Which one? Summarit 50 1.5 or Summicron 50 2.0

[gobears]

I am new to this forum and I am really excited about using these cameras after starting with a Canon DSLR. My father has let me use his m3 along with the above stated lenses. I am primarily shotting my family members in candid situations and I am planning a trip to Hong Kong at the end of this year would like to shoot street photography.

Appears that the Summicron is a better built lense (not sure which model I have but it does accept goggles, which I do not use with the m3, correct?), but the 1.5 may come in handy.

I currrently have been using the Summicron and am awaiting my film to be processed.

Any input is much appreciated

 

[Roger Hicks]

If you're desperate for speed, or like the 'look', or both, the Summarit.

If you want sharpness, freedom from flare and internal reflections, and less focus shift, the Summicron.

I've had both, but not being a great lover of 50mm, I prefer the Summarit for the 'look', and even then, I'm not wild about it. I sold both my 35mm and 50mm Summicrons years ago, as boring, and prefer the 35/1.4 Summilux (pre-aspheric) and 50/1.5 C-Sonnar. But I also use 75mm ASPH and 90mm pre-ASPH Summicrons...

Cheers,

R.

 

[MikeL]

Welcome gobears, nice to see one of the faithful around here.

From the ones I've used contrast isn't that different between them from f2 and smaller apertures. At f1.5 contrast is pretty low with the summarit, and things can get, um, 'interesting'. The summicron I used is a little sharper across the frame at f2.

Seeing images might give you a better idea of any small differences. The M-mount group on flickr has some photos: m-mount

Go bears,
Mike

 

[gobears]

Thanks for all the input. I have another question regarding both 50mm's, am I suppose to use the goggles for the Summicron lense? I am asking because the Summarit does not have the goggles and when I put the goggles on the Summicron the focus is more difficult.

 

[elshaneo]

I have both Vintage Leica 50mm Summarit and Summicron DR lenses, but would use them for different purposes.

In brief, the Summarit mainly for portraits and Summicron for more general purposes images.

But I would add that the Summicron is much more famous and more expensive.

 

[thomasw_]

Gobears, welcome.

I think the goggles are not required unless you wish to focus on an object that is between 1m to .6m; otherwise you are better without them, as they do impede the brightness of the viewfinder. Your M3 may be calibrated to focus closely to .7m, so in that case, the goggles may give you a very thin band of use.

 

[noah b]

I say summarit inside and summicron out, the cron is insanely sharp but I've no experience with the summarit. I've used f/1.4 lenses though, they're swank.

 

[Bingley]

gobears -- OT, but you wouldn't happen to live in Berkeley, CA, would you?

 

[payasam]

Good Summarits are rare. For most purposes the Summicron is better. Yours is a DR (dual range), and the goggles are needed only for close focussing, as thomasw said.

 

[jmkelly]

If you can get a good Summarit - and need the speed and like "atmosphere" over sharpness - go for it. Nothing else like it, except maybe the very early 50mm Summilux.

 

[gobears]

Bingley- No I do not live in Berkely but San Francisco.

I have some bad news, I just developed 2 rolls of film and apparently all my pics from my 50 Summicron are OOF! Boy, this is discouraging, maybe I need a lesson on manual focusing and a checkup from my optometrist!

Could the lense need some repairs, let me try to explain how I focus with this lense: I look through the viewfinder and I see a small rectangular box in the middle and I see my subject , I focus until the image is clear (essentially the subject lines-up). Snap the shot. Am I missing something here? Should I put on the goggles, apparently that is for close focusing <1m.

I'll shoot another roll with the Summarit, hopefully things will work out.

 

[noah b]

What are you doing exposure wise? What'd the pix look like?

 

[gobears]

My exposure was usually wide open with shutter speeds around 1/45 to 1/60th. The pics were extremely blurry, I could not make out much. It very well could be my shooting technique, I'm going to try to shoot tomorrow with speeds of least 1/125. Any pointers on taking steady shots, I really thought my technique was not bad with my DSLR, where the bodies way a bit more than the m3. The m3 feels so stable and solid I might have to concentrate more. Do these lenses need calibration? I have heard of people calibrating their DSLR with lenses. Not sure if that's necessary with rangefinders.

Thanks again!

 

[steverett]

Everything you did sounds correct. 1/45 and 1/60 should be fine, unless you were running or on a trampoline. Perhaps your lens was on the closer scale? You should check to make sure the distance mark is in the 1m-->Infinity range.

Here are some instructions on how to change it: (Link)

Not owning a DR Summicron, I'm not sure if it's even possible to accidentally be on the wrong scale, so this is just speculation. You should also try focusing on an object at a known distance, and see if the distance scale on the lens corresponds.