & Thanx for the Inspiration....Helen
 
great shots, great bride indeed.. No oppinion about the groom but he must be okay if she married him :D
About the neopan:i am surprised of the smoothness and not exaggerated contrast. I guess lens and light helped too, but anyway, looks very good! I will be in a very similar situation in a month...just to "shoot a few pics" for my friend (next to a hired pro,though,so less pressure on me)... Now i'm thinking about neopan too.

greetz
 
I presume its uncoated. Dont these old summitars take wonderful photos? I have to get mine out and try some - too eaasy to fall back on digital shots these days. I must admit its lenses like these that make me want to save my pennies and buy an M8.
 
anyone have info on manufacturing dates and serial numbers in relation to being coated or uncoated?

my boss has his father's iii and a summitar lens and i'd be curious to know more about his lens.

- chris
 
Chris, I'm sure some of the Leica Connoisseurs here will correct me but from what I understand Leitz lenses after serial 600000 (or 610000), just after World War 2, are all coated, before that time only military lenses were coated.

From what I've gathered on these board Summitars after this serial number also had hexagonal aperture openings instead of the more rounded ones, because the folks at Leitz used up their supply of old Summar aperture blades. I don't know at what serial number they ran out of Summar blades though.

After the war Leica offered to coat older lenses. And so many were.

I'm quite interested to see what you Summitar can do on the R-D1, Helen.
That might be enough to push me over the edge and buy one of those cameras myself.

Concerning Neopan 1600, I'm interested int trying this, as I've never used film higher then 400 before.
 
Very nice stuff. I read most of what you wrote, and then scrolled down to the pictures. My first reaction was, "did he use NeatImage or something on these?" I think the 'effect' is too obvious, and i'd love to see these images with their natural grain. Otherwise, the couple should be quite happy.


I agree with you that the Neatimage grain removal looks too smooth on these down-sized JPGs (800 pixels on the long side). This is because the original TIFFS are about 4000-5000 pixels on the long side and they show a pleasant amount of grain - apparent but not distracting in my opinion - but in the down-sizing the grain kinda gets averaged out.
 
Very good work with a great atmosphere I'm looking forward to receiving my Summitar even more now. Did you use the handheld meter as an incident or reflective?


Hi, when I use a handheld meter, I almost always use it as incident. For me this works best. The meter is less fooled by large windows, etc.

On the day of this wedding, with Neopan 1600 at 1250, I was getting around 1/60th at f/2 in the church, and around 1/125 at f/2 in the reception hall. The light was remarkably constant that day, it being rainy, so I actually didn't meter much, just a quick check every once in a while.
 
Well SLEPPYHEAD/Yaron
Its all your FAULT...... :)
I just ordered a 1950 Summitar
and am TRES excited
Should receive it next Tuesday

If it does not fit on my rd1s (but you did say it does Work on the rd1)
then it will be eternally on my M4

Cheers & Thanx for the Inspiration....Helen



Helen, enjoy the lens. Thanks for your kind comments.

I haven't used it much on my R-D1s because it's more like a 75mm lens which forces me to stand back a bit which makes teh depth of field less narrow which reduces the "look" of the out-of-focus areas that you get with the Summitar. So I prefer the Summitar for film - you'll see what I mean when you try it.
 
I'm quite interested to see what you Summitar can do on the R-D1, Helen.
That might be enough to push me over the edge and buy one of those cameras myself.

Concerning Neopan 1600, I'm interested int trying this, as I've never used film higher then 400 before.


I have recently taken some pictures with my R-D1s with the 1939 Summitar and the 50mm Summilux ASPH within a few minutes of each other. I'll start a new thread with some examples, here in the Leica Screw Mount forum.
 
Oops, Turns out I'm talking bull manure about the Summitars with six aperture blades being from just after the war. These first appear in 1950/1951. somewhere around serial number 79xxxxx.
 
thanks for the info, rick.

maybe sleepyhead could share the first few digits of the serial number on the lens. i feel some gas coming.

- chris
 
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