philipus Posted January 19, 2013 Share #41 Posted January 19, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Good idea, Tobey. Now, if you can just let me have this week's winning lottery numbers... Fyi These lenses don't come up very often but Leicashop just listed a Summilux and a Summicron: Leicashop - Summicron M39 11619 2/50mm Leicashop - Summilux M39 11621 1,4/50mm Still, these lenses would not match the 1957 vintage of your camera. I have pm'd you an idea Keith Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 19, 2013 Posted January 19, 2013 Hi philipus, Take a look here A Better 5cm Lens for my IIIg?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wlaidlaw Posted January 19, 2013 Share #42 Posted January 19, 2013 Fyi These lenses don't come up very often but Leicashop just listed a Summilux and a Summicron: Leicashop - Summicron M39 11619 2/50mm Leicashop - Summilux M39 11621 1,4/50mm Still, these lenses would not match the 1957 vintage of your camera. I have pm'd you an idea Keith Cheers Philip, ......and at not unreasonable prices as well. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share #43 Posted January 20, 2013 Philip, ......and at not unreasonable prices as well. Wilson Cough, splutter! €2200 and €2600 are, shall we say, just a little outside my budget for something that will only have occasional use... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 20, 2013 Share #44 Posted January 20, 2013 Keith, I know it's been mentioned before, but I think your best 'bang for buck' will be the 50mm Skopar. The LTM lenses now appear to be all but discontinued, so you should start searching. I can see the LTM Voigtlander lenses only increasing in price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted January 20, 2013 Share #45 Posted January 20, 2013 Cough, splutter! €2200 and €2600 are, shall we say, just a little outside my budget for something that will only have occasional use... Keith, The basis for saying these lenses were not too expensive was the huge prices Leicaistas pay for rare items and the price of new Leica items. The APO Summicron just for one example, at £5,400. On James' advice to purchase an LTM Voitlander, I would now only buy a CV from a dealer with a sale or return agreement. Out of 4 CV purchases, only one, a 15mm Super Wide Heliar has been good. The 21 Skopar was wholly unusable with de-centered optical cell and went back to the dealer the same day in exchange for a Zeiss Biogon 21/2.8. My 35/2.5 LTM Skopar is poor with a wrongly ground RF cam. The 35/1.2 Nokton I had, had horrible back focus, needed adjustment and even after that was very flare prone and low contrast. If you get a good one however they are just fine. Tom Abrahamsson has written some good reports on them but it is rumoured that not surprisingly, he is given a carefully selected and tested lens. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 20, 2013 Share #46 Posted January 20, 2013 Hi Wilson, I've bought 2 secondhand Voigtlanders, and both are absolutely perfect. Apart from some remaining old stock they are only available s/h now. Maybe that's a good thing, anyone who bought a new lens which didn't perform well has presumably returned it for a good one, and all the bad ones have now been fixed. Seems a reasonable theory at least! Buy s/h and be happy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted January 21, 2013 Share #47 Posted January 21, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi Wilson, I've bought 2 secondhand Voigtlanders, and both are absolutely perfect. Apart from some remaining old stock they are only available s/h now. Maybe that's a good thing, anyone who bought a new lens which didn't perform well has presumably returned it for a good one, and all the bad ones have now been fixed. Seems a reasonable theory at least! Buy s/h and be happy. James, The problem with the design of the Skopars is that the tube which is the mounting body for the elements, also forms the RF cam at its rear surface. If you have front focus, other than building up and re-grinding the RF cam, there is no cure and even then you may not hit infinity. Back focus, you can always shim the mount. On my 35/2.5 Skopar, I wonder if at some point, someone has had a go at regrinding the RF cam and not got it right, as it front focuses at infinity/will not quite reach infinity, is spot on at around 20M and then changes to back focus as you focus on closer objects. On many better quality lenses, you can move the optical cell relative to the RF cam to adjust back and front focus. With the UK reverting to charging customs duties on most non-EU parcels to try and fill the financial hole, trying to get a customs/VAT refund on a return to a non-EU dealer, is a bureaucratic nightmare (you have to phone to get a form and they never pick up the phone). Even when you get the form, the various admin charges that you had to pay originally (spoonage), are not refunded. For that reason and post costs, I would probably only buy from a UK seller, with as I said before, a "return if not satisfied" agreement. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizard Posted January 21, 2013 Share #48 Posted January 21, 2013 Keith, I know it's been mentioned before, but I think your best 'bang for buck' will be the 50mm Skopar. James, the 2.4/50 Skopar is a lens I do not own, but I have never read praises of this lens. Rather, I seem to remember that another forum member even said the lens is not very good. The CV 50mm lenses that over the time seem to have earned a good reputation are the 1.5/50 Nokton and the 3.5/50 Heliar. Best, Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 21, 2013 Share #49 Posted January 21, 2013 Andy, I have only heard good things about it. I did a quick Google and found this amongst other threads; http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79618 I should add I don't have one myself, but I do have the 35 & 25 Skopars. If the 50 is as good as either of those I can't see that anyone should be disappointed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizard Posted January 21, 2013 Share #50 Posted January 21, 2013 James, I know that the CV lenses are fine in general, I have the 15, 21, 25 and 2/50 myself, but I thought I had read some lukewarm comments on the 2.5/50. The site you mentioned, however, seems to tell differently. As with all CV lenses, it may depend quite a bit on the very sample one uses. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted January 21, 2013 Share #51 Posted January 21, 2013 As with all CV lenses, it may depend quite a bit on the very sample one uses. Very true with CV. My 50 Skopar is softer than I'd prefer, but does give very nice images in general use and is very well made. I have about 6 other Voigtlander lenses that have no issues, and all have had perfect focus on my M9 - so I wouldn't hesitate to buy another that looked interesting. (The 21 f1.8 comes to mind...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share #52 Posted January 21, 2013 Well, despite what I wrote in Post #33, I have succumbed to temptation and ordered a 1955 collapsible Summicron 5cm f2 from a well-known Wien shop. Yes, I am aware of the reported softness of the front element but the description, grading and dealer reputation persuaded me. Time will tell. Hopefully the arrival of the Summicron will coincide with the return of my IIIg from Red Dot after it's repair. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizard Posted January 21, 2013 Share #53 Posted January 21, 2013 Good choice, Keith. There are still perfect collapsible Summicrons around, and I bet you will be pleased. For the IIIg, this is THE lens, IMHO. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted January 21, 2013 Share #54 Posted January 21, 2013 Well, despite what I wrote in Post #33, I have succumbed to temptation and ordered a 1955 collapsible Summicron 5cm f2 from a well-known Wien shop. Yes, I am aware of the reported softness of the front element but the description, grading and dealer reputation persuaded me. Time will tell. Hopefully the arrival of the Summicron will coincide with the return of my IIIg from Red Dot after it's repair. Keith, At some later date if you feel the need, Malcolm Taylor in Oswestry, or CRR in Luton, can re-polish and re-coat your front element at reasonable cost. The Wien shop's pricing always seems odd to me. You look at certain items and say to yourself "HOW MUCH!!" Then you find something else and rush to get onto the phone before someone else spots it. I bought a mint chimney Visoflex OTVXO viewer in its original red box, from them last year for €80, when these were generally fetching around €125 on Fleabay in average condition with no box. I hope you enjoy the Summicron. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted January 21, 2013 Share #55 Posted January 21, 2013 The way to go ... And you gone ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted January 21, 2013 Share #56 Posted January 21, 2013 Keith, At some later date if you feel the need, Malcolm Taylor in Oswestry, or CRR in Luton, can re-polish and re-coat your front element at reasonable cost. Wilson I heard that he was not doing the polishing...you sure ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted January 21, 2013 Share #57 Posted January 21, 2013 I heard that he was not doing the polishing...you sure ? JC, Unless things have changed since MT last did some work for me, he was doing polishing then. He repaired a lens where the front element had been scratched in a previous botched repair by Johnsons Photopia. He re-polished and re-coated the front element and then found that the coating had started to deteriorate on some of the internal elements, so recoated those as well. Very nice job but not quick. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share #58 Posted January 24, 2013 The 5cm Summicron will be delivered Friday, but unfortunately my IIIg has not yet returned from repair. I plan to try the lens on my M9 and have a suitable LTM/M bayonet adaptor on order but that also a has not arrived. Being an impatient soul, I am wondering if it is feasible to take a few test shots by using an adaptor normally used for a 90mm lens, which I do have. I realise the wrong frame lines will be brought up, but would it have other implications or drawbacks? Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted January 25, 2013 Share #59 Posted January 25, 2013 The other adapter should have no effect on the M9, other than the frame lines. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted January 25, 2013 Share #60 Posted January 25, 2013 Very happy to hear the lens is coming so soon Keith. Like you, I only have one adapter, in my case a Voigtländer 50, which I use for all my LTM focal lengths, from 2,8cm to 13,5, on the Ms. The fact that wrong framelines come up doesn't bother me since I'm a fan of the preview lever. Looking forward to some test shots! I have to admit the collapsible is a lens I have considered a while. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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