Summarit 50 f1.5 & Photos

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Fantastic shot, Sleepyhead. Just gorgeous.

I picked up a scruffy Summarit (in LTM) a few weeks ago. Had it apart for cleaning and relubrication. I filled in a few pits in the front element with dark ink.

Tested it on my M-E during a walk through a local reserve.
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Mr_Flibble said:
Fantastic shot, Sleepyhead. Just gorgeous.


I picked up a scruffy Summarit (in LTM) a few weeks ago. Had it apart for cleaning and relubrication. I filled in a few pits in the front element with dark ink.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rick. It helps that Nyhavn is quite picturesque even without any effort on my part.

I really must try to use my Summarit more wide open. I just like that it can be used as an all-around 50mm if stopped down.

Your copy seems very nice for being "scruffy"!
 
I've been shooting a lot with the ltm Summarit lately. Stopped down to f2 or higher and it's on par with my collapsible Summicron. Wide open it's a very soft drawing lens. Still has detail, it's just dreamy quality.
 
It's big yes, you lose a bit of pocketability. But I've been carrying around a Xenon for a while and don't find it that uncomfortable.

Heck, just bought another Summarit :p

More from Mr.Scratchy
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I've got a Leica M mount version of the 1.5cm Summarit, produced in 1955. My copy has some blue-ish lens coating, and has no scratches, no cleaning marks, and no internal haze.

I've only owned the lens for a few months, so I'm still learning its characteristics. I have been SURPRISINGLY IMPRESSED with its sharpness wide open. So far I find it very flare resistant as well (I have not used the original lens shade yet). At f/4, I would call the lens "very sharp", similar to the v.4 50mm Summicron f/4 that I also use.

All-in-all, these characteristics combined with the beautiful vintage rendering, makes the Summarit a keeper of a lens for me. (And I was looking for an excellent copy for a couple of years.)

Here's an example at f/1.5 (followed by 100% crop):
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Here's an example at f/4:
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My wife & I visited friends in Helsingor & Hellebeck in 2014, plus a few days in Copenhagen.

Loved it. Would go back in a heartbeat. :)
 
The Summarit changes character markedly as it is stopped down. Wide open it is very low contrast somewhat soft (though not as much as people claim) and is inclined to have a hazy flare. At f2 this begins to clear up and stopped down further it becomes much more conventional in its rendering. I find its color to be interesting - quite pastel colors especially when shot open and near open. I have a soft spot for character lenses that are special purpose lenses - they don't suit every situation of course but can be used like artists brushes. I have some images from a Summarit at Photobucket, but that hopeless site no longer allows people to link its images to other sites (making it useful as a bucket with no bottom). So I cannot provide samples.
 
...
Very IMHO....
Using old film era lens on new crop digital body is nothing new and nothing exciting.
It is more like Flickr, dpr, POTN thing. Here, on RFF, it historically grown and still well supported as film lens on film body. Or Leica lens on digital Leica...
Not something as higher than Flickr standard, but more natural.

Personally, I'm more fascinated by 365 outgoing thread with Fuji X native lenses then with old lenses cuts by new crop cameras. It is like watching 16:9 film on 4:3 TV set to full screen.

Just my suggestion. Cut your two full lines + signature to one short line signature. Something like X-E2 and 35 1.4. Or A7 and Rigid Cron. This will be new RFF thing. Not just another dpr like thread or Flickr group.
IMO. Very IMO.
 
I've just bought a Summarit, having gone into the shop expecting to come away with either a J-3 or a Canon 50/1.4. I included the Summarit into the test on a whim, but was won over by the way it opens out shadows wide open, thanks to its low contrast. The quest to find a 41mm hood and uv filter starts here.
One of the test shots I took with the lens in the store:
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siracusa said:
I've just bought a Summarit, having gone into the shop expecting to come away with either a J-3 or a Canon 50/1.4. I included the Summarit into the test on a whim, but was won over by the way it opens out shadows wide open, thanks to its low contrast. The quest to find a 41mm hood and uv filter starts here.
One of the test shots I took with the lens in the store:
Click to expand...

Welcome to the club!
 
Shot some more with the scratchy summarit (LTM) on the Leica M-E, with a E41 UV filter and a vented hood over it;

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Soviet helicopter pilot

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French "Poilus"

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Confederate soldier

I find that giving the images a slight j-curve in the contrast reduces glow significantly it also gives the colors a little more saturation.

I should really try my non-scratched LTM summarit on the M-E sometimes, but right now it's married to the Leica IIIf RD.

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Foma Retro 320 in HC-110... not a good combo
 
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