Vintage lens and M9 (coding or manual settings)

[silverlight99]

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I am playing around with a couple older lenses I just got for the M9 and curious what folks do in the way of coding or manual lens selection (I have a selection of new ASPH lenses, and they're awesome, but was looking to add some of the "classic" look lenses). So received the following this week:

 

(1) 35 mm Cron version 1 f/2 (8 element), 1965

(2) 50mm Summarit f/1.5, 1955

(3) 50mm Summitar f/2, 1949

 

All I did so far was set the camera to manual lens selection, and just selected a non-ASPH lens with the same focal length and speed. I could get matches for the Cron and the Summitar, but closest on the list of course for the 1.5 Summarit is a 1.4 speed. As a side note, using these settings, the Cron is absolutely AMAZING!!! It's like shooting with the Noct 1.0 in terms of it's beauty. And, it's much smaller in size than my current model 35 Cron. Really excited about that one! The Summitar looks very nice as well after a few shots (a little soft wide open though), and the Summarit is excellent (very sharp at f2).

 

So hoping to get a sense for how folks configure these older lenses with the M9 settings? The last thing I'd like to try to do is code these lenses, and use the best / approximate lens to do the job. I have one of the coding kits sold by a member here, but having read some follow-up, I know I'll have to get the right paint/marker.

 

Thanks for any guidance.

[lars_bergquist]

There is no need to be terribly finicky about fractional speeds, or millimetrical differences, for that matter. If it is image quality you are after, do some experimenting and find the nearest approximation that produces the best results. What the EXIF file says is pretty immaterial; you know which lenses you have, don't you?

 

The old man from the Age of the Golden Rule of Thumb

[hoppyman]

In those focal lengths, I think that you are unlikely to degrade your images by selecting comparable focal lengths. I would be surprised if you can detect any differences at all if you shot comparisons using the available manual selections (for the same focal length). You can't do any harm by experimenting though. Shoot one frame each same setup with no selection and each possible manual selection that ought to be similar?

 

Your Summicron code would be 11308. I would select the 35f/2 11310/11311 setting. That is the version IV (the so called Bo-ke king)

 

For your Summarit I would use the non-ASPH 50 f/1.4 selection 11868/11856/1114. The lenses are related anyway and you can see similar characteristics in their MTF diagrams side by side, especially as regards vignetting and that is what the coding will correct for (at best case for each lens, not maximum).

 

For your Summitar I would go for the 50 f/2 11817 selection. That is the earlier Summicron (Version III). The other option is for the redesigned later ones (including the current). Try both though?

[silverlight99]

Cool, thanks guys, very helpful. Getting some great results today, and happened to have used the same lens profiles you suggested.

Now for the coding, so I don't have to manual select!

[hoppyman]

Cool, thanks guys, very helpful. Getting some great results today, and happened to have used the same lens profiles you suggested.

Now for the coding, so I don't have to manual select!

 

The last price I saw from Solms I think was 140 EUR per lens (unless additional work was required on receipt and assessment). They don't specifically list any of those 3 lenses as codable but of course you could ask. If you were having them done they would get a CLA at the same time (and a new 12 months warranty on the whole lens) if you felt that those were worthwhile.

 

You may like to search the Forum archives if you are interested in discussions regarding third party modifications to your lens.

[thompsonkirk]

Congrats on finding that 35 Cron v1 – my all-time favorite lens.

 

Kirk

[silverlight99]

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Hey Kirk - yes, it's truly a beauty that one... you've got good taste I suspect it's going to spend a bunch of time on my camera given it's amazing quality, and ridiculously small size/weight.