Whateverist
Well-known
A while back I picked up a Summar on the cheap. I've just developed a roll that has a few shots of it and it's... bad. Just wondering how bad it is and if there's anything I can do to improve it.
These were shot on HP5+ pushed to 3200, but other shots on the roll (shot with an Elmar) are fine.
Low light
Daylight
These were shot on HP5+ pushed to 3200, but other shots on the roll (shot with an Elmar) are fine.
Low light
Daylight
FrankS
Registered User
Try it with 100 or 400 speed film to give it a fair shake. How does it look when shining a light through it? Maybe a cla is called for.
lxmike
M2 fan.
a hood and a yellow filter might help, but l kind of like the look of your photos
Whateverist
Well-known
Rear element looks good, front element looks someone tried to wipe it with sandpaper. No scratches, but a fingerprint-y look if that makes sense.
I'll try a roll with Delta 100 and a yellow filter (should have one around here - the I22 uses the same filter size, right?). As for the look - to each his own, but this mostly reminds me of a junker Lubitel-2 I sold years ago
madNbad
Well-known
Use it for soft focus portraits!
aoresteen
Well-known
Absolutely worthless lens. Send it to me for proper disposal.....
Send it in for a CLA and see how it does.
Send it in for a CLA and see how it does.
FrankS
Registered User
and nudes .
Whateverist
Well-known
Absolutely worthless lens. Send it to me for proper disposal.....
Send it in for a CLA and see how it does.
Any good addresses for CLA in Europe?
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Summar which I used to have was also bad on first film. But cleaning of the front element made it normal. It wasn't difficult.
Whateverist
Well-known
What's the best way to do that? I usually don't vigourously clean lenses, just use a blower and put them behind a filter.
traveler_101
American abroad
Absolutely worthless lens. Send it to me for proper disposal.....
Send it in for a CLA and see how it does.
Caution!
I plunked down I think it was $200 for a 1936 Summar on E-Bay. Mechanically it was o.k., but the optics didn't cut it and the lens should have been sent back to the seller. Unfortunately I bought it without having the chance to check it out until it was too late. I didn't like the results on film at all - and then convinced myself I could use it on digital - - - well, well - - it was a bit better on digital.
Then I decided to plunk down another $80 for a CLA with a reputable guy (who will go unnamed): he should have sent the lens back and told me forget it. He cleaned it but there wasn't all that much improvement. I think the lens at one time had a fungus which destroyed the lens surface, but this is just a guess. In the end I decided to dump it, but didn't feel like cheating an unsuspecting buyer so I sent it to KEH. They gave me $60 for it, said it was in very bad shape. So much for my Summar of Love.
Just make sure you know what you are doing.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
The only secret I have is:
Kimberly Clark KIMTECH SCIENCE Kimwipes EX-L Delicate Task Wipers.
I use regular lens cleaning spray bottle from camera store. Most of the times it is enough. Youtube has good video how to clean lens wet, make it dry and blow the dust with rocket blower. I'm using this method for years.
Only if lens has fungus, I'll use Leica recipe from available on-line manual for how to service M2, lenses and Leica meter. It is very simple formula from common ingredients.
If you google "Summar front lens removal" it will give you few images and threads. This is how I figured out how to clean Summar I used to have.
ChrisLivsey
Veteran
This is from an uncoated Summar from 1934 shot at f4.5 on an M8, so cheating a bit on the crop.
Still the lens is capable of these results, it has been tweaked a little in Aperture but you can't make a silk purse etc.
It has not been cleaned nor from the look of the screws dis-assembled.
So yes your sample is bad. I would question the worth of spending on it as there may be residual problems in old coatings or fungus remains. Having a go yourself is potentially going to reduce the value. There are so many about I would trade it in and try another, the results can be dreamy, if that's what you want out of the lens. If you want high contrast and flare resistance you'r looking at the wrong lens.
So here are a couple of shots on film first showing the flare, and I was as you can see really pushing it, and in a low light situation with contrast.
I would re-scan this shot today, this was in 2012on a cheap scanner.
Both shots: HP5+ TD-201
Still the lens is capable of these results, it has been tweaked a little in Aperture but you can't make a silk purse etc.
It has not been cleaned nor from the look of the screws dis-assembled.
So yes your sample is bad. I would question the worth of spending on it as there may be residual problems in old coatings or fungus remains. Having a go yourself is potentially going to reduce the value. There are so many about I would trade it in and try another, the results can be dreamy, if that's what you want out of the lens. If you want high contrast and flare resistance you'r looking at the wrong lens.
So here are a couple of shots on film first showing the flare, and I was as you can see really pushing it, and in a low light situation with contrast.
I would re-scan this shot today, this was in 2012on a cheap scanner.
Both shots: HP5+ TD-201
aoresteen
Well-known
Dralowid
Michael
Hmmm, you could send it to Peter at CRR (Luton) or Newton & Ellis etc but...
I don't know but you may have paid £40-£60 for it. To have it sorted as best possible is likely to cost more than that. Then add postage. The result may not be a whole lot better. Unless you have a strong personal connection to the lens I wouldn't bother.
Sell the lens as is, add the selling price to the theoretical cost of a service and you have your budget for the next one.
I wouldn't buy a Summar for use via Ebay, it really isn't worth it. Indeed I wouldn't buy any lens I intended to actually use via Ebay...
I don't know but you may have paid £40-£60 for it. To have it sorted as best possible is likely to cost more than that. Then add postage. The result may not be a whole lot better. Unless you have a strong personal connection to the lens I wouldn't bother.
Sell the lens as is, add the selling price to the theoretical cost of a service and you have your budget for the next one.
I wouldn't buy a Summar for use via Ebay, it really isn't worth it. Indeed I wouldn't buy any lens I intended to actually use via Ebay...
blumoon
Well-known
Only if lens has fungus, I'll use Leica recipe from available on-line manual for how to service M2, lenses and Leica meter. It is very simple formula from common ingredients.
What is the formula and the ingredients?
What is the formula and the ingredients?
Ronald M
Veteran
It will never look like a modern lens. It will have a decent character image if put in good condition.
Always check a lens with flashlight before purchase.
Always check a lens with flashlight before purchase.
raid
Dad Photographer
Try using your Summar for portraits at window light. It can handle soft light well.
Highway 61
Revisited
The Summar was Leitz's first attempt to make a f/2 50mm lens. Unfortunately they couldn't use the Sonnar formula, property of Carl Zeiss Jena and the Zeiss Ikon group, who, at that time, were making the remarkable collapsible Sonnar f/2. So they went the double-Gauss way, but the Summar couldn't benefit of the improvements discovered later re. that formula (that is, with the Summitar and the Summicron).
So, even when perfectly clean, the Summar is a bad lens.
If you add to this that most of them now suffer from fungus and solid haze on the elements from decades of internal outgassing, you come to the conclusion.
Which is : this is a lens to discard.
If you want to go prewar with a Leitz 50mm lens, get an Elmar f/3.5 and nothing else. Otherwise, go the Summitar or the Summicron route.
So, even when perfectly clean, the Summar is a bad lens.
If you add to this that most of them now suffer from fungus and solid haze on the elements from decades of internal outgassing, you come to the conclusion.
Which is : this is a lens to discard.
If you want to go prewar with a Leitz 50mm lens, get an Elmar f/3.5 and nothing else. Otherwise, go the Summitar or the Summicron route.
raid
Dad Photographer
This is why I have used my Summar (after all these years) only with one roll of film so far. I concluded that I have better 50mm lenses than it.