75 Summarit 2.5 now very affordable

[uhoh7]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

USA price is like I've never seen for new copies:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262360362106?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Any 75/2.5 users out there: how do you like it?

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[lucerne]

It's an excellent and very underrated lens. Mainly because it's body isn't quite up to usual Leica standards. It's very sharp and contrasty.    I bought it for travel. It's much lighter than the 90 Cron.  European buyers have to add 20% VAT .  

Edited April 2, 2016 by lucerne

[pop]

It's a lovely lens, with a no-nonsense rendering and not prone to flare, a real tool.

[DezFoto]

USA price is like I've never seen for new copies:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262360362106?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Any 75/2.5 users out there: how do you like it?

 

I own the 75 Summicron, and have used the Summarit a fair bit (on loan while my Summicron was being repaired). The difference between the two is not as vast as the price would suggest, and the Summarit is quite a bit more compact and weighs less. If I had tried the Summarit before the Summicron, I probably would have bought the Summarit instead. The biggest drawback is the .9 meter minimum focus distance, if you can live with that, then it's a superb lens and I highly recommend it!

[HV25]

Just bought myself a Summarit 75mm 2.5 at a discounted price of £900. First impressions are very good. Very sharp lens. I also find it to be well made - doesn't feel cheap or inferior to my other non-Summarit lenses if you disregard the rubber ring that is.

[m0n0]

I have the Summicron, but everything I've heard about the Summarit is consistent with what has just been said here too: that the difference between them is not as vast as the price would suggest as DezFoto summarised it. The Summarit's great value. But what I'm curious about, if anyone could also comment on, is really how others are using that 75m focal length. Frankly, apart from the occasional head and shoulders portrait, I haven't found the focal length something I resort to very much, however lovely the Summicron's rendition, especially on the M Monochrom. As others have also pointed out, it's often a "neither here nor there" FL between 50 and 90. Given my usage patterns (street, travel, people in their environment) the more portable Summarit might have been a better fit. (my oher lenses are 35's and 50's, and for travel and street I find myself happy to trade speed for weight and smaller size between the Summicrons and Summilux's)

Edited April 3, 2016 by m0n0

[uhoh7]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Looking at the mtf charts, the 75 Summarit does dive a bit right at the edge, past the M8 crop point. More so than the 90 Summarit or the 75 cron. I will be interested to compare it to the 90/2.5 which I also own and like very much. I have a good 75 Lux, but it's too heavy for daily use.

Edited April 3, 2016 by uhoh7

[luigi bertolotti]

In my (big...) set of lenses, it is a unique... the only lens I bought brand new (with my M8) : after several months of usage, the front assembly became loose... easily fixed, it never showed anymore problems; it's one of my preferred lenses for usage : sharp as the Elmarit M 90, much more light and portable, even if the screw-on hood makes it less compact than the nominal dimensions. Contrast really strong, but all in all an excellent item.

Edited April 3, 2016 by luigi bertolotti

[bocaburger]

When the M8 came along I wanted a lens to give me back the approximate FOV of a 90mm on full-frame.  The 75 Summicron was more than I wanted to spend, even used, so I picked up a used CV 75/2.5 for a couple hundred bucks.  I found it to be surprisingly good compared to the Cron I borrowed, and it never gave me any trouble quality-wise.  When I got an M9 I had no more need for the 75 but I kept it, and now use it on my Sony Nex-6 crop camera.  It's still a bargain compared to the Summarit 2.5 or 2.4. 

[darylgo]

I like to use this lens on less contrasty subjects or a cloudy day, it provides extra pop over the summicron.  A good portrait lens when the contrast can be tamed. 

[TomB_tx]

While I love the 35 & 50 Summarits, I had already bought the CV 75 2.5, and I agree it is excellent. I see no need to replace it with a Summarit or other Leica lens, but the I don't use the 75 much. 

The rubber focus ring on the Summarit doesn't bother me at all, as my Leica R Summilux has one also, and I rather like it.

[sblutter]

When the M8 came along I wanted a lens to give me back the approximate FOV of a 90mm on full-frame.  The 75 Summicron was more than I wanted to spend, even used, so I picked up a used CV 75/2.5 for a couple hundred bucks.  I found it to be surprisingly good compared to the Cron I borrowed, and it never gave me any trouble quality-wise.  When I got an M9 I had no more need for the 75 but I kept it, and now use it on my Sony Nex-6 crop camera.  It's still a bargain compared to the Summarit 2.5 or 2.4. 

+1 for the CV 75/2.5

[DezFoto]

But what I'm curious about, if anyone could also comment on, is really how others are using that 75m focal length. 

 

I use 75mm for portraits and landscapes mostly. I wrote a review a while back and there's some examples in that article, which you can read here: http://www.digipixelpop.com/?p=902

[m0n0]

I use 75mm for portraits and landscapes mostly. I wrote a review a while back and there's some examples in that article, which you can read here: http://www.digipixelpop.com/?p=902

Thank you. That's an excellent review done in a style that manages to be both accessible and technically informed. I looked around and found the site very useful.

[uhoh7]

My Summarit arrived

 

Wide open no edit:

L1046354 by unoh7, on Flickr

 

L1046355 by unoh7, on Flickr

 

Now at 5.6:

L1046356 by unoh7, on Flickr

 

L1046357 by unoh7, on Flickr

[uhoh7]

One more:

Good Friends by unoh7, on Flickr

[DezFoto]

Thank you. That's an excellent review done in a style that manages to be both accessible and technically informed. I looked around and found the site very useful.

 

Thank you, I'm glad you found it helpful!

[cbretteville]

It is a great little lens. My only complaint is the rubberized focusing ring. I am living fine with that. I have used it extensively in a studio setting with strobes, both in-door and outdoors. It shines in that setting.

Cheers,

Carl

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Jared]

I owned a 75mm Summarit f/2.5 in the past (with my M9) and currently own the 75mm APO Summicron, so I can give a bit of a comparison between the two:

 

- Summarit was every bit as sharp on-axis as the APO

- Summarit was much smaller and lighter than the APO

- Summarit was not as nice mechanically as the APO, but this had no practical implications at all

- Summarit could occasionally show both lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration, but it was never obtrusive and was easy to clean up in post on any photos where it mattered

- Summarit was not as sharp in the corners as the APO, but since this is a 75mm lens this didn't matter as much as it would with a wider angle lens.  If you use your 75mm for landscapes this might matter a little, but for people/portraits and most other subjects where you would want a 75mm lens it makes no difference at all

- If I remember correctly the lens shade does not come with the lens; you need to buy it separately

- Like all Summarits, I do not believe it comes with a little leather storage pouch.  Some people like those pouches, others think they are silly.  Leather is actually not a good material to store a lens in for any length of time since it holds moisture, but this hardly matters if you are using the lens much.

- The lens shade sold for the 75mm Summarit is actually one of the few lens shades Leica sells that is truly effective for shading the lens.  Most of their lens shades are good for protecting the lens against knocks, but rarely much use in blocking stray light.  The 75mm Summarit is one of the exceptions.  The downside is, of course, that it adds to the bulk.  It can be screwed onto the lens backwards when not in use, but that leaves almost no room to reach the focus ring.  Good that it works as a shade, but bad that it can be hard to use since it is bulky and can't really be left on backwards if the camera is in use.

- Obviously, it's not as fast as the Summicron, but at this focal length when using a rangefinder, I tended to use f/2.8 for portraits rather than using either lens wide open simply because it can be hard to nail the focus at 1m - 1.5m with a 75mm lens.

- As already mentioned, close focus is around 0.8m rather than the 0.7m of the Summicron

 

The 75mm Summarit is an excellent and, by Leica standards, very affordable lens.  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to all but the absolute mot finicky photographers who won't be satisfied with anything less than an APO at 75mm and above.  The use of all spherical lenses has an added benefit--no coma induced from minor errors in collimation, so there is likely less sample variation in this lens than in many.  This is less of an issue for Leica than for most other manufacturers, but it's an often neglected downside to aspheres.  You need to have everything perfectly concentric when using aspherical lens elements or you will get on-axis coma.

 

I eventually traded in my Summarit on an APO Summicron when I happened upon a good deal on the 'Cron.  There wasn't really a need.  I don't think I have ever gotten a shot with the 75mm 'Cron that wouldn't have been equally good in the 75mm Summarit.  Aside from the rubber focusing ring that just seems wrong on an 'M' lens there really isn't a downside to the 75mm Summarit.

 

- Jared

[uhoh7]

- If I remember correctly the lens shade does not come with the lens; you need to buy it separately

- Like all Summarits, I do not believe it comes with a little leather storage pouch.  Some people like those pouches, others think they are silly.  Leather is actually not a good material to store a lens in for any length of time since it holds moisture, but this hardly matters if you are using the lens much.

 

- Jared

TY Jared It's funny the new 2.4 does include the shade. I use a cheap 46 screw in shade which also works on the 90. But I was pleasantly surprised the lens came in a suede pouch, not the padded leather case as per normal M. I don't like those, personally.

 

Congrats on your 75 cron, which is such a killer lens.

 

Here from today, both at F/2.5:

 

Tourist Park by unoh7, on Flickr

 

Tusks by unoh7, on Flickr

 

The lens is also very good at f/11+ :

DSC03593 by unoh7, F/16 or near

Edited April 8, 2016 by uhoh7