vintage look LTM lens

[yarinkel]

Hi all,

this post complements one I did in the film forum. Basically, I`m searching a LTM lens for B&W pictures with the look and feel of the 50`s/60`s, preferably a 50mm one.

I looked around here for a while and it seems that the Summitar or the Summarit could do the job, but I`m opened to any suggestion. Only the end picture is important to me. The Summitar/Summarit I could buy are ok but both have a slight haze. Is this a problem?

Any recommendations for other lenses?

Thanks a lot for your time,

Yann

 

[Stephanie Brim]

J-3. Sonnar. Summarit. Collapsible Summicron. There's LOTS.

 

[peterc]

FED 50/3.5

Peter

 

[richard_l]

Besides being a nice shot, the most noticeable thing in Peter's photo is the flare, which reduces contrast in the vicinity of the light source. It is an interesting effect. Is that what is meant by 'vintage look?'

Richard

 

[raid]

I have experimented with several older lenses the past months, and I can recommend the following LTM lenses for a nice vintage look:

1. Canon 35mm/2.8
2. Canon 50mm/2.8
3. Canon 28mm/3.5
4. Leitz Summar 50mm/2
5. Leitz Elmar 50mm/3.5

I very much recommend the five lenses above for a vintage look.


Raid

 

[FPjohn]

Serenar

Serenar

Hello:

Any good example of an Elmar or a Canon that is still named Serenar might suit your needs.

Best of light.
Frank

 

[wlewisiii]

If there is haze, you'll need to add in the cost of a CLA. Scratches really don't matter unless you've got chunks of glass missing. But even a light haze will significantly degrade a lenses performance.

That said, do you have a preference in manufacturer? I'd bet you could find a wonderful example of the Canon 50/1.8 or 50/1.9 quite inexpensively.

William

 

[yarinkel]

Peter, I like your shot.
Raid, yes I`ve seen your very helpful 50mm comparisons. Thanks for those tests by the way.
William, I don`t really have a preference, but all my LTM lenses somehow are "modern" ones. Canon LTM 50 1.4, Ultron 35mm 1.7, modern 50/2.0 summicron (Japanese LTM edition), so I would like some change 🙂.
I`d like a creamy boke tho.

 

[wlewisiii]

Then I'd suggest a Canon/Serenar 50/1.5 as that would probably fit your description to a T.

William

 

[peterc]

Elmar 50/2.8 example.

Peter

 

[richard_l]

Elmar 50/2.8 example.

Another nice one! You really know how to use adverse lighting to your advantage.

 

[furcafe]

The Canon 50/1.4 is a 1960s lens, so you already have the '60s covered. For the 1950s, just get a LTM collapsible 5cm/2 Summicron & you'll be a member of the Cartier-Bresson school. Of course, you'll also need to use an old school silver-rich film (Bergger BRF 200, Efke KB 100, etc.) to get a real vintage look (much bigger effect than any lens IMHO).

Peter, I like your shot.
Raid, yes I`ve seen your very helpful 50mm comparisons. Thanks for those tests by the way.
William, I don`t really have a preference, but all my LTM lenses somehow are "modern" ones. Canon LTM 50 1.4, Ultron 35mm 1.7, modern 50/2.0 summicron (Japanese LTM edition), so I would like some change 🙂.
I`d like a creamy boke tho.

 

[peterc]

Another nice one! You really know how to use adverse lighting to your advantage.

Thanks. It's fun to see how far you can push lenses before bad things happen. The FED 50/3.5 and the Elmar 50/2.8 seem to stand up pretty well to direct light, though both are less forgving when the light is from the side (lens hoods are a must).

Peter

 

[Avotius]

im a fan of the elmar 50 3.5 but im impressed with the results from the fed 50 3.5 ive seen on here, pretty neat

 

[triplefinger]

i'm a big fan of the summitar and the Industar-50. both have a very sharp old timey look, so does the summar, but it's softer

 

[rover]

The Canon 50/1.5, Nikkor 50/2 and Summitar immediately come to my mind.

 

[Stu W]

Viewfinder magazine, Volume 38, Issue 4 has a great article including photos by Robert Weatherburn called "The Magical Light of Wetlands". The majority of the photos were taken with uncoated lenses using his hat as a lens shade. The color film used was Jessops Colour film. Anyway, these photos may as well been taken in the 1940's or 50's. The colors are nice and accurate looking, and not that super saturated artificial looking colors of today. The photo that stands out like a red herring was the one taken with a COATED Elmar. The B&W was shot on Ilford. Looking at the pics Mr. Weatherburn took and looking at my family album pics from my childhood it's hard to see any diff. It's the look I've been trying to capture but so far no luck. I would link to the pdf of that issue but I don't know if the LHSA would frown on that. Stu

 

[rover]

Funny, I was just looking at my Canon IVSB2 which currently serving as home for my 3.5 Elmar. It may not get more vintage than a good old Elmar.

 

[John Shriver]

A Summitar with well processed B&W film is a great combination.

 

[yarinkel]

Thanks to all for your advices.
triplefinger, when you mention the industar-50, you are talking about the 3.5 one? Because I also saw a 2, non-collapsible at the shop yesterday.
I`ll go with the uncoated summitar.