Xenon f= 5 cm 1:1.5 any experience?

[Vobluda]

Some Xenon magic..

Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/.../mortocaltese/]Morto Caltese[/url], on Flickr Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/.../mortocaltese/]Morto Caltese[/url], on Flickr Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

 

[taffy]

Some Xenon magic..

Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/...s Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937%20by%20Morto%20Caltese,%20on%20Flickr[/URL] Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/...s Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937%20by%20Morto%20Caltese,%20on%20Flickr[/URL] Zeiss Ikon ZI III Leitz Xenon 50mm f1,5 from 1937 by Morto Caltese, on Flickr

Wow! I looked up the lens and mine is from the 40s

 

[LeicaTom]

The TTH version looks like the Leitz Summarit and it is chrome. The Schneider has the word Schneider on the front rim and the black paint barrel is much larger, rounder and heavier than the TTH. I have found zero info on it online so far.

Yes, I owned a Schneider f1.5/50 LTM once, poor performance, very very soft even too soft for my tastes. It is a collectors item made in Postwar Germany 1947 to 1951, I'd sell or trade it for a Summilux M f1.4/50 Version Two that's a better lens!

Tom

 

[taffy]

I suppose mine is a Taylor Hobson?

 

[taffy]

I suppose mine is a Taylor Hobson?

Sorry here's the photo

 

[LeicaTom]

All Leitz Xenon's were Taylor Hobson at least in design, some had Taylor & Hobson engravings, just as the one 1950's issue Summarit also had.

It's just an engraving, but it pushes the price of a lens like $300+ above from a standard price, the TH Rit's are like $900 to $1,000 lenses now purely just for their collectiblity........the lenses are the same regardless of the engravings, no change.

I miss my Summarit 🙁 ~ I had a 1955 one that was part of a Bolex 16MM film kit (hardly ever used) with a Leitz LTM to C mount adapter, so the lens was near mint/new ~ It was a big mistake selling that with the OG caps and hood, the lens used to shoot photos like this...........

"Lovely Leda"

A dear personal friend and a *cancer survivor* I shot Leda with my ole 55' Summarit f1.5/50 on my Wetzlar M6 (which I also have since traded away) here on real film Kodak Gold 100asa @ 30/sec and f1.5 ~ yeah, I miss my Fast Leica lenses...........

Tom

 

[taffy]

I went out and did some shooting in my neighborhood and I'm getting what you mean by "glow", "classic look", and "low contrast". It's quite nice for specific purposes and I wouldn't say the lens is no sharp. Maybe the image rendering gives a bit of that impression but to my eye it is sharp in its own right.

These were shot in DNG and wide open or at 2.2 and in pp very slight corrections were made in LR3 with the NIK module installed.





Glow? (corrected only for exposure; -0.3 EV)





Also corrected -0.33 EV




Converted to BW via silverefex pro 2 using TriX film profile



Not soft. Edited in Color Efex pro using default settings on Tonal Contrast

 

[Tom A]

At the moment I have only one Xenon - and a modern one at that. It is a 50mm f1.9 Xenon on a Robot Royal 36. Never seen one in this mount before. It fully covers the 24x36 of the Royal.Built like any other Robot lens - i.e the proverbial brick out-house. Judging from the look, it is coated, though if it is multicoated or just the bluish single coat I dont know.
It could be a special order item - Robot was seemingly willing to do anything you required - with the correct amount of money.
I have tried and owned both the "standard" 50f1.5 Xenon and a Taylor Hobson one long time ago - found them quite soft wide-open and low contrast overall. With time they morphed into the Summarit 50f1.5 and then to the vI Summilux.
Shot with TriX , developed in Td 201 2 bath developer.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Haven't tried my Xenon on a film body yet, here's one from my Epson R-D1.

About 75mm with the R-D1's crop factor taken at f/9.



Not sure if the glow is due to the cleaning marks on the front and rear elements or simply because it's a Xenon. 😉