Thambar-Crazy

[Wonzo]

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Autumn Colors (lens fully open, no center spot filter)

 

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Edited November 8, 2020 by Wonzo

[Aryel]

13 hours ago, mole73 said:

Thank you Aryel!

As some users posted in the past of this thread, I think it‘s easier to use with digital medium because of the ease of viewing the effects of the thambar immediately after the shot.

Before i went down the road to shoot with my Thambar I read the whole Thambar-crasy-thread and learned a lot.

You make it even more tempting 😉.

I really enjoy this thread still unsure whether I want one or not (luckily I do not see any second hand ones 😂).

Thanks for sharing! Very interested to see more.

 

[Gerbs]

I just recently got a 1.5/85mm Summarex (1950) and have been spending a lot of time with it. There are a lot of similarities to the Thambar, both generally being considered specialized portrait lenses. My Thambar is from 1937. For general photography I think the Summarex may be a bit more useful. I would recommend researching both before making a decision. The 1.5/85mm vs the 2.2/90mm is worth some thought. I'll have to go back to the Thambar soon to help solidify my thoughts, but I can say that I really do love the Summarex, and don't mind lugging it around.  The Summarex is 28.16 ounces, the Thambar is only 17.6 ounces. To my way of thinking the Summarex at f/1.5 makes it a sort of 85mm Noctilux!

[Gerbs]

Here are some comparison photos taken off a tripod within a few minutes of each other, between the Thambar and Summarex. They are mostly looking towards the light, so the Thambar has a little more problem since I don't have a lens shade for it. Images are straight out of the camera, only making the darks closer to black, and in one case lightening the lights. No other adjustments. ISO at 100, shutter speed from 1/30 to 1/2000. The Thambar goes from f/2.2 to f/22, the Summarex from f/1.5 to f/16. All are with an M10. I tried to pick a subject with foreground, middle ground and background, since each lens shows itself best with something fairly close as the main subject, when wide open.

#1 Thambar at f/2.2

 

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[Gerbs]

#2 Summarex at f/1.5

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[Gerbs]

#3 Thambar at f/4.5

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[Gerbs]

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#4 Summarex at f/4.5

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[Gerbs]

#5 Thambar at f/22

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[Gerbs]

#6 Summarex at f/16

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[Gerbs]

#7 Thambar at f/2.2

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[Gerbs]

#8 Summarex at f/1.5

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[Gerbs]

#9 Thambar at f/4.5

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[Gerbs]

And lastly,

#10 Summarex at f/4.5

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[Wonzo]

vor einer Stunde schrieb Gerbs:

Here are some comparison photos taken off a tripod within a few minutes of each other, between the Thambar and Summarex. They are mostly looking towards the light, so the Thambar has a little more problem since I don't have a lens shade for it. Images are straight out of the camera, only making the darks closer to black, and in one case lightening the lights. No other adjustments. ISO at 100, shutter speed from 1/30 to 1/2000. The Thambar goes from f/2.2 to f/22, the Summarex from f/1.5 to f/16. All are with an M10. I tried to pick a subject with foreground, middle ground and background, since each lens shows itself best with something fairly close as the main subject, when wide open.

#1 Thambar at f/2.2

 

 

Very interesting results, many thanks for this comparison ! This is of special interest for me as I have just found and ordered a Summarex 

[Gerbs]

22 hours ago, Wonzo said:

Very interesting results, many thanks for this comparison ! This is of special interest for me as I have just found and ordered a Summarex 

I have found Fotodiox at fotodioxpro.com to make really good screw to M-mount adapters. They also make ones with milled pockets for painting a digital code if you'd like. I chose to code mine as 000111 for a 90mm Summicron f/2 (II). The one issue I had with the Summarex is that it is probably a question of luck if the on-lens tripod mount ends up in the right place. Mine is off by about 10°. Perhaps a Leica brand adapter would be made with the screw threads in the proper orientation to match the old camera bodies. It is a monster lens, and I've read that some older Leica bodies may not be strongly enough designed to take much abuse from a heavy lens hanging off the front. I simply try to be extra careful, and keep the lens pointing down a lot when not in use.

[Guest BlackBarn]

On 11/17/2020 at 9:00 AM, Gerbs said:

Here are some comparison photos

Thanks for doing this Eric as I was considering a Thambar of the new kind and you have opened the door to another option.

The stand out rendering for my eyes  is the Summerex at f/1.5. What appears good about the Thambar is that it retains its character throughout. Regardless,  both very nice lenses.

[Gerbs]

3 hours ago, BlackBarn said:

Thanks for doing this Eric as I was considering a Thambar of the new kind and you have opened the door to another option.

The stand out rendering for my eyes  is the Summerex at f/1.5. What appears good about the Thambar is that it retains its character throughout. Regardless,  both very nice lenses.

I think the Thambar can get a little crazier with the background, and to my eyes can start to get kind of ugly with its bokeh. I hope sometime to be able to rope in someone to model for me, so I can compare the two with a more studio portrait type of setting, nothing in the far distance. I have a feeling the Thambar would be better for a vintage Hollywood look. I'll also have to see if I can rig up some kind of lens shade for it, flare as in #5 above can be bad, even without looking directly into a light source. As you may have seen with my recent posts, the Summarex can be quite successful for non-portrait work... I'm lovin' it. And it is a lot cheaper! If you haven't tried one, they are BOTH funky to use. The f stop ring spins around the lens as you focus, and where it stops nobody knows. So you often need to hold the barrel when adjusting f stop, to maintain your focus. And sometimes you have to look in odd locations to figure out what f stop you are at!

[Wonzo]

vor 19 Stunden schrieb Gerbs:

I have found Fotodiox at fotodioxpro.com to make really good screw to M-mount adapters. They also make ones with milled pockets for painting a digital code if you'd like. I chose to code mine as 000111 for a 90mm Summicron f/2 (II). The one issue I had with the Summarex is that it is probably a question of luck if the on-lens tripod mount ends up in the right place. Mine is off by about 10°. Perhaps a Leica brand adapter would be made with the screw threads in the proper orientation to match the old camera bodies. It is a monster lens, and I've read that some older Leica bodies may not be strongly enough designed to take much abuse from a heavy lens hanging off the front. I simply try to be extra careful, and keep the lens pointing down a lot when not in use.

My Summarex has arrived today. It has a Voigtländer M-adapter as a result of my discussion with the dealer,  that In the past I had often realized, that the original M-adapter didn`t always work properly. Too many times the camera didn`t realize, that there was a lens mounted on the camera.

The dealer said, this wouldn`t be the case with the Voigtländer adapter. There is a white field of the adapter, where the lens code can be marked. Unfortunately Leica doesn`t offer a code for the Summarex. I checked for an alternative and decided to choose the lens code of the 75mm Summilux (100011), which I don`t own. Now verything works fine.

Gerbs, the on-lens tripod mount is absolutely at the right place.

[Musotographer]

On 11/17/2020 at 7:52 PM, Gerbs said:

I have found Fotodiox at fotodioxpro.com to make really good screw to M-mount adapters. They also make ones with milled pockets for painting a digital code if you'd like. I chose to code mine as 000111 for a 90mm Summicron f/2 (II). The one issue I had with the Summarex is that it is probably a question of luck if the on-lens tripod mount ends up in the right place. Mine is off by about 10°. Perhaps a Leica brand adapter would be made with the screw threads in the proper orientation to match the old camera bodies. It is a monster lens, and I've read that some older Leica bodies may not be strongly enough designed to take much abuse from a heavy lens hanging off the front. I simply try to be extra careful, and keep the lens pointing down a lot when not in use.

Thanks very much for this - the 28/90 adapter arrived today, and at last I can mount my Jupiter-9 on the SL and M10M without either of them having a meltdown, or my having to put a scrap of sticky paper over the cameras' coding sensors to block them. I went for the codeable version and the paint is drying as I type. Only disappointment is that the screw thread is not well engineered, so it is quite hard work getting the adapter onto the lens.
Next stop is a 50/75 one for my Jupiter-3, as soon as they are back in stock. 

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