Pristine yet overpriced Summicron 50/2 collapsible

[dwr]

Hey guys,

I've been shooting with an Elmar 5cm/3.5 on my Leica Standard for a couple of months now, and although I truly appreciate its compactness, I found it too slow for my needs since almost half of my shots are done indoor. So I'm thinking about getting a faster 50.

Then I saw this screw mount collapsible Summicron 50/2 that goes for about US990, it's way over my budget and so much more expensive than the ones I found on 'bay, but it's in an almost pristine condition, no cleaning marks, haze or fogging, etc, and it seems to work great mechanically.

There're also a Serenar 50/1.8 and Nokton 50/1.5 asph that go for US400 and US700 respectively. But since the Summicron is collapsible so I would suppose that it would make a much more compact package when collapsed with my Standard than the other two? But Leica lenses are so overpriced here, and I can't buy stuff over 'bay so my options are really limited. Hope someone with more experience and insight might help me with this little ailment of choosing a lens.

Thanks for any comments!

 

[mahleu]

I have a collapsible 50 Summicron (in M mount), unfortunately mine is a bit of a mess. I've only had it a few weeks and haven't had a chance to see any results from it. It had some wierd residue inside which seems to have messed with the coating. Hopefully it's a cosmetic issue and the pics will be ok...

 

[mfogiel]

At this price you would be better off buying a more modern lens. The Collapsible is a fine lens, but not much sharp wide open. Follow the classifieds here, sooner or later an opportunity will come along, and BTW if you want a fast LTM lens, it will have to be rigid.

 

[roundg]

If you really want to use the lens, a pristine condition is not important to you. At 400, u can find a very clean copy.

 

[Dralowid]

f2 on a Standard with no rangefinder would require fine judgement of distances....

Michael

 

[johannielscom]

f2 on a Standard with no rangefinder would require fine judgement of distances....

Michael

My thoughts exactly, in fact I think you'd pull off a great job when nailing focus with a 50/3.5 Elmar wide open!

 

[venchka]

For $990USD you could get a really decent Canon IVS2 or newer camera, 50/1.4 and probably a 35mm/2.8 lens. Heck, if you shop carefully, you could get a camera & 35/2.8-50/1.4-85/2.0 lenses. And have a proper range/view finder.

 

[Dralowid]

Johan,

Haven't you got CMOUI? The lesser known Wetzlar measuring tape accessory or the even rarer imperial measurement version FTOUI?

Seriously though, getting close and in focus at anything bigger than 5.6 is a bit of an 'art'.

Michael

 

[dwr]

f2 on a Standard with no rangefinder would require fine judgement of distances....

Michael

Ah... yes, that could be a problem. Didn't occur to me since I've only been shooting the Elmar on it. Thanks for mentioning!

 

[dwr]

If you really want to use the lens, a pristine condition is not important to you. At 400, u can find a very clean copy.

That's a fine point roundg, think my mind was clouded by the cosmetics, I want a user lens and not a collector lens after all.

 

[dwr]

I have a collapsible 50 Summicron (in M mount), unfortunately mine is a bit of a mess. I've only had it a few weeks and haven't had a chance to see any results from it. It had some wierd residue inside which seems to have messed with the coating. Hopefully it's a cosmetic issue and the pics will be ok...

Be sure to let me know how the prints turn out!

 

[johannielscom]

Johan,

Haven't you got CMOUI? The lesser known Wetzlar measuring tape accessory or the even rarer imperial measurement version FTOUI?

Seriously though, getting close and in focus at anything bigger than 5.6 is a bit of an 'art'.

Michael

Michael,

these abbreviations ending with 'OUI' sound like rather painful diseases to me 😀 and I'm glad I do not have them...😛

 

[DonaldJ.]

I sent you a PM dwr. I have one for sale in the classifides

 

[dwr]

At this price you would be better off buying a more modern lens. The Collapsible is a fine lens, but not much sharp wide open. Follow the classifieds here, sooner or later an opportunity will come along, and BTW if you want a fast LTM lens, it will have to be rigid.

Just wondering about why a fast LTm lens it will have to be rigid? It's probably more technical than I can handle, but mind shed some light on it mfogiel?

 

[dwr]

My thoughts exactly, in fact I think you'd pull off a great job when nailing focus with a 50/3.5 Elmar wide open!

Some of the pics turned out to be pretty spot on at 3.5, think I'll post one up later (have to scan the prints first... now I have about 160 prints waiting to be scanned...).

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The mechical fixture of the Collapsible Summicron is fine for use wide-open. Lack of an RF- more of a problem. The locking mechanism is built quite nicely, the lens tube locks firmly in place. The locking mechanism of my collapsible Nikkor 5cm f2 is not as good, and I see why Nikon went to a rigid mount early on. But on the Summicron: you do not need to worry about it.

Summicron and Rigid Nikkor 5cm f2, also a Zeiss Sonnar 5cm f2 converted to Rigid LTM.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84953&highlight=summicron


and Summicron, Summicron, and Summicron...

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81311&highlight=summicron

 

[dwr]

The mechical fixture of the Collapsible Summicron is fine for use wide-open. Lack of an RF- more of a problem. The locking mechanism is built quite nicely, the lens tube locks firmly in place. The locking mechanism of my collapsible Nikkor 5cm f2 is not as good, and I see why Nikon went to a rigid mount early on. But on the Summicron: you do not need to worry about it.

Summicron and Rigid Nikkor 5cm f2, also a Zeiss Sonnar 5cm f2 converted to Rigid LTM.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84953&highlight=summicron


and Summicron, Summicron, and Summicron...

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81311&highlight=summicron

Thanks for the links Brian! I'll study them!

 

[dwr]

1/40, F3.5, distance at 1.3m aprox.

1/30, F3.5, distance at 1.5m aprox.

Now that I'm carefully looking through the prints, I found that the successful rates at 3.5 aren't as high as I merrily expected, while the percentage of acceptable sharpness improves drastically at 4.5. Shooting at 2 without a rangefinder seems to be a real challenging task...

 

[dwr]

Now my mind is divided between getting a fast 50 and a fast 28 (and a "get 'em all!" but it's financially impossible so just ignore it). A 50 because I can go out with both and swap lens without having to change perspective (but why would I want to go out with two 50s?) And a fast 28 exactly because then I don't have to have two 50s, and get to see how I'll like 28 (my first lens is Nokton 35/1.4 and I really like it) which I would suppose somewhat similar to a 35 (or am I wrong)?

 

[LChanyungco]

I have a collapsible with mint glass and coatings that is worth more than $900 to me. It's the one lens I wouldn't sell.