Just got a Barnack Leica!

victoriapio said:
Chris
Wonderful! Love the portrait of your son. Keep clicking ....
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Thanks, OC. I've been shooting a lot the last couple weeks but am behind in getting stuff scanned. Here's a new one with the 35mm Elmar.

wells-street-bike.jpg


This bicycle was chained to a bike rack in front of The Big Eyed Fish, a restaurant on Wells Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A number of bike racks like this one have been installed along Wells Street in recent years as part of the effort to rejuvenate the neighborhood.

The Pantry, one of Fort Wayne's rougher bars, (lots of stabbings and a few shootings over the years) is visible across the street.
 
Charles and Erik,


I love the 35 Elmar's rendering. I'd read so much bad stuff about it online that when I got it I figured that I'd eventually need to come up with the money for a 'better' lens like the 35mm Summaron.

I didn't get to try it for a couple weeks because I had to buy a finder to use with it, and when I finally did I was blown away by the excellent image quality. I don't know what advantage I'd see from a Summaron, and they're pretty expensive.

I would like to try a 50mm Elmar. My 50mm is the Summitar, another under-rated lens. It is incredibly sharp and has nice bokeh. I think its better than most modern 50s in overall rendering. I've always liked Tessar lenses, though, so I may buy a 50mm Elmar someday just to try.
 
I've never tried the Elmar, but I do like the Summaron 3.5 a lot. I borrowed one when I got my first Leica and I didn't have lens for it yet.

I do have a 50 Summitar that came on my IIIF that I got as a craiglist lot (of like 30 cameras). This thread reminds me I need to get the IIIF cleaned and serviced so I can give it a go... Just been a busy summer is all.

Chris, have you gotten used to looking through the tiny viewfinder? I'm not sure I could, but we'll see.
 
gnuyork said:
I've never tried the Elmar, but I do like the Summaron 3.5 a lot. I borrowed one when I got my first Leica and I didn't have lens for it yet.

I do have a 50 Summitar that came on my IIIF that I got as a craiglist lot (of like 30 cameras). This thread reminds me I need to get the IIIF cleaned and serviced so I can give it a go... Just been a busy summer is all.

Chris, have you gotten used to looking through the tiny viewfinder? I'm not sure I could, but we'll see.
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The built-in finder only covers 50mm lenses. I don't like it; it is not just because it is small. The edges are fuzzy, making framing hard, and it is not very accurate.


Because OC had given me a 35mm lens and a 135mm lens, in addition to a 50mm lens, I needed accessory finders for the other focal lengths. I ended up getting a Leica VIOOH universal finder that was made around the same time as the camera. It has built-in masks for 35, 50, 85, 90, and 135mm lenses; and it has parallax correction.


The VIOOH is far better than the built in finder. The edges are sharp, and the framing quite accurate. The 50mm setting gives a larger view than the built in finder, too. So I just use it for all of my lenses.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
The Canon accessory finder that automatically corrects parallax is neat; too bad Leica never had something like that.

The Leica Universal Finder (VIOOH) that I have doesn't have any coupling to the camera to tell it what the focused distance is. Instead, there's a lever on the back to turn to select a distance for parallax correction. It works, but only if you remember to set it each time you photograph something at a different distance. I found myself sometimes forgetting. The framing is very accurate when I set it right.
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I decided to kit out the IIIf with all Leica lenses, so I went shopping around and came up with two Elmar's, the 50/2.8 and 90/4vII. Then I realized that my VIOOH was in meters, while the lenses were in feet, and I didn't really want to get into all that converting on the fly when things might get busy, so after finding a Summaron 35/3.5 in feet I ordered another VIOOH to match the "new" lenses.



The older finder actually needed replacement anyway as I got it from a friend who had broken the prism which I glued back together, but it was never right after that. The replacement just needs to have the haze cleaned out.


I've got a zoom finder for the Nikon S2, but can't say as I like the sighting any better than the VIOOH, but it is a lighter package on top the camera.


I really like what you're getting with the 3.5 Elmar. It's a fine lens, and the only reason I went with the 2.8 is the E39 filters don't interfere with the aperture adjustment. Only the darn 90/4 is A36 like the Summaron. So I still had to order one of those FIKUS hoods I'd been avoiding.



As soon as RED Oktober is over I'll switch from the Zorki-1e/J-8 combo to the real Leica IIIf experience.


You just keep enjoying that rig of yours, Chris. It suits you well.


PF
 
farlymac said:
I decided to kit out the IIIf with all Leica lenses, so I went shopping around and came up with two Elmar's, the 50/2.8 and 90/4vII. Then I realized that my VIOOH was in meters, while the lenses were in feet, and I didn't really want to get into all that converting on the fly when things might get busy, so after finding a Summaron 35/3.5 in feet I ordered another VIOOH to match the "new" lenses.



The older finder actually needed replacement anyway as I got it from a friend who had broken the prism which I glued back together, but it was never right after that. The replacement just needs to have the haze cleaned out.


I've got a zoom finder for the Nikon S2, but can't say as I like the sighting any better than the VIOOH, but it is a lighter package on top the camera.


I really like what you're getting with the 3.5 Elmar. It's a fine lens, and the only reason I went with the 2.8 is the E39 filters don't interfere with the aperture adjustment. Only the darn 90/4 is A36 like the Summaron. So I still had to order one of those FIKUS hoods I'd been avoiding.



As soon as RED Oktober is over I'll switch from the Zorki-1e/J-8 combo to the real Leica IIIf experience.


You just keep enjoying that rig of yours, Chris. It suits you well.


PF
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Thanks, Farlymac. I'm probably going to stick to all Leica lenses, too (except my 135, which is a Canon).


The only lens I really want now is a 90mm Elmar. I tried to buy one recently but could not find one that wasn't full of haze or fungus. The lenses I have now are free of haze, because OC had them cleaned professionally before he gave them to me. I just hate to buy a lens that would cost me $200 or so then have to pay more to get it cleaned and wait weeks for the repairman to feel like doing the work. Hopefully, I'll find one someone has had cleaned and will sell at a reasonable price.


The filter sizes on lenses don't really matter to me, as I never use filters. Really! I've never used filters for BW film. Plus, the 50mm Summitar lens i have doesn't even have filter threads. I think there's a filter holder that Leica made that is required to use filters on that lens.


The only thing I don't like about the 35mm Elmar is that it has the fiddly aperture setting tab around the front lens element instead of a normal aperture ring. That's the one thing a Summaron would offer me.
 
There is one thing to be said for the aperture controls on the early lenses though - you can't easily move them by mistake, as I often do with the later ones.

That said, the Summaron is a beautiful lens, I love the rendering and it has probably given me the photo I adore more than others. Can't wait to get mine back from a service.

med_U74341I1564502940.SEQ.0.jpg
 
Here's a bike shot with the 35mm Elmar (nickel uncoated) by me. Includes a rough pub too.

Leica M2, Elmar 35mm f/3.5, 400-2TMY/Adox MCC 110.

Erik.

48015769743_b4ef30c0ca_b.jpg
 
gnuyork said:
Wow! Fantastic range in this photo...looking forward to trying my Summitar...


Here is one form my borrowed Summaron (3.5) shot with my M6 on Tri-X

soccer_fans.jpg
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Captured the excitement of the fans well!


I think you'll like the Summitar. Wide open it is soft at the edges but it is EXTREMELY sharp in the center. Stopped down, the edges get sharp too. I think its better than most modern 50mm SLR lenses I have used. Mine was cleaned by DAG so it has no haze, which many of them have, and the front element is pristine. Many of them have scratched front elements, which may affect image quality. I'm lucky to have one that is in such wonderful condition.
 
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