Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/04

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Subject: Re: Flare problems w/S'cron 50 collaps... help?
From: Paul Schliesser <paulsc@eos.net>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 97 10:48:25 -0400

>According to someone I contacted via email at Stan Tamarkin (they
>advertise in Shutterbug, etc), the 50mm Summicron collapsibles are "not
>coated for color photography".  Does this mean they do not have modern
>multi-coating, etc, or that the optics are not coated at all?

Some of the earlier lenses are coated, but not as well color-corrected as 
later lenses were. Sometime in about the early 1950s, color films started 
becoming popular enough that a lot of manufactuers needed to tweak their 
lens coatings--the coatings not only control reflections, but help remove 
any color casts the glass in the lens might have. When most photography 
was B&W, slight color casts were not a big issue. I don't know if this is 
the deal with the collapsable Summicrons, but I'd be surprised if this 
was the case with a lens made as late as this one was. The only problem 
there might be is a slight color cast. A lot of people do shoot color 
with them!

- - Paul