35mm Summaron f3.5 - Coding Question

[Jon Pop]

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Just curious if anyone has done any tests to see what lens is the best to select from the M9/240 lens selection menu when using a 35mm Summaron f3.5. I know that I saw somewhere in a chart once that Zeiss, for example, recommended using the Leica 28mm f2.8 code to get the least vignetting etc from the 35mm f2.8 Biogon C. I know this doesn't help with EXIF data, but I don't really care so much...just want the best match for the lens. It may not make any difference with the Summaron 3.5 if I just select the first generation 35 Cron for example from the menu, and I could run some tests myself, but just thought I'd save time if anyone else had. A lens of f3.5 isn't likely to have the critical needs of a 1.4 I'm pretty sure.

 

It's my second time owning the 35 Summaron 3.5. I regretted selling my first copy. Nice little lens, works well on film and digital...not too fast or matching the performance of the Cron of course but the price was great, this copy has no haze, and I just find that lenses from that era, while not matching the optical prowess perhaps of the latest offerings, are just machined so beautifully! Like little brass jewels.

 

If anyone has any coding advice etc. I'd appreciate it.

[lucerne]

I've also acquired this lens in the last month and I'm amazed at its capabilities. I intended to use it for black and white portraits to give less clinical results than my Zeiss 35 f2. A local leica collector has tested a variety of M9 settings for me and has recommended coding the lens as for a 35mm f/1.4 lens (11870/11860). There may be slight vignetting which is removable on Lightroom. Do you have the lens shade?

[Jon Pop]

I have a 12504 lens hood that I use on my Elmarit 28mm f2.8 Asph; it fits just fine, as does the square 12526 hood that comes with the Elmarit (but of course it will rotate. The issue I've found with using a shade on the Summaron (which helps with veiling glare I admit) is that the aperture ring becomes almost inaccessible. Thoughts?

[lct]

The regular hood for Summaron 35/3.5 is the FOOKH (12505).

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/12505

34mm threaded hoods should fit as well but i never tried.

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[Jon Pop]

That one won't work. My Summaron is the M version from 1955, not the A36 LTM version. Mine has 39mm threads and can take the same hoods as the Summicron 35. I've discovered that one of the recommended hoods is ITDOO from the original catalogue in 1955.

[lct]

IROOA and vented 12585 (or 12585 H) hoods should fit as well. I prefer the latter for my Summaron 35/2.8 but i have no experience with yours sorry.

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[rpsawin]

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I have this lovely little lens and use a 12585H lens hood with no problems.

[Jon Pop]

For sure - I used the 12585 on my previous Summaron 3.5; like the 12504 (which I like more due to the slightly lower profile) it will work. As I said, the issue is more that with any of these hoods, the aperture ring is quite hard to access...it's a design thing in the lens, where the groove sits for the hood to clip into. No problem...I usually leave it at 5.6 when I'm outside in good light anyways! Thanks for all the feedback everyone (including the tip on the manual selection of which code is optimal in the digital M menus..!).

 

It's a fun little lens; doesn't get the airtime it deserves, especially for the price. I acquired this one (which is clean, a bit of dust but no haze at all) for a real amazing bargain (under $300). I could see the combo of the Summaron 3.5 and an M2 back in the day being quite attractive to daylight shooters, travel shooters etc. before the 'need for speed' (and now of course the bokeh thing) started to make everyone obsess over f1.4 lenses. And these lenses, like the 8 element Cron 35 and of course the 50 Cron rigid and DR, have a machining and craftsmanship that's not been seen since. Even though optically the latest ASPH etc. lenses are technically better, the craftsmanship of some of these old lenses is pretty hard to beat.

[lct]

There are a lot of 39mm threaded hoods available on the market. See a couple of them below. Heavystar and other brands like this are inexpensive and can be found on e**y.

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[Adrian Lord]

I am another fan of this lens, especially works well on the monochrom. I also have the 2.8. Great value, especially the 3.5.

 

There are some examples the results on the old lenses on the monochrom thread.

[luigi bertolotti]

I am another fan of this lens....

 

and me... such a fan that have 5 items of it....

[AHAB]

.... in the end, what coding was best for the Summaron 35 3,5 and what would be the suggestion coding a Summaron 35 2,8 for M9/M240