70 years of Leica 50mm on M8

[ibogost]

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So, one of the reasons to be excited about a digital Leica M is because of the three-quarter century of optics one can draw from for digital rangefinder photography. I decided to do some quick, simple tests today with this in mind. These weren't intended as comprehensive tests, but just as a way of starting some conversations on this topic here and elsewhere. These photos are not very interesting as art, but they are pretty interesting as test shots, I think. All shots are taken at f/2 and ISO 320.

 

Test lenses are a c.1935 Summar 50 f/2 and a current-gen Summicron 50 f/2. The Summar is in expected condition for a lens of its age, a touch cloudy, but still pretty darn clear. The Summicron is minty.

 

First thing I was interested in was drawing style and sharpness. As expected, the Summicron is way sharper, but the Summar draws very charmingly:

 

Shot 1, Summicron

 

Shot 1, Summar

 

Next thing I was interested in was flare and highlights. The Summar flares, but the flare it produces is a highlight-blowing dreaminess that I actually like quite a bit. Again, these photos aren't very interesting, but you can imagine creative uses of it. The Summicron performs as we'd expect it to, but it's a bit clinical once you've seen the Summar.

 

Shot 2, Summicron

 

Shot 2, Summar

 

Maybe the most appealing thing about the Summar is the way it draws, especially OOF. Sorry, I didn't do a comparison shot with the Summicron. The color space on Flickr looks different from what I see in Aperture, but you'll get the gist.

 

OOF drawing, Summar

(see post below for the uploaded version)

 

Say what you want about your razor-sharp Summiluxes, I just love the painterly rendering of the Summar here. This is the sort of thing that makes me so happy about the M8 -- the ability to have these kinds of aesthetic options with digital.

[george +]

Ian, your pointers take one to some Flicker account which requires a Yahoo sign in. Why not show the pictures right here or post them on the Photo Forum?

[ibogost]

I didn't realize they required sign-in. I went back and edited. I could only include four there, so here's the Summar OOF drawing example. I didn't want to put these in the photo forum because they're not very good shots really, just wanted to share my experience thinking about these lenses on the M8.