Summarit 1.5

[andym911]

Dear all,
I had the opportunity yesterday to handle with a Summarit 1.5 dating from 1955.
Serial 147xxxx.I am interested in buying it.

It is MINT condition and boxed, I inspected it for a while and could not find any imperfection whatsoever on the lens.Focus and aperture were very smooth.
Also shining a flashlight through the lens revealed nothing but clear pristine glass.

I hear that it can flare quite easily and tends to be a bit soft wide open.Are there any users out there who have some experience with this lens?

I have seen quite a few very nice images made with it here on the forum , mainly on the German pages, and just want to see if there are any users here who can provide any additional info.

I look forward to any comments

best regards

andy

[jc_braconi]

Andy,
As all the rapid lens from this era the front lens is very convex (in fact for catching as much as light is possible) so it is highly recommended to use a sun shade as you are out of axe with light coming from the back.

[jlancasterd]

Originally Posted by andym911

Dear all,
I had the opportunity yesterday to handle with a Summarit 1.5 dating from 1955.
Serial 147xxxx.I am interested in buying it.

I hear that it can flare quite easily and tends to be a bit soft wide open. Are there any users out there who have some experience with this lens?

I have seen quite a few very nice images made with it here on the forum , mainly on the German pages, and just want to see if there are any users here who can provide any additional info.

andy

I had one of these lenses, bought new for ~£50 in 1961 when they were being 'remaindered' thanks to the introduction of the Summilux, and used it for several years on an M2 as my sole lens. I found it to be a very good lens for general use. Yes, it is soft at full aperture. but improves rapidly on stopping down to f2 or smaller. It is subject to flare if there is a bright light anywhere in the frame but this can be minimised if you can find the large rectangular lens hood that was specially designed for it. It also exhibits noticeably less contrast than more modern lenses, but this is not necessarily a bad thing if one is photographing subjects where shadow detail is important.

I'd be happy to use a Summarit with my M8 if I found a good one.

The photo below was taken on Kodachrome II with my Summarit in 1962, probably at about f5.6.

'Haven'-(Port-Harbour) 10-42-16.jpg

[luigi bertolotti]

Originally Posted by andym911

Dear all,
I had the opportunity yesterday to handle with a Summarit 1.5 dating from 1955.
Serial 147xxxx.I am interested in buying it.

It is MINT condition and boxed, I inspected it for a while and could not find any imperfection whatsoever on the lens.Focus and aperture were very smooth.
Also shining a flashlight through the lens revealed nothing but clear pristine glass.

I hear that it can flare quite easily and tends to be a bit soft wide open.Are there any users out there who have some experience with this lens?

I have seen quite a few very nice images made with it here on the forum , mainly on the German pages, and just want to see if there are any users here who can provide any additional info.

I look forward to any comments

best regards

andy

Well I have two and enjoy mixed results, easy to explain

- One is a bayonet mount same age as the above (1.470.172) : flares and is someway unsharp, but isn't perfect... front lenses has "microscratches" at & around center: let's say... is a sort of Thambar...
- The other is a SM 822.774 (1950), scaled in feet and with the well known engravings "Taylor Hobson" "U.S. patent..." : lenses are perfect, and is a VERY GOOD performer on M8: personally, wide open and next to, it gives me better images than my old Summilux of 1961, with LESS flare: Summilux does better when stopped down from f4. At the moment I consider it my best top luminous lens (but consider, my other 1,4 is a Summilux 35 of 1960... , and the Summarex 85 is excellent but hard to use wide open).

If you plan to use it, take into account that hood & filters aren't an easy find (some Summarits used a unique bayonet attach for filters) , so as the front cap, if isn't present in the item you are looking at. Good that you verified the aperture ring movement: in my worst item, it is usable, but not clean in movement, and with the f numbers out of alignement with the reference dot.

[andym911]

John and Luigi,


thanks a lot for replying with your experiences, very helpful.

I have also located the correct hood for this lens (XOONS) at a hefty price I must say .

So I'll sleep on it a night or two but the heart says buy it...just need the brain to get in line

Thanks again

Andy

[pgk]

John

What an illustration of how Porthmadog has changed!

[jlancasterd]

Originally Posted by pgk

John

What an illustration of how Porthmadog has changed!

Yes! - and not entirely for the better...

[brianv]

It's a flattering portrait lens wide-open, and quite sharp by F4.

Get it!

[harmsr]

Great lens. Soft but pleasing until about f4. Then it gets nice and sharp. (Very low contrast.) It can be a very flattering portrait lens or great for that vintage look. With some of the newer B&W films this lens can really shine. I liked it on TMax 400.

It really does need the hood in sunlight.

I had a really mint one with my iiif, but it was big for that camera and I wanted a coll. summicron so I sold it.

If you are looking for a hood and filters for it, take a look at PopFlash.Photo . They are mine which are on consignment with Tony to sell.

Best,

Ray

[andym911]

Brian and Ray,

thanks for your feedback as well.I will be using 90% B&W so I think this could be exactly the lens I am after..hope to get it this week and will post a few examples once it's here.

thanks again

andy

[jaapv]

Maybe not your field of interest, but it is one of the very few lenses that can be used for UV photography (there are some Russians out there as well)

[luigi bertolotti]

Originally Posted by jaapv

Maybe not your field of interest, but it is one of the very few lenses that can be used for UV photography (there are some Russians out there as well)

Uh ? Never heard of this... you mean, filtering it so you catch ONLY the UV spectrum, correctly focused ? With which kind of film ?

[brianv]

Most films are sensitive to UV, as are many Digital cameras. Film goes deeper into the UV than most digital cameras. Hence the need for UV filters on most lenses. The cutoff on most optical glass is in the near UV, I forget the exact cutoff but somewhere around 3400A? For much deeper work, Calcium Fluorite and Quartz lenses are required. But regular film can be used for deeper UV.

[andym911]

thanks again to all for your input.

I am now the proud owner of the Summitar....truly Mint condition together with the hood...Look forward to posting some images with it soon.

regards

andy

[jc_braconi]

Originally Posted by andym911

I am now the proud owner of the Summitar....
andy

revealing lapse ..........?

[andym911]

Originally Posted by jc_braconi

revealing lapse ..........?

Sorry JC....What do you mean?

regards
andy

[luigi bertolotti]

Originally Posted by andym911

Sorry JC....What do you mean?

regards
andy

Summitar Summarit ....

[andym911]

Ooops.......SUMMARIT

[lars_bergquist]

I would like to point out that while most types of optical glass cut off UV at about 340 nanometers, even early modern Leitz/Leica lenses use optical cement (balsam) and coatings that lower the cut-off point to approximately that of visible light. Generally speaking, all lenses since the very early 1960's are fairly immune to UV and do not need UVa filters. We old farts like to keep them as protection for the front element.

Now with the M8 we can have our filters back again, for a higher purpose ...

The old man from the Age of the Yellow Filter

[andym911]

So,

to complet ethe thread here a first shot with the Summarit

Build quality of the lens is superb, mechanics are perfect.Wide open it is a little soft but exactly what I was after...contrast is good and a lovely Bokeh in my opinion.Here a snap taken wide open on an M8 at 320 asa.

thanks to all

Andy