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Summitar vs Summitar


Baybers

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I have the later hex diaphragm Summitar, family owned from new. My father did not like it much in 1953, neither do I now. If it were not for the family associations, I would sell it. It is OK for black and white taken at apertures of F4 and smaller but wide open it is soft at the edges and corners and quite low contrast. Particularly with Fuji colour film, both negative and reversal, mine gives a bluish cast. It does not have the upside of my slightly later 5cm/f1.5 Summarit, which is also soft and low contrast wide open but has wonderful swirly bokeh. The hex diaphragm Summitar, when used wide open hasn't very pleasant bokeh. If you are not careful where you are pointing relative to the sun and not using a big hood like the clumsy barn door SOOPD, you are likely to get hex shaped ghost images, particularly if you are using a filter. 

 

I think all of the foregoing explains why the hex Summitars fetch considerably less than the round diaphragm models. If you can stretch to it, I think the Summicron is better in every way than the Summitar. If you are not dead set on a Leica lens, a fungus free LTM Canon 5cm/f1.8 "Hiroshi" lens (all chrome with infinity lock), beats the Summitar hands down and also has hard coating, so does not suffer from the scrubbed front elements that many of the drip coated Leica lenses do - and they are cheaper plus unlike the Russian lenses, they focus correctly at all distances.

 

Wilson

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  • 8 months later...

I recently acquired Summitar with Leica IIIc converted to f. It is 10 blade, seems coated. Sr no. 661263.

I tested it on film and digital both and have started to like it. It is plenty sharp in the center and reasonably sharp to edges f8 and above for landscape (even on M240).  

Bokeh is not bad but I am not getting the circular bokeh I keep seeing on internet. Is it due to 10 blades?

Edited by jmahto
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Hi,

When I did my homework to get my first Summitar (serial 764153 from 1950), my understanding was that the "sweet point" should be the coated (so clearly post war) and still with the 10 blades diaphragm and I still think so, despite I've got some others due to they came with the camera.

Best regards

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Hi guys.

I had not the occasion to compare 6 vs 10 blades as I do only have a 10 blade Summitar. All I can say that I really like this lens as a collapsible f/2 lens.

Comparing with two collapsible Summicrons that I have sold again, my Summitar holds clearly the edge. It has nearly no cleaning marks and no haze (after I cleaned it). You can find some impressions (mostly on film) here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskz8rPw8

If you find a clean specimen without haze, you have a good chance to get an excellent lens for film. I have cleaned two more of these lenses for friends and they are really happy with it.

 

Best regards

 

Frank

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  • 1 year later...
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On 2/15/2018 at 4:32 AM, alan mcfall said:

I have 53 Summitar lenses, most on war-time IIIc's, but some on IIIF and IIIG.

My favorites are shown in the below photo.  487275 is from the very first lot and would be the 275th production unit, round aperature blades, and 991441 is from the very last batch, 1952 with hexagonal blades.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

I have recordedSummitar 586349 uncoated and 586407 coated; so coating started about then. The 35 elmar started coating at 581501, the 135 elmar at 590551, and the 400 telyt as early as Oct. 1941.  I have the coating start serials for other lenses, but can't find it at the moment. Others may have it also.

Just yesterday I received Summitar no. 586159. It came on its original 1942 camera body and is beautifully coated.

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