The Article Translated From Japanese
The Article Translated From Japanese
The section on the Steinheil, roughly translated, says:
This lens is pretty rare but (he then lists some magazines) that deal with classic cameras don't talk about this lens so this lens has very little information. In the market, it's very rare to see. So is this actually a rare item; is it so rare that the magazines don't tlak about it. What is it truly? Same as earlier ortho-stigmat Steinheil lens so when I found the existence of this lens, I really wanted it. When I got this it was, the helicoid was stiff and the aperture were stiff, so it's been in the dessicant storage a long time. Before summer vacation I turned it into the repair man and now it's usable.
The outer design: there isn't even a focus lever. It's small, just like the ortho-stigmat but the earlier lens is a rather big lens with light blue-purple. It comes closer to Leica so the usage is great. No complaints there. If it's an M-model, it doesn't go over 1 meter but the shortest is 60cm.
The filter is like the Leitz Summitar. As a trial I attached Leitz hood IROOA but there isn't a dip where the stopper catches so it was perfect fit. It looked very good too.
Most important is the way the pictures come out. It is rather similar to Summicron but it's a little softer than Summicron (as it's literally written, he then compares the smoothness to squash, as in the vegetable -- and that's why it's similar to the ortho-stigmat). Contrast is rather low, maybe because of coating. It is suitable for monochrome pictures. If you open it all the way, the circumferance is a little iffy but if you make the aperture small it starts to become sharp. The out-of-focus on this lens is better than Nokton and Summilux; it is more true. (Paraphrasing again: he then says that the bokeh is "huanto", which in Japanese is the word for a sound that is supposed to make one think of lightness).
In my opinion, the last picture of Nara Todaiji (it's a temple in Nara), which was taken in the rain, shows the maximum capacity of this lens. As I said in the beginning, we don't see this lens in the market or in magazines but I think that this is a hidden treasure. If you have a chance, you should try it.