First photos with 50mm summicron collapsible

S

StuartR

Guest
Hello all, I recently acquired a summicron collapsible lens from 1956. I have a modern version, so I was interested to see how different the old one is. Well, a lot. So far, flare has been much worse, but the lens has a really dreamy quality that that newest version lacks. I think this may be from the fact that all the aberrations are not "corrected". It is lower contrast and higher resolution than the modern version I own. The ergonmics are not as nice as the modern one (the aperture ring is smooth, but the infinity lock and focusing tab are not as convenient as the modern style. The collapsing feature is nice and makes it easier to fit in my bag. Mine has some slight coating marks and dust inside the lens, but if it does anything, it makes the shots nicer. I also noticed that the aperture blades are more circular than they are on the modern version. I think this leads to nicer bokeh when at 2.8, 4, 5.6 etc. I have not had a chance to take more than a few, and only in black and white, but here are two photos of a cat that I took while talking to my sister on the cellphone.
 
Here is another view of the same cat...still taken with my ear smooshed against my shoulder holding my cellphone so that I could talk to my sister...
 
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Here's what I mean by high resolution. This is taken from a 100% crop of a 4800dpi scan. The film was delta 100 in xtol 1:1.
 
Those are really nice! I have the "Type I Rigid" that came immediately after the collapsible version. I am always amazed at the resolution in that lens. I will be comparing with the late '60s version that i picked up from JD.
 
Thanks Brian -- I was pretty amazed too. It has a good deal of dust inside, even a little piece of hair. The front has some little pock-marks and some coating loss...there even appears to be a bit of haze (though it may just be the fact that it is single coated), yet it takes great shots. The only issue is that it flares like a mofo. I don't yet have a hood for it, so I better find one soon...
 
Very nice, I have to admit that I really do like that classic "looK".

Now you have to go and find a 50/1.5 Sonnar to do a comparison of classics.
 
Consistantly blows me away what these old lenses can do - with the right person at the shutter, that is.

Fantastic!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
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