M8 and Old Glass

[Yogibear]

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And this one I gave the title 'An angel calling from heaven'

 

M8 1949 Elmar 3.5/50 f4 1/90s ISO320 no filter

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[Yogibear]

.... and a last one, a view of Luxembourg-Grund in the Grand-Duchy. The old lens gives a painted effect to this photo, quite amazing!

 

M8 1949 Elmar 3.5/50 f5.6 1/360s ISO160 no filter

 

Happy shooting!

Johan

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Edited May 1, 2010 by Yogibear

[Maggie_O]

Thanks for the kind words, folks!!!!

 

Richard, I thought that might have been the problem, as I've found that it took me a while to figure out how to keep the highlights from getting blown out on the M8's files.

[jamesk8752]

Johan, I think that this is a lovely image; wonderful composition with a very "painterly" quality to the rendering and color, as you noted. In fact, when I showed it to my wife, her second comment (after "Beautiful!") was that it looked like an old Flemish painting. Well seen - congratulations!

 

Regards, Jim

 

PS ...I must get my Elmar out and shoot with it some more...

 

.... and a last one, a view of Luxembourg-Grund in the Grand-Duchy. The old lens gives a painted effect to this photo, quite amazing!

 

M8 1949 Elmar 3.5/50 f5.6 1/360s ISO160 no filter

 

Happy shooting!

Johan

[k-hawinkler]

.... and a last one, a view of Luxembourg-Grund in the Grand-Duchy. The old lens gives a painted effect to this photo, quite amazing!

 

M8 1949 Elmar 3.5/50 f5.6 1/360s ISO160 no filter

 

Happy shooting!

Johan

 

Johan,

 

Thanks for posting. I agree with you and Jim, truly a wonderful painterly image.

BTW, what are those 3 things in the water in front of the bridge? Just curious.

Also, would you consider rotating the image CCW by about 1º?

That would make it perfect IMHO.

 

Best regards, K-H.

[Yogibear]

Thank you for your compliments, Jim and K_H. I must admit that personally, I like the first two shots better (they were not easy to shoot, candid), but there you don't see some unique Leica signature we all are looking for so desperately ..... Indeed, those photos could have been made with any modern camera. What delights me is, that the Ol'Elmar 3.5/50 doesn't flare, even confronted with strong lights shining right into it, that it is capable of giving 'modern', though slightly soft, results as well and that the colour rendering is superb.

 

BTW, what are those 3 things in the water in front of the bridge?.

 

Those are plastic chairs from the English Pub's terrace on the right, thrown into the water by some guys and gals during a good night of big fun. That seems to happen sometimes.

 

would you consider rotating the image CCW by about 1º?

 

Hmm, the grid tells me differently. The bridge is not level but sloping upward to the left, that might fool the eye....

 

Happy shooting!

 

Johan

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Edited May 3, 2010 by Yogibear
Orthography

[k-hawinkler]

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Johan,

 

Many thanks. It looks like my eyes got fooled.

Not the first time and probably no the last.

Anyway, great shot with a remarkable lens.

 

Best regards, K-H.

[EJohnE]

Someone wrote about the 13.5 Hektor. I had one of those (bought used) and it had a shim between the removable lens head and the R/F barrel. Without that shim, the focus was a bit off as a R/F lens. I was careful not to lose it when I used that lens on the Visoflex. Whether that shim was a Leitz fitting, or had been added by a user I don't know. Ken Rockwell has one which he says is very soft. Mine was very sharp, although it tended to blueness on Kodachrome. Maybe his one lacks the correct shim?

John.

[Guest Ron (Netherlands)]

Great images! btw to me the first two images look much sharper than the last one (especially in the middle were the image looks rather blurry - look for instance at te windows of the houses).

[Yogibear]

Btw to me the first two images look much sharper than the last one (especially in the middle were the image looks rather blurry - look for instance at te windows of the houses).

 

Thank you Ron. Yes, I have noticed it as well in the posting... rather strange, because the original is quite sharp. Maybe a 'bad' reduction to 960px width?

[Yogibear]

.. before I turn to my 1937 uncoated Summar 2/50, which I hope to get CLA'd back from Will van Manen next week.

 

Elmar has overwhelmed me. Some of the photos have an incredible 3-dimensional effect. It is sharp. It is small. Its colour rendition is amazing, even without UV/IR-cut filter. When it is collapsed, you can carry the M8 in your pocket!

 

Of course, the good results are also due to the digital postprocessing. But that's a privilege one pays for by buying an M8 ! I 'm convinced, that more and more M8 and M9 owners will turn to old glass just for the fun of it.

 

The following shots are just a couple of snaps of people posing on my request during a party where I was invited.

 

Happy shooting!

 

Johan

 

"The grandparents"

 

M8 1949 BD coated Elmar 3.5/50 f4 1/60s ISO640 no filter

 

 

 

*Friends"

 

M8 1949 BD coated Elmar 3.5/50 f4 1/750s ISO160 no filter

 

Edited May 11, 2010 by Yogibear
orhography

[WestMichigan]

Hello,

thank you all for the wonderfully diverse images taken with a diverse range of 'old glass' on the M8 you've posted to this thread. I feel all the better informed for seeing the photo's themselves as well at the lenses they were shot with. As I've been following these postings over time a question keeps coming to mind:

 

"Why isn't there an equivalent M9 and Old Glass thread?"

 

Maybe I just haven't found such a thread yet, wouldn't be the first time I couldn't find something right in front of me! , but then why wouldn't someone have posted a link or noted it by now if such a thread was out there.

All I can think of is that the uber premium price point of the M9 has selected 'in' users with the economic ability to use premium priced modern optics with their cameras and the general scarcity of bodies relative to demand makes it statistically less likely the subset of those who are leica users playing with old glass to have been selected into the M9 ownership club. I'm just hypothesisizing here, so who knows?

 

What do others think of my Queries and Comments?

 

Richard in Michigan

[wlaidlaw]

I will be using the Contax Opton Sonnar mostly on my M9 because I use old glass all the time on my M8. It sits 99% of the time with a Visoflex on it and I think my most modern lens for that is my early1980's vintage Tele-Elmar 135. Unfortunately Amadeo sent the Contax to Leica M adapter to my UK house in error, so I will have to wait for it to be forwarded from there. Just to keep you all happy, if the sun comes out tomorrow (not very likely), I will post a photo taken with my 1953 Summitar on the M9.

 

Wilson

[Yogibear]

The world famous pianist Mitsuko Uchida.

 

A difficult subject, because Uchida is very lively and never sits still; moreover, the light was very dim.

 

M8 1957 Summicron 2/50 f2 1/45s ISO640 UV/IR-cut

 

[wilfredo]

.. before I turn to my 1937 uncoated Summar 2/50, which I hope to get CLA'd back from Will van Manen next week.

 

Elmar has overwhelmed me. Some of the photos have an incredible 3-dimensional effect. It is sharp. It is small. Its colour rendition is amazing, even without UV/IR-cut filter. When it is collapsed, you can carry the M8 in your pocket!

 

Of course, the good results are also due to the digital postprocessing. But that's a privilege one pays for by buying an M8 ! I 'm convinced, that more and more M8 and M9 owners will turn to old glass just for the fun of it.

 

The following shots are just a couple of snaps of people posing on my request during a party where I was invited.

 

Happy shooting!

 

Johan

 

"The grandparents"

 

M8 1949 BD coated Elmar 3.5/50 f4 1/60s ISO640 no filter

 

 

 

*Friends"

 

M8 1949 BD coated Elmar 3.5/50 f4 1/750s ISO160 no filter

 

 

Lovely!

[wilfredo]

Here's a few more shots from the M8/Jupiter-8 combo:

 

Windblown Domino, April, 2010

 

That doggie shot looks like something shot with my 35mm ASPH Summicron. WOW!

[JSU]

Never underestimate that old glass..

 

Summarex 85 /1.5 from 1952

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any additional images from a Summarex, both wide open and perhaps at 4.0 - 5.6?

 

I have really enjoyed the images in this thread....

[tbarker13]

Another pin-up style shoot with the M8.2 and Jupiter 3 in studio.

 

 

[2Bébèrt]

Does anyone have any additional images from a Summarex, both wide open and perhaps at 4.0 - 5.6?

 

I have really enjoyed the images in this thread....

 

Summarex at f4 on M9

 

 

 

Summarex at f5.6 on M9

 

 

I'll try to find get some f1.5 images.

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[wintershrooms]

This is my first post ever on the Leica forum. I enjoy reading and learning from everyone here.

 

Got my M8 a few weeks ago. I went to a local dealer yesterday and purchased a collapsible Summicron 50mm (serial number suggests ~1954-55, I think). Here are some results:

 

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I'm new to rangefinders, and this camera system has got me hooked on wanting to try different lenses. I took a few shots with an older model (not sure what version/year, but definitely older) Summilux 50mm. It blew me away, but the price was a bit out of reach at ~$1200.

 

For now, I really like the collapsible Summicron 50mm. There's just something inspiring about shooting with a lens made half a century before I was born. It's exciting, humbling.

 

Cheers,

S.