Leica Summicron-M 2/5cm collapsible

[gohaj]

how good or how bad is Leica Summicron-M 2/5cm collapsible ?

 

[Bill Blackwell]

how good or how bad is Leica Summicron-M 2/5cm collapsible ?

It is getting very difficult to find one without haze and cleaning marks. Regardless of whatever anyone else might tell you - be assured this DOES affect image quality.

If you do find one with "mint" class, compared to today's optical formulas it will produce soft images wide-open, but it is an ideal lens for B&W.

 

[bradhusick]

i was lucky enough to find a super clean one, and it's one of my favorite lenses in my kit. It draws with a lovely creamy (yet sharp) nature that's hard to describe. It's not like the modern super-sharp aspheric lenses. I just love this lens and the way it looks on my M8 and MP.

 

[payasam]

I've only done a few test shots with mine so far, but it lives up to its reputation: soft and low contrast wide open, with both sharpness and contrast increasing at smaller stops.

 

[Austerby]

Mine came attached to the M3 I bought a couple of years ago. It does suffer from haze and cleaning marks and I only use it infrequently as a "special effects" lens - the softness does make for good, atmospheric and gentle portraits for example. It is not dissimilar from the LTM Summar I also have, so does posess that famed glow.

If you have found one at a good price then it's certainly worth picking up and having a play with it to see what it can produce. You may be pleasantly surprised.