Leica LTM Summar of Love (Leitz Summar Sample Pics)

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
Brian Legge said:
ayazdani, is your summar coated? Mine is relatively clean but it still tends to flare at least slightly in extremely high contrast situations like that.
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No coating at all. Mine is definitely flare-prone as well (when pointing the camera in the general direction of the sun).
I did adjust contrast to achieve a black.

darya151 said:
I really like those images. I've been looking for a Summar, but nearly all have scratches all over the front element. How would this effect images? Any suggestions?
Darya
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I have scratches a specks of black dust in mine and don't notice them at all in my photographs.
 
8173766085_8cb9216319_b.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/8173766085
 
darya151 said:
I really like those images. I've been looking for a Summar, but nearly all have scratches all over the front element. How would this effect images? Any suggestions?
Darya
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scratches will not reduce sharpness, but contrast. flare is increased, shooting in clear sunlight is difficult. the more scratches, the bigger the effects.
 
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Kodak Ektar. From a couple of days ago.

Shots from my Summar, with a hood, aren't really as low contrast as many images I've seen. I use mine as my main 50. It is coated, though.
 
Dralowid said:
From what i remember just unscrew the little grub screw on the front ring of the lens near the lettering.

But...haze is more often found next to the iris...
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Hi,
I'm in the same situation as Johan, regarding removal of the Summar front element. So, once the tiny screw is removed, then what? Mine looks like perhaps a previous owner tried to do this and has put a little scratch in the black ring face near the screw hole. As if they tried to rotate it… unsuccessfully.

I should mention that I can easily unscrew the whole top section above the aperture ring, no problem. But I'm not able to simply unscrew the top-most section from the lower (which apparently holds the upper cemented pair).

Thanks!
 
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If the front element is supposed to just unscrew from the section below it, mine's not budging at all. I've applied naphtha to the point where it appears the 2 sections meet (a dark ring just above the threads with which the whole assembly screws into the barrel - right?) in hopes it would free things up. No good so far...
 
Okay, thanks for the pictures. I see that the front separates just below the knurled ring. In any case, my attempts to separate it from the cell below have been unsuccessful. Just can't get a good enough grip on the two pieces to twist them apart. Oh, well...
 
If you extend the lens, then 'back the bayonet up' and wrap something rubber round the front ring you should be able to shift it but remember that you will need to exert the same force to get it back to its original position.

But then again, if the lens is hazy it is most likely not here, more likely around the iris.
 
Mine was focusing way behind the target when shooting anything under 5 meters when I got it.

I cleaned it up inside (didn't make much of a difference though) and set it straight using the Live View from the little Ricoh GXR-M. Now it focuses spot on up until 4 meters and starts to drift from there when shot wide open. But, when stopped down it pretty much compensates for anything distant, and the 4 meter threshold makes that it is a lot more useful for portraits etc so I'm cool with it.

Somewhere around here is another thread that shows how to get to the elements close to the aperture and clean those, but it will need re-calibration after that. At least mine did, YMMV.
 
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