Question concerning 50/2 summicron collapsible

[kemal_mumcu]

I have been observing this site for some months now gaining information before buying my first Leica M. I have appreciated the experience and insights here.

I have had a bit of experience with a Olympus OM3 and a 50 for a few months as I inescapably sink deeper into film and away from digital. I would like to keep the Oly for color and as a backup camera and use the Leica for b&w work.

How would the 50/2 collapsible cron work as a starter lens? My idea was to use it to start off as I build skill with the system. I travel a lot and I thought the collapsible lens + body would fit better into a bag or jacket pocket. I am not really considering the elmar as I prefer the higher speed for available light work.

Does anyone have experience with this lens and can anyone describe to me what it's rendering qualities would be? I already know this lens is quite old and not nearly as sharp as the newer generations of crons.

 

[philhirn]

It is a wonderful lens and a great choice as a starting lens imo. Mine is already pretty good wide open and wonderful from 2,8 on. In spite of some haze. And you just have to love it´s profile and portability.

 

[Philippe D.]

Hi,

gaining information before buying my first Leica M.

What model would you like to acquire ?

How would the 50/2 collapsible cron work as a starter lens?

This lens was built between May 1953 - 1957, as screw and as bayonet mount.
At that time, it was one of the best lens ever built.
The disadvantage of those lenses are the quite soft and fragile sort of glass used.
Many have cleaning marks and worse, scratches on the front lens.
Good to look on production with s/n > 1 150 000, for a better coating.

Although it's a good lens, never forget to expend it to take a picture. Otherwise, you'll get pictures with a kind of "artistic" touch. 😉

 

[Avotius]

Its a great lens indeed, I have the older elmar and its a great lens too, I would love to have a classic 50 f2 cron one day but....gas....my advice, get one, shoot the hell out of it.

 

[waileong]

If you google you'll find quite a bit of info on the lens. Basically, a more classic look compared the harsh and clinical look from a modern lens.

 

[Didier]

The 50 collapsible is very nice lens and probably the most affordable Summicron. It is indeed very pocketable, which was the main reason for my purchase. Some things to consider:

The coating of these lenses is quite soft, so check out for an unscratched sample (or do like me, buy a scratched sample very cheap and let it recoat by focalpointlens or another lens service specialist).

Take care the aperture ring turns smoothly enough. Because, if it's resistance is bigger than the collapsing tube, you turn the whole front element when you want to set the aperture. This may slow down your shooting style.

Otherwise a very cute lens. It's bokeh is said to be 2nd best of all 50 Summicrons, after the DR 50/2. Not so crispy sharp at f2 - f4, but stopped down more it has not to fear newer lenses in terms of contrast and sharpness.

Approximately f11:

f2.0 (or 2.8 don't remember)

Comment: the focus was on the man's eye. His wife went a bit back with her body when she laughed (because I photographed her) that's why she's slightly out of focus.

 

[Marc-A.]

The coating of these lenses is quite soft, so check out for an unscratched sample (or do like me, buy a scratched sample very cheap and let it recoat by focalpointlens or another lens service specialist).

Nice pictures Didier, especially the colour one.
I have a question: how much did the recoating cost at Focalpoint? And do they recoat only the external front glass or the inside and the rear glass?
Best,
Marc

 

[Didier]

Marc-A,
Only the front element was recoated, as the others were not scratched. But all elements were taken off and cleaned, as well as the mechanical parts were serviced and lubed (my sample had quite strong corrosion and John van Stelten did a superb job). So in fact it was a CLA plus recoating and it costed around $270 all together. I believe recoating alone was offered for $195. The scratched lens had costed something below 50 francs on ebay Switzerland.
The seller, an older Leica enthusiast, was quite jealous when I sent him pictures of the serviced lens...
Didier

 

[Pherdinand]

Kemal,

that same lens was my first leitz lens as well. Bought it together with an M2.
Optically it is great. I have no complaints on it whatsoever. Mine has some cleaning markson the front but i don't see any problems caused by those.
It's also nice that it is so portable. Even uncollapsed it is rather small.

What i do not like is the tiny focusing ring with the tab. Basically you can only focus by using the tab, the ring being so ridiculously narrow. I guess for the collapsibility it must be like that. But it's not my favourite design.

 

[Marc-A.]

Marc-A,
Only the front element was recoated, as the others were not scratched. But all elements were taken off and cleaned, as well as the mechanical parts were serviced and lubed (my sample had quite strong corrosion and John van Stelten did a superb job). So in fact it was a CLA plus recoating and it costed around $270 all together. I believe recoating alone was offered for $195. The scratched lens had costed something below 50 francs on ebay Switzerland.
The seller, an older Leica enthusiast, was quite jealous when I sent him pictures of the serviced lens...
Didier

Thanks for the information. I can understand the feeling of the seller ... but he can blame only himself 🙄

 

[gcsk76]

Hi Kemal,

I'm going to stick my head out with some photos. Coll' cron 50/2 was my 1st Leica lens. (S/N 126xxxx). Very 1st in fact, before I bought a M body for it.

I have severals 50 (DR, J-3, Coll', FED 50), but coll' gets the nod most of the time due to size.

For BW, I felt the contrast is not that great, compare with my DR. Depends on mood, I'll increase the contrast (to my taste) by pushing tri-X to 1600 and/or with yellow filter.

Posting a couple of different themes here, and let you be the judge.

 

[gcsk76]

I can't tell you much about colours as I rarely shoot. This are some of them.

Some cross-processings here, if you are interested to see.

 

[kemal_mumcu]

Thanks for the information and the samples of what this lens can do. Reading your replys and other info on the net I understand that it's not so easy to get clean examples of this lens. How can I go about getting a lens that I won't have to send away immediatly to get CLA'ed? I was planning to buy either through ebay or a place like Keh or B&H. How can I know for sure the quality of what I'm getting before it arrives. I don't want to start my Leica experience with a lens fogged through.

 

[hou baloo]

You might want to consider buying a ready-to-CLA one - I picked up one for about $150, and almost immediately sent it off to Sherry Kräuter at Golden Touch. She turned it around in about 2 weeks for $80. Depending on availability, this may be an expedient way to acquire a quality lens....

 

[hans voralberg]

KEH rating are quite accurate so if you're buying from them you shouldnt be worried

 

[JNewell]

I used one for years - was my only lens. Yes, a very capable lens.

Mine had (has) a fair number of scratches in the coating. Honestly, this never caused any effects I noticed. All Summicrons tend to flare a bit even without any scratches, and you are very unlikely to ever have a picture suffer from light to moderate coating scratches.

 

[LeicaTom]

Love the CP pix, I do this quite alot myself and it`s nice to see it done with a vintage collapsible Summicron 🙂

Here`s a real oldie from me, shot in back in 1995 with a Leica IIIF RDST and an early Summicron......was as I remember shot wide open

One of my first Retro PinUp subjects Miss Amrei in the corner of my very 1950`s filled living room in
Feucht, Germany


Tom

 

[dpetrzelka]

The collapsible 50/2 Summicron was my first lens as well - and my only 50mm. It is wonderful for b+w. I can't really speak to color as I've nly had Costco develop the little color film I've shot and it looks terrible (no fault of the lens).

Beautifully soft wide open - and sharpens up quickly. My only complaint about it is the "slow" focusing compared to my 35. The focussing tab has a very long throw, and is quite small- so quick focusing takes a lot of practice. The longer throw would theoretically give you more precision.

All of these were shot wide open (my Dad was maybe at 2.8) with pretty slow shutter speeds- so they are a little softer than can be expected from this lens with 1/60 and faster.