Leica 3.5cm f3.5 lens opinions?

[pippy]

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7 hours ago, bwieder said:

I would love to see some examples whenever you have time, thanks! 

For the time being I can show four snaps over two posts as these were taken / posted during the last few months and I can still find them in the Forum!......😸......They might be of some degree of interest as they show how the lens performs under different situations in terms of subject-matter and lighting. All images were captured on an M Monochrom and the Summaron was wearing a filter each time. First was taken through an Orange filter; the rest were taken through a Red.

Due to Forum size limitations - and posting two at a time - the IQ is, obviously, far below the 'reality' but at least, hopefully, they will be of some use. Do the double / triple click thing to see them at the forum's max. resolution.

The hulk of 'MV Royal Iris', Woolwich Reach, River Thames;

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O2 Dome and Pylons;

P.

 

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[pippy]

'Coal Drops Yard', King's Cross, London;

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Somers Town Lock, Regent's Canal, London;

Philip.

[pedaes]

18 minutes ago, pippy said:

Due to Forum size limitations

Wow - still impressive!

[pippy]

1 hour ago, pedaes said:

Wow - still impressive!

😸

Ah well; as much as I would like to take the credit, pedaes, the truth is that it is the Summaron whose performance is impressive; I merely tripped the shutter.

Philip.

Edited April 15 by pippy

[luigi bertolotti]

This was not taken with a Summaron 3,5... but a simple contribution to how fine is a M2 with it 😀

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[archive_all]

I've had one for years and use it pretty frequently on film and digital. My copy has had a CLA and is sharp enough from wide open. It's a fun lens but it can feel limiting with the 1 meter minimum focus distance. If I were buying now I may compare against the new Voigtlander.

[Ko.Fe.]

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35 3.5 Summaron might suffer from optical elements separation. If not, it is great lens on BW. Can't tell much about color. Should be fine. I had goggled one. It was very handy with 50mm framelines on M4-2. Just bit heavy.  I also had M one without goggles. Those are rendering as real Leitz.

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Color Skopar 35 2.5 is cool lens on color, but just flat on BW. If you don't mind flat rendering on BW, Nokton 35 1.4 II. Just don't leave it WO. 

If you don't need ergonomics, check ZM 35 ones. They are good on film as well. 

 

Summarit-M 35 2.5 is one of the best lenses I ever tried on BW film and obviously fine on color one. And it is not severely overpriced. Yet, it is very fast lens to operate. If it matters.

Edited April 15 by Ko.Fe.

[Ko.Fe.]

21 hours ago, pippy said:

The suggestions regarding modern Voigtlander lenses should be considered quite fully as they are excellent performers.

 

With BW film, from my experience, it is not just same for all with CV lenses.

I have tried all three versions of CV Color Skopar 35 2.5. They weren't impressive on BW film, just flat. Norton 35 1.4 II about the same.

Ultron 35 1.7 LTM was just as good as Summarit-M 35 2.5, but build and else is sub-fair. 

50 1.5 Nokton (masochists version) was very impressive on bw film.

And so is CV CS 21 f4 LTM.

All in terms of BW film, which OP has mentioned.  

 

[bwieder]

11 hours ago, pippy said:

'Coal Drops Yard', King's Cross, London;

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Somers Town Lock, Regent's Canal, London;

Philip.

Those are great photos! I am starting to like the look of this lens!

[bwieder]

One more question referring to this lens. I see multiple different versions for sale. One that focus' down to 1 meter and .65, others that focus to 3.5 feet. Is there a difference to any of these? Or is it just the different market they were intended for? I understand that previous posts mentioned try and get a goggle less lens for my M2. Was there a sure way of knowing which one was was if the sellers do not have the goggles with the lens?

[lct]

There are LTM and M-mount variants of Summaron 35/3.5. LTM's have a 1 metre or 3.5 feet MFD. M-mount's should be the same but i have no experience with them. LTM's are more compact and easier to adapt for 6-bit coding through LTM to M adapters. For more detail i would ask on the collectors forum.

[pippy]

11 hours ago, bwieder said:

...I understand that previous posts mentioned try and get a goggle less lens for my M2. Was there a sure way of knowing which one was was if the sellers do not have the goggles with the lens?...

A little bit of historical information will be required...

When the first M-mount version of the 35 f3.5 Summaron came out the only M body on the market was the M3. This camera doesn't have frame-lines for a 35mm lens so two versions of the Summaron were produced. One verson was equipped with 'Goggles'; supplementary lenses which showed the user the view which would be captured when using the lens. These goggles also allowed correct focussing. The second version didn't have the goggles and accurate (-ish) framing was down to the photographer using the frame-line lever on the front of the camera. Focussing through the M3 viewfinder worked as normal.

Then, in 1957, Leica introduced the M2. This camera did have frame-lines for a 35mm lens so it would be unneccessary for a photographer to choose the goggled variant.

The reason I mention this is to explain why it might be advisable to acquire a post-'57 lens. There were no 35mm frame-lines in the M3. The pre-'57 lenses (afaik) all bring up the 50mm lines in the viewfinder. The post'57 non-goggled lenses had a modified mount which brings up the 35mm framelines in all cameras except the M3.

My own copy dates to 1954 and, therefore, brings up the 50mm f-lines. It was some 35 years before I discovered the reason behind this (seeming) anomaly!

Early lenses CAN be adapted to bring up the correct lines - a little bit needs to be filed from the f-line activator - and, indeed, many lenses have already been modified.

In terms of identification? It should be straightforward. The versions which take goggles (IIRC) have a small horizontal mounting bar on the top surface of the lens mount onto which the goggles are attached. Some of these lenses have removable goggles but without them the lens will not be able to focus so beware!

Non-goggled versions simply look 'normal'. Just for fun here is an oft-posted snap of mine mounted on the M Monochrom taken on the day the body came home;

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Philip.

Edited April 16 by pippy

[lct]

Lovely combo. Here is the LTM version. Framing is not a problem with it. Suffice it to use a 35/135 LTM-to-M adapter. The adapter will bring out the 35mm frame lines, if any, of the camera. Some adapters have coding pits for 6-bit coding.

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[jaapv]

Quick snaps: Goggled lens on M9M  and lens with goggles removed for storage. 
 

 

 

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[UliWer]

vor 14 Stunden schrieb bwieder:

One more question referring to this lens. I see multiple different versions for sale. One that focus' down to 1 meter and .65, others that focus to 3.5 feet. Is there a difference to any of these? Or is it just the different market they were intended for? I understand that previous posts mentioned try and get a goggle less lens for my M2. Was there a sure way of knowing which one was was if the sellers do not have the goggles with the lens?

There is another thread about the many variants of the Summaron 3.5/3.5 with M-mount:

 

[luigi bertolotti]

14 hours ago, bwieder said:

One more question referring to this lens. I see multiple different versions for sale. One that focus' down to 1 meter and .65, others that focus to 3.5 feet. Is there a difference to any of these? Or is it just the different market they were intended for? I understand that previous posts mentioned try and get a goggle less lens for my M2. Was there a sure way of knowing which one was was if the sellers do not have the goggles with the lens?

All Summaron f 3,5, except the goggled ones, focus to 1m/3,5 ft. : imho, with a M2 the goggles are someway unuseful... but  Summarons "made for M2", i.e. bring up the 35mm frame, are relatively difficult to find... (not impossible, nor costly, but fact is that they are rather few on the usual market channels) ; probably a very good solution is the one described by Ict (post #33) : a LTM version with a good proper adapter : of course, if you use M2 and use regularly filters, the version with E39 filter mount is better (the "old" A36 filters are easy to find and cheap, but often really old/worn) ; the hood, too, is better to manage if with filters, in the E39 version. Summarons are lenses of rather simple construction, so is not difficult to have them cleaned / adjusted if necessary.

 

Edited April 16 by luigi bertolotti

[pippy]

2 hours ago, UliWer said:

There is another thread about the many variants of the Summaron 3.5/3.5 with M-mount...

Gosh! Thanks for posting that, Uli, as it's a nice trip down memory lane!

That was the thread (almost exacty 9 years old) which I started in order to find out info regarding details about the Summaron for my own instruction. As such I was helped in great measure by so may knowledgeable - and friendly - forumites.

Thanks again!

Philip.

[UliWer]

Don't thank me, I also looked for information in this thread.

Since I am looking around for some time in this forum I found out which parameters are to use for the search function of this forum. And when it comes to a 35mm Summaron I always use "Summaron" and "luigi bertolotti". This way I am sure I find every information I need.

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[bwieder]

Thank you all for the help! I really appreciate it. I've come to find that Leica and their history of products can get a bit messy at times, so thank you for helping this rookie out!

[bwieder]

Update: I got the 3.5cm f3.5 Summaron and I love it so far. Haven’t taken any photos with it yet. But just holding and feeling it, it feels really nice. And looks great too! 

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