st. paulitan said:
Anybody got any tips on how to get the best results from a Summar LTM lens? Film speed? Film brand? Lighting? Wide open or stopped down one stop? I've got one that I love, but the results can be mixed.
Thanks!
Bill
Heh - this must be "Summar" day on RFF (... just posted this very "snip" about using the Summar on another thread). I have one and - yeah, love it too but results can be mixed.
1. Of course use a lens hood - always.
2. Films - I like it with XP2 Super for black and white, and I love the results I get with that lens with Kodak Ultra Color Professional. Haven't used it with traditional black and white for some reason.
3. Wide open contrast goes out the window - BUT, scanning in and adjusting levels works wonders so no fear of F2 if I'm scanning.
And this is probably the best advise about this usage of this lens:
2/50 Summar:
The Summar is Leitz's first f 2.0 lens, introduced in 1933. It shows it's best results between f 3.2 and 6.3. In this range, it is comparably sharp, like my Kodak Retina Ia 3.5/50 mm Xenar from the 50ies. In this range, it is a "high contrast lens", but different than we use the phrase today. Here it means, that the lens shows clear colors but hardly shadow details. To give an example: When you look at a tree at dawn or sunset, you clearly see the colors of the bright parts, but the shadows are gone and almost black. That's what the lens does, even in bright daylight. Additionally, the unsharp areas are more unsharp than in a "usual" 50 mm, almost like from the 2/90 mm M Summicron. Both effects (suppression of shadow details and "increased" unsharpness) result in the most impressive 3D or pictoral effect I've ever seen from a 50 mm, incl Noctilux. The highlights are over-pronounced, which gives an additional impression of light in your pictures (like in impressionism). At f 2.0 the corners tend to be dark and the colors are almost gone. It is a warm to neutral lens.
http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/ll.htm
