50mm Summarit f1.5

[cmarbach]

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This was my father's lens, and now I have it. What can you tell me about it. IS it a good general purpose 50 mm lens for my M?

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[sender]

I had one some years ago, and found it very soft, especially at wide apertures. I eventually sold it, and am happy with my summicron. It did look nice on my IIIf, however. . . .

[ns_ng]

Hi,

 

I used this lens with my dad's M3 when I first started learning photography back when I was still in high school. This lens is soft wide open, but does improve when stopped down to 5.6 and onwards. But it does have a nice bokeh. It has low contrast and tends to flare when shooting against bright light.

 

The Summarit was derived from the older 50mm. Xenon, an uncoated pre-war design lens from the 1930s.

 

N.S.

[luigi bertolotti]

This was my father's lens, and now I have it. What can you tell me about it. IS it a good general purpose 50 mm lens for my M?

A good collector item, expecially if it bears the "Taylor-Hobson" engraving on the barrell (T-H had the patent on the lens design in certain countries), and if it is complete with its unique hood (metal, square). By modern standard, as other say, undoubtely SOFT wide open, acceptable in normal ranges: as a rule (from a Leica lover) Leitz lenses, expecially postwar, are ANYWAY GOOD TO USE, if in good condition: if it is the only lens You have for M, keep and use it, and use money to buy new lenses of other lenghts: If you have other new lenses and money to buy something, go for a new Summilux 50.

[jlancasterd]

This was my father's lens, and now I have it. What can you tell me about it. IS it a good general purpose 50 mm lens for my M?

 

Carl

 

I had one of these as my only lens on an M2 in the 1960s and was perfectly satified with its performance when used at medium apertures. The image below, from 1962, is an example:

 

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[rgeorge911]

I have a Summarit in very nice condition. It's a fun lens, and is great for environmental portraits, etc. I am not really consistent in getting good results with it, but sometimes it can be spectacular! Use it. Enjoy it. It was a standard issue Leica lens for many years, and contributed well to the Leica badge of quality.