Leica LTM Cleaned Summar captures girls on the town.

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
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Sanders McNew

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So, a childhood friend and her daughter
appeared in Manhattan this weekend.
It seemed as good an excuse as any to
pull out the IIIa and see what the Summar
could do wide-open on the mean streets
of Manhattan:

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I hope you all enjoy them.

Sanders
 
Great work, Sanders! I love the "mirror-image" effect of their scarves. They look like a couple of characters!
 
Great situation to test out such an old lens, were these shot "wide open"? Great performance from a lens that`s like 70+ years old.....

I just sold my "second" Summar without trying one yet - first one was on my "Pearl Harbor" Leica IIIC and another one on a matching numbers Leica III that`s coming this week, I sell the lenses before the cameras even get here....seems there`s a rush on Summar`s now

I think NEXT one I get I`m going to TRY it out I really like the signature and want to use it to shoot some 1930`s styled artistic nude studies

The ladies look like they were having fun, I have yet to get up NYC way to work sometime

Keep on shooting with that old gear Bravo!

Tom
 
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Great pics Sanders ... what film and scanning?

I also love the way your images have the sprocket holes ... how do you do that 'cause it looks great! :)
 
Sanders - more great shots, just love the bokeh. maybe i should get a Summar again?

Incidentally, do you actually know any "plain" women? (just jealous)

Keep those great shots coming!
 
LeicaTom said:
Great situation to test out such an old lens, were these shot "wide open"? Great performance from a lens that`s like 70+ years old.....
Click to expand...

Tom, yes, these were 1/100 at f/2. Sherry Krauter
revived this lens from the dead -- fantastic work on
her part, the lens glass looks near-new.

Sanders
 
Keith said:
Great pics Sanders ... what film and scanning? I also love the way your images have the sprocket holes ... how do you do that 'cause it looks great! :)
Click to expand...

Keith, it is Foma 200, exposed at EI 80 and processed in Rodinal. The sprocket holes are the result of not using Leitz film canisters -- today's canisters are shorter and slip down while shooting the roll.

Sanders
 
Absolutely beautiful! The girls and the captures. There is something so timeless in mother/daughter and father/son images. So much depth, history and stories yet to be told...

They will cherish those pics forever.

This is everything I enjoy about the craft.

Cheers,

John
 
Forgive me for the heresy. But I think the bokeh around any circular highlights isn't a million miles from a 40mm CV Nokton wide open.

Or is it just me?

John
 
Wow. I'm pleasantly surprised that these were your results with the lens at f2.0... They seem much better than what I've heard/read. I've been browsing around for a decent IIIa with an Elmar or Summitar, while somewhat trying to avoid the Summar. It seems that when properly brought back working condition, the Summar isn't a bad lens at all. Thanks for posting these, along with your helpful information. A very interesting thread!
 
burninfilm said:
Wow. I'm pleasantly surprised that these were your results with the lens at f2.0... They seem much better than what I've heard/read.
Click to expand...

I gather their performance varies widely with condition. This one is an early uncoated Summar, freshly cleaned of haze, and no visible scratches. I posted some photographs I shot last week with the same lens, also shot wide-open, in this thread:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48220

So far, I like this lens a lot.

Sanders
 
Thanks for your informative reply, and for the links to your other posts. Who knows, maybe I'll find a IIIa and a good clean Summar down the road sometime. I chuckled a bit after seeing the other photos you shot with this Summar, as they do show very difinitely the flare-prone characteristics of this lens (of course, a brightly lit beach scene is a pretty extreme test for a vintage uncoated lens). Did you do anything to enhance the apparent flare in the beach shots of your wife? Or are those shots straight scans from the negatives? They do have a look to them, don't they?

I'm sure that condition does play a major role in the performance of a Summar. Most of the Summars I see on Eb*y are hazed or heavily scratched. So, there are 70-80 years of age related variables which affect every Summar made, and some didn't survive as well as others. Fortunately, yours came out pretty well, and you were able to provide us with some nice images and proof that the Summar can perform very nicely.

Again, thanks for the post.
 
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