50mm Summarit f1.5

[sinjun]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

This is a lens I'm fond of and which I think has an unfairly bad reputation in some quarters for image quality. In order to counter this, I attach a couple of examples from this evening with 100% crops. Firstly, taken wide open f1.5. The subject is far enough away that the bokeh is not a weird as this lens can exhibit. Strong glow is seen around the ear tag. Certainly not the sharpest lens wide open but good enough for me in many circumstances.

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!

Edited August 6, 2023 by sinjun
typo

[sinjun]

Next an example at f2 which to my mind shows good sharpness in crop.

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!

[doubleW]

I have a pristine example of the Summarit f1.5 built in 1956.  The first owner fitted it with a UV filter, used it about a year, and put it away in his safe until I purchased it about three years ago.  Sent it to YYE for a CLA and could not be happier with the results.  Wide open it is a little soft, things improve markedly at f/2 and from there on, resolution is on a par with my 50 Summicron, with nearly as good saturation. It works especially well with my M10 monochrome.  I suspect scratches to the soft glass and coatings contribute to the lackluster performance some experience with this lens.  I'll never part with this lens.

[jaapv]

It is indeed a fine lens and I have used mine to good effect but I dislike the swirly  bokeh and double contours in the OOF areas. 

[pippy]

I'm another who absolutely loves the rendering of this lens and was surprised to discover that I hadn't contributed to the 'Appreciation' thread mentioned by Al in post #5.

So! In order to make some amends here is a portrait of 'Scrap' shot (1953 M-mount Summarit; M Monochrom) at min-focus and wide open;

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!

Philip.

Edited August 7, 2023 by pippy

[sinjun]

12 hours ago, Al Brown said:

There’s already a Summarit 50/1.5 character thread with some awesome intel. You also have participated in it, I wonder if there was a need for a new one.

Sorry about that. I did search back through many pages of results with terms 'summarit' and '50mm summarit' because I thought there might be such a thread. Turns out if I'd put 'summarit 5cm' I would have found it. Does someone knows of a better search strategy?

[Pyrogallol]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I find searching in google finds things on the forum better than searching for them  in the forum.

[sinjun]

1 hour ago, Pyrogallol said:

I find searching in google finds things on the forum better than searching for them  in the forum.

Great tip. Putting in 'summarit leica camera forum' in Duckduckgo search engine brought up the thread Al refers to as first entry. Using 'summarit' in the forum search gives 400 pages of search results. I don't know where the first reference to the relevant thread is, but it isn't in the first 40 pages...