Search the Community

Hello everyone. I tried a search but I haven't exactly found an answer to my question. So here is the thing. For a long time I've been wondering whether to go for 28mm or 35mm – the never-ending question for all photographers Anyway, my mind is now made up to go for the Summicron 28mm. A fantastic lens in every possible way and I really love it's rendering. I am looking for a second hand example and they are fortunately for me readily available on the market. I've seen plenty of talk about Summicron 28's flare and on the opposing side of spectrum are the people who say the Cron 28 is absolutely free of the flare problem. I am talking about the large purple blobs which appear on some shots and they do look like kind of terrible and the lost off contrast is severe. For example read here: Digi•Pixel•Pop . This is not the only source where i've seen such bad flare examples. So obviously I wouldn't want to pay ~4000$/3000€ for a lens with a severe flare problem. According to Leica-Wiki (http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/28mm_f/2_ASPH_Summicron-M) serial numbers starting with 39xxxxx are potentially the ones with the "problem". The good news: all signs seem to point out that the flare problem (can) exists on the early pre-6 bit serial number samples. So it seems Leica has done some modifications silently in the design along the way. Perhaps there was some change in the coatings and the newer versions are free of the flare problem. Or at least it's not as bad. So my question is this: I would like to know if people have any first hand experience on the early serial number, pre 6 bit coded lenses, and if this particular problem really exists? I am asking for this because there are plenty of available pre 6-bit Summicrons available on the used market and they are usually quite a bit cheaper than the later version. But I am really afraid to pull the trigger if these early serial numbers are more likely to have a flare problem compared to the later versions. Thank you for reading