50mm f/1.5 Summarit - Image Quality

[barnack]

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Has anyone had expereince using this lens on their M8? If so, were you happy with the results?

[Shootist]

As with any lens, especially older used lenses, whether the lens you have is exactly the same as someone else's is up in the air. The only way to tell if you like what a particular lens delivers is to try it out yourself. The lens you have or might buy can be totally different, especially with older used lenses, then what someone else has. All in all it is a Leica lens and to my knowledge Leica has only produced a couple of dogs in its long history. I don't think the f/1.5 Summarit is one of those dogs.

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[jaapv]

I have one with very clean glass. Wide open it is quite usable - but interesting. Typical Sonnar fingerprint wide open, with twirly bokeh, low contrast and still very nice rendering in the centre. Stopped down it is rather good, with a bit of a vintage look, but well able to compete with the Summicron of that time.

[Don Morley]

I have one with very clean glass. Wide open it is quite usable - but interesting. Typical Sonnar fingerprint wide open, with twirly bokeh, low contrast and still very nice rendering in the centre. Stopped down it is rather good, with a bit of a vintage look, but well able to compete with the Summicron of that time.

As a Press & Sports photographer way back in 1954 I bought a new 111f and 50mm Summarit thinking I could use it wide open for covering indoor sports and such as floodlit football, but sadly it was pretty awful when used as such at maximum apperature, and suffered flare rather badly.

 

Years later I had similar experiences with a 50mm F095 and f1.2 Canon lenses, all lessons learned though, and as such I just can't immagine a Summarit being much use today, better a 50mm Summicron in my view, even if it does mean having to use a higher ISO or slower shutter speed, and for what its worth I won't be buying such as a Noktilux either.

 

My real point being how often do you really need such wide apperatures, even for limiting depth or Bokeh, whereas you almost always need a super SHARP lens to make the most of your Leica's (Or whatever), or otherwise why even bother thinking about the quallity chain?

 

Beyond that, Happy Xmas to all. Don M;)

Edited December 21, 2010 by Don Morley
punctuation

[MikeD700]

As a Press & Sports photographer way back in 1954 I bought a new 111f and 50mm Summarit thinking I could use it wide open for covering indoor sports and such as floodlit football, but sadly it was pretty awful when used as such at maximum apperature, and suffered flare rather badly.

 

Years later I had similar experiences with a 50mm F095 and f1.2 Canon lenses, all lessons learned though and as such I jst can't immagine a Summarit being much use today, better a 50mm Summicronin my view, even if it does mean having to use a higher ISO or slower shutter speed, and for what its worth I won't be buying such as a Noktilux either.

 

My real point being how often do you really need such wide apperatures, even for limiting depth or Bokeh, whereas you almost always need a super SHARP lens to make the most of your Leica's (Or whatever), or otherwise why even bother thinking about the quallity chain?

 

Beyond that, Happy Xmas to all. Don M

 

 

Thought I remembered that name, "Don Morley". Motorbikes...!!

[luigi bertolotti]

As Shootist said, most depends on the conditions : I have two of them, one in BM and the other older and in SM (with "Taylor Hobson" engraving) : this last is a lot better in contrast , very appreciable in B&W : on M8, I tend to prefer it to my (old version) Summilux... I consider it as an old Summicron with a bit more luminosity. Pay attention to the UVIR filter... E41 is not easy to find, even if available in the B+W catalog.

[Don Morley]

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Thought I remembered that name, "Don Morley". Motorbikes...!!

Bang on Mike! Am still about, still riding bikes and loving my M8, M8.2 Canon 5D plus a few.

[MikeD700]

Good to hear that Don! What do you ride? MV Agusta(F4 1078RR 312) man myself...

[Don Morley]

Thought I remembered that name, "Don Morley". Motorbikes...!!

Nothing so grand Mike, but have a BMW plus about ten old brit bikes. Don,

[MikeD700]

That makes eleven... what's your favorite ride? Something Trito/harris framed no doubt. Or an Egli Vincent...

[pico]

Don Morley. I'll be darned. Thanks for all the inspiration, Sir.

 

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Pico - BMWs, Ducati, Rickman-Trident #1329R (now in the history books).

Edited December 23, 2010 by pico

[Frank Black]

Don Morley,wow

 

Amazing work Sir

[photoshutter]

Summarit 1.5 is OK, but Jupiter-3 is a better lens.

[Peter Branch]

I used one on a IIIf in the early 60s. Image quality stopped down was not bad but the lens suffered from what today would be unacceptable coma. Any bright light source in the picture produced a multicoloured asymetric "blob". This resulted in a very low contrast image under a lot of conditions. The particular lens I used had recently been back to Leica in Germany for a "General Service" and was in very good order.