Leica LTM Summitar the star...

[Dektol Dan]

On the Monochrome

On the Monochrome

Okay, this isn't the best representation, there will be more later.

Leica MM, 1949 Summitar:

 

[Dektol Dan]

Another Mono with Summitar

Another Mono with Summitar

Just a dog pic, but good example of f2. I think the Summitar is made for the Monochrome.

 

[x-ray]

Funny this thread popped up. I owned one several years ago and unfortunately sold it. Just a couple of weeks ago I bought a super nice one with perfect glass from a forum member.

Don't get me wrong because I like crisp clean images but I just got tired of no character pixel perfect images and started selling my new aspheric glass and buying 50's and 60's glass. I've got to say I love the classic rendering of this older glass. I've been shooting Leicas since the 60's and went back and studied my favorite images that I've shot over the decades. I found the look that I liked best were from my first M glass in the 60's. I'm now acquiring nice samples of these lenses again.

I hadn't owned a summitar till 5 or 6 years ago and when I got my first one I fell in love with the images it produced. For some reason I some it but found a much nicer one and have started enjoying the beautiful rendering again. The Summitar is a very under appreciated lens and I'm glad because prices are still a bargain.

 

[Dektol Dan]

I'm sold on old glass too. The trick is finding a good example; if you do it's gold. The other option is Zeiss which remakes their best from the past with modern materials and coatings. I just bought a new Distagon which was a Hasselblad hit in 1952. It's great! Old glass is usually smaller, and if f2 is fast enough (sure it is, so is f2.8!) one finds that high contrast lenses leave a feller cold. It's easy to jack up contrast in Photoshop, but not so easy to make a new lens have the wonderful value range of the old.

 

[Bingley]

Me too. I had a nice postwar coated Summitar and mistakenly sold it during a fit of lens thinning. I subsequently bought an uncoated pre-war version, with pristine glass, from a member here, and it's a keeper. I should use it more. They tend to flare easily, but the images they produce are lovely and they're beautifully made.

 

[Bingley]

With the aforementioned uncoated Summitar, on Tri-X:


Used by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Dektol Dan]

Looks like you found a nice one. The Summitar does very nicely with Porta too.

 

[Dektol Dan]

Porta Shot

Porta Shot

M6, Summitar

 

[Bingley]

Yes it does. Here's the coated Summitar I no longer own, on Portra 160NC. Why did I sell this lens?

Alkali Flat by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

I've been using my uncoated Summitar with Kodak 400 Max film for a project on the vernacular architecture in the Outer Sunset and Richmond districts in San Francisco. Here's a sample:



Outer Sunset by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Dektol Dan]

More Porta

More Porta

Mine is a '49 coated. I bought two before I found this one.
M6, Summitar, Porta 160 VC.....Killer no?! VC? Jeesh 2007!
I miss that stuff!

 

[Bingley]

Uncoated Summitar, Kodak 200:


Balboa Street by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[maddoc]

Me too. I had a nice postwar coated Summitar and mistakenly sold it during a fit of lens thinning.

I can`t help you here, Steve... I also sold it after getting a 50mm Summicron vs4 (tabbed), printed this one:

(DELTA400 / IIIb)

 

[sleepyhead]

I love the vintage-y colours your getting from the Summitar. It's one of my favourite lenses on the M9.

Uncoated Summitar, Kodak 200:


Balboa Street by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

I can`t help you here, Steve... I also sold it after getting a 50mm Summicron vs4 (tabbed), printed this one:

(DELTA400 / IIIb)

I hope wherever it's landed it's being used well. Very nice shot, btw.

 

[Bingley]

Thank you, Yaron. My local Costco stopped scanning film, so I'm doing the scans myself now, and finding that this brings out the desaturated, vintage look in color.

 

[mike rosenlof]

Wide open. Canon 7Sz. HP5+

 

[helen.HH]

i too foolishly sold my summitar... so many foolish things I've done
Tmax 400 & the summitar in the dark


on a lonely night , I came upon him working on the gas line... by helenhill_HH, on Flickr

 

[helen.HH]

ces't moi.... shot with the summitar

Moi ----conditioning the locks by helenhill_HH, on Flickr

 

[Montag006]

Helen, as usual I love your photos!
Thanks for sharing the 2 above.

And your french accent is beyond description!

David