I am UNCOATED excited!!

S

Skinny McGee

Guest
Ok, I only own uncoated Leica lenses.. and seldum use color but yesterday I loaded up some cheap Wallgreens 100 Agfa to try out my new portrait strobe with my M3 and my new 90mm adaptor... My daughter had her friend Jaxson over so I thought we would give it a go... This only my second time using studio lights and the first time with my 1936 90mm on my M.
 
One man's flare is another man's glow ...

My taste runs with yours. I like the look very much, even in color.
 
Skinny, I like your compositions....... very nice. There's little doubt also that an uncoated lens brings a quality to the image that is seemingly lost with coated lenses. I presently have a partly exposed roll of Walgreens 200 color film in my Leica IIIc and only uncoated lenses have been used; a 90mm Elmar and a 135mm Elmar to this point.

Now I must agree with Rob. (Please take this as constructive criticism as otherwise your pictures are well above average.) IMO your Elmar could use a cleaning of the lens elements. There appears to be something creating flare in the center portion of your images. The first thing I generally notice in a portrait are the eyes. The eyes closest to the outside of the picture have nicely saturated colors while those in the center are washed out. The sharpness apparent on the edges of the picture disappears as you move to the center. The edge sharpness suggests that you will have a very sharp lens once cleaned.

FWIW, the 90 Elmar is not difficult to disassemble and clean. When I inherited my father's 90mm f/4 uncoated Elmar, I noticed a faint haze between the elements. I cleaned it and the attached picture was taken with it over the past Christmas-New Year holidays. Lighting was florescent bulbs from a three-bulb ceiling fan cluster and window light from the left side.

Also, I'm sorry you didn't get the 135mm Elmar. It went for more than the one I bought but still for less than it was worth IMO. Mine lacked the case and caps which easily made up the difference in price.

Walker
 
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Walker, that's a gorgeous portrait. And I can't disagree with your and Rob's points. Call me some kind of contrarian, or just nuts. But if I owned Skinny's lens, I wouldn't clean it right away. I'd shoot it awhile (in B&W) and see whether the flare/glow works, whether it grows on me. The way it's occurring in the lens, up and centered, makes me think of better-than-Thambar softening.

It can always be cleaned later ...
 
Nice pics, but I have to agree about the center flare.

doubs43: I am curious if uncoated lenses give smoother out-of-focus areas than coated lenses.

If someone could compare the 40mm CV multi-coated vs. the single-coated, I would be forever greatful... :)

Maybe I need to find an older lens for the portraits to get what I want.
 
MCTuomey said:
Walker, that's a gorgeous portrait. And I can't disagree with your and Rob's points. Call me some kind of contrarian, or just nuts. But if I owned Skinny's lens, I wouldn't clean it right away. I'd shoot it awhile (in B&W) and see whether the flare/glow works, whether it grows on me. The way it's occurring in the lens, up and centered, makes me think of better-than-Thambar softening.
It can always be cleaned later ...
Click to expand...

Point well taken and I agree that it won't hurt to explore what the lens will do as it now is. If the effect is to Skinny's liking, that's really all that matters. Cleaning always remains an option.

My father - AFAIK - never owned a coated Leitz lens for his IIIa Leica.... actually a Standard Leica factory converted to model IIIa. I now have his 35 & 90 Elmars plus an uncoated Summar 50. Looking at the results I've gotten with them I can see why he never felt the need to buy coated lenses.

Walker
 
paulfitz said:
Nice pics, but I have to agree about the center flare.

doubs43: I am curious if uncoated lenses give smoother out-of-focus areas than coated lenses.

If someone could compare the 40mm CV multi-coated vs. the single-coated, I would be forever greatful... :)

Maybe I need to find an older lens for the portraits to get what I want.
Click to expand...

I believe that uncoated lenses have a quality all their own that coated lenses - in general - can't duplicate. The smoothness you mention may simply be the result of less contrast that uncoated optics give.

As for single-coated vs multi-coated, some people prefer the softer single-coated lenses for portraits and such. There again, it may simply be the lesser contrast that appeals. I'm sorry to say that I don't own any of the CV lenses.

Walker
 
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