Summarit 50 f1.5 & Photos

Summarit LTM, wide open, fomapan 200 @ 200, early evening light.


U5622I1301583771.SEQ.0.jpg
 
Summarit 50 f1.5 & Photos

I spent 2 days with this lens this past week,
paired with my chrome M6.

My lens is not without issues, firstly there are oil
on the blades, and has small scratches in the front
and back elements. This makes for a rather
soft image wide-open, and it tends to flare quite a bit,
but otherwise a low contrast image maker.

Against a back-lit situation, the flare tends to wrap
around the foreground subject, especially when wide open.
Sometimes, white brightly lite objects tend to overwhelm,
leaving the image with large blotches of white. The original
hood tends to be quite expensive and large, I use 2 40.5 filters
without any glass and taped it around the rim as a improvised hood.

Here is an example of side-flare, which I think is a result of
the characteristics of the lens + oil in the blades + scratches,

summarit-c.jpg


Stopped down a bit, the lens is very usable, despite the
age of the lens, which is of the '50s vintage.

The following are shot from f2 onwards.

summarit-a.jpg

Hotel in BKK.

summarit-b.jpg

Conference Notes. Bkk

summarit-d.jpg

Lady with Husky Voice, BKK.


All were shot with a LTM version of the Summarit 50 f1.5
Film used is the Legacy Pro 400 (Fuji Neopan 400)
Pushed to ISO 1600 and developed in XTOL 1+1

raytoei
 
Just two days ago I got my Summarit back from a CLA. After three years of looking around, I found a place that wasn't scared of taking it in without quoting an outrageous sum (the diaphragm blades were stuck, and one of them was out of place).

The condition of my Summarit is out of the ordinary (never mind that it's the less-common M-mount version): zero scratches, zero fogging or haze, incredibly smooth, and on-spot focusing. It does not exhibit the softness most Summarits are known for except when wide-open and shot against a strong source of light.

The same day I got it back, I decided to test it to a test shooting I was invited to participate. The only two shots taken wide-open that I've posted online are:


Leica M8 + 50mm f/1.5 Summarit @ f/1.5

I thought the conditions were a good way to test the lens for "softness". You'll notice that the flare/glare is pretty much in line with what you'd expect from a properly-kept V1 or V2 50mm Summilux.

Notice how there's no overdue softness with a straight light coming in. My point is: get your lens cleaned! These fog easily --mine, for some reason, doesn't. The first one I had had lots of front-element scratches, and exhibited the flare you're exhibiting, even stopped down to about f/5.6; it also made the presence of haze difficult to see, so I'm betting your copy has some haze. Not much you can do about the scratches, though, if yours has them.

Having said that, looks like your copy is pretty well-behaved.

I would strongly recommend getting the Summarit 41mm UV filter by Leica if you don't have B+W's 40.5mm MRC UV; it is surprisingly "clear" and the coatings are just as good as B+W's MRC UV filters.

The shots stopped down at f/4 or f/5.6 blew me away: nice rendition and contrast, yet has that unique Summarit "creamy" signature.

Always loved the 50mm Summarit, and still do. This may make my recent contemplation of selling my tabbed (yes, tabbed) 50mm Summilux pre-asph E46 (finances are a bit tight) less painful.
 
A few more, stopped-down to f/5.6:


M8 + 50mm f/1.5 Summarit @ f/5.6

I should point out that I had no hood on the lens (I do own the original, though), and was very pleased (and surprised) to see that there were no internal reflections that are usually found while using the UV/IR filters on a sensitive lens such as this (I fight that a lot when using the same filter on the 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar (Zeiss-Opton), Contax mount)
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
Just two days ago I got my Summarit back from a CLA. After three years of looking around, I found a place that wasn't scared of taking it in without quoting an outrageous sum (the diaphragm blades were stuck, and one of them was out of place).

The condition of my Summarit is out of the ordinary (never mind that it's the less-common M-mount version): zero scratches, zero fogging or haze, incredibly smooth, and on-spot focusing. It does not exhibit the softness most Summarits are known for except when wide-open and shot against a strong source of light.

The same day I got it back, I decided to test it to a test shooting I was invited to participate. The only two shots taken wide-open that I've posted online are:


Leica M8 + 50mm f/1.5 Summarit @ f/1.5

Notice how there's no overdue softness with a straight light coming in. My point is: get your lens cleaned! These fog easily --mine, for some reason, doesn't. The first one I had had lots of front-element scratches, and exhibited the flare you're exhibiting, even stopped down to about f/5.6

The shots stopped down at f/4 or f/5.6 blew me away: nice rendition and contrast, yet has that unique Summarit "creamy" signature.

Always loved the 50mm Summarit, and still do. This may make my recent contemplation of selling my tabbed (yes, tabbed) 50mm Summilux pre-asph E46 (finances are a bit tight) less painful.
Click to expand...

Nice photos, Gabe...
Yes, my experience exactly..the lens can be as sharp as I want stopped down. But then, I always enjoyed contre jour...using flare, not avoiding it as much as possible.:) So, I shoot wide open a lot.
 
iankraus--9.jpg


m2 ds @ 2.8

Mine has haze and it needs a cleaning but is pretty clean from scratches.

I dont see why this lens doesnt have a sticky.
 
I read that the Summilux version 1 (pre 188xxxx serial number)
has similar properties to this lens, ie. an improved version of the
summarit 1.5, has anyone done any comparison with both lenses ?
i am debating on either getting: a) a more pristine summarit 1.5 b)
go for a lux v.1 or c) go for the nokton 1.5 ltm which is similar to
the price of a clean rit 1.5.

thanks
 
I'm quite happy with my m-mount Summarit.
M6TTL, 50 ƒ1.5 Summarit, Tri-X 400, Ilfotec HC.

and it was stopped down maybe f5.6/f8?
img273t.jpg
 
Low contrast, low resolution and prone to flare is the character of the lens. So don't waste your time to looking for a really mint copy and expect something different (as I ever did).

IMHO, Sonnar is a better lens than Summarit. Oh, bro, I forgot that I bought the sonnar from you. :)
 
roundg said:
Low contrast, low resolution and prone to flare is the character of the lens. So don't waste your time to looking for a really mint copy and expect something different (as I ever did).
Click to expand...

I dont think any of the photos in this thread would look better with higher contrast and none seem to be lacking detail.

If your lens has a thick layer of haze and/or was serviced by someone who didnt know these lenses that could be the case with any lens.

for bw film and peoples faces lower contrast is not a bad thing. this has only slightly less contrast than a similar vintage lux.
for candid portraits in bright sun this lens is great.

I dont think this lens could be described as low resolution. from 2.8-4 its surprisingly sharp and even at 1.5 renders very nice detail with extended shadow detail.
The lens character is absolutely brilliant and for what i want to shoot with my m3 its a great companion.
Look of the oof areas is different from lux or cron in a very nice way.
 
Oh boy, the page crawls to a slow load.

And it scrolls beyond the width of my monitor. And I have a big monitor.
 
great shots ianstamatic

great shots ianstamatic

@ ianstamatic and all

Great photographs in this thread. I am especially impressed with the composition and tonality of the shot of the girl in the white dress.

It must be a scan of a picture and not a negative? What film / developer did you use? Sorry to ask just curious.

After moving to digital 1.5 year ago I am partly going back to film and was contemplaiting a summarit in addition to my excellent old chrome Jupiter 3 (sonnar).

Thanks, Alwin

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photomensch/3796423662/
 
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