Summicrons

[yadillah]

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Hi,

I have a version 3 50mm Summicron, and a version 3 35mm Summicron.

Also, I have recently purchased a new M9, replacing my M8.

 

I am wondering how these two lenses, which date from the early 1970s, compare with other more recent versions. I bought both these lenses new in 1972, so they have been quite good to me. However, seeing I have a new M9, I am considering updating these lenses. Would I be gaining a lot?

 

My other lenses are an Elmarit 24mm Asph 2.8, a Tele-Elmarit 2.8 90mm, and a Tele-Elmar 135mm.

 

I would appreciate some advice.

Thanks.

[lars_bergquist]

Lenses have been improving for the last forty years. Current 35mm and 50mm Leica lenses will give you higher general contrast (not always desirable), better micro-contrast, meaning better detail definition, and better performance off axis. These are quantifiable, incontrovertible facts.

 

But Leica lenses have been improving from a higher base than most. The lenses you have are still very good. They can give fine service. Their "fingerprint" will be discernibly different from that of current lenses, but though technically "inferior", they are not necessarily estethically bad. I have a first version (1958) collapsible 50mm Elmar 1:2.8 that I use occasionally, for the slightly nostalgic look it gives me.

 

Also, an old lens (coded or correctly identified in the case of 35mm) may be better with a M9 than it ever was with film! I dug out a 1983 vintage v.4 35mm Summicron a little more than a year ago because it is smaller and lighter than a Summilux. On the M9, it amazed me. The camera had of course computed most of the considerable vignetting away, but the definition in the corners seemed also to have improved in a miraculous way – I am not certain how that can be. The upshot was that the lens went to Solms for coding and a CLA. It is now my "summer 35".

 

So my advice is to try out the old lenses on the new camera, and see if you like what you get. You may well be surprised.

 

The old man from the Age of the 3.5cm Elmar

[Shade]

That's the great thing about Leica, they're high performing even with their oldest lenses.. But there are of course improvements in the newer versions, but they're not always desireable to certain crowds..

[likalar]

lars, all good advice; your post is right on! My older summicron 35 amazes me on the M9, in ways I never appreciated using film. For me, Summicrons, new or older, are just what my 9 camera needs, period. They perform beautifully, are relatively compact and, since already paid for, very affordable.

 

Larry

[gvaliquette]

Do not disparage these older lenses. They are fine performers, also on the M9. I just got my M9 2 weeks ago, but here is an example of how older lenses perform...

 

The first image is from the 35mm/f2.0 Summicron (III) on the M9

 

The second image is from the 50mm/f2.8 Elmar-M on the M9

 

Guy

[farnz]

Yadillah,

 

There may be something else to consider beyond the wise words already written here, which is the 'look' you're used to. You've been using these lenses for some 40 years and you will instinctively know what to expect from your prints.

 

If you 'update' these lenses to their modern equivalents then you're likely to get a contrastier look to your prints, which may not be to your liking. It would be a tragedy to trade up and discover that you don't take to the look your new lenses produce wouldn't it?

 

My suggestion is to either borrow the 35/2 Summicron asph from a Leica dealer if you can, or take your M9 to the dealer and try the lens there or even look to Flickr to find photos shot with that combination to see if you're happy with the look they produce together.

 

I believe that the 50 Summicron III and the current current 50 Summicron share the same design so there shouldn't be too much difference in their look apart perhaps from less veiling flare from the current version owing to new (and perhaps improved) coatings.

 

Pete.

[jpattison]

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Pete, version III is different to the current. The next version (IV) was initially in a similar barrel, and it is the one optically the same as current.

 

worth looking here...

 

Leica 50mm Summicron Price and Information Guide

 

John

[bmc]

Do not disparage these older lenses. They are fine performers, also on the M9. I just got my M9 2 weeks ago, but here is an example of how older lenses perform...

 

The first image is from the 35mm/f2.0 Summicron (III) on the M9

 

The second image is from the 50mm/f2.8 Elmar-M on the M9

 

Guy

 

im sorry, and please know i am not trying to pick a fight, but i dont think these images look very sharp, clear, or have that " leica look ".

 

again, i am new to all of this, so please could you or someone point out to me how or why these images are pleasing.

 

it might be my monitor, but they look like camera phone images, or images that have been over cropped and zoomed.

 

im also feeling generally irritable lately. im about to pull the trigger on a 28 cron 6 bit coded for my m8 because im super disappointed with the digital fingerprint of my new lx5. for some reason these new ps just dont seem to do it for me. iv been spoiled by my M8.

 

dont get me wrong, im not comparing the two cameras, but what im finding is that the more i shoot the m, the less i can tolerate images from anything else.