Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/01

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Leica Users digest V13 #7
From: "Mike Durling" <durling@widomaker.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 21:21:52 -0500

For what it's worth, I've had a Summar since the mid-70's and I really don't
like the look wide-open.  The fuzziness just looks wierd and not artsy to
me.  All bad bokeh!  The lens actually sharpens up pretty well when you stop
down.  I made some nice sharp 11x14s from negs taken with it many years ago.

One other problem I found is that it has lost a lot of contrast since I got
it.  It has a soft coating on the front element which has worn quite a bit
with cleaning.  The flare is now unacceptable.  The front group unscrews
pretty easily so I did clean the fog from the inside.  The flashlight shows
that the front coating is the likely culprit for the flare.  BTW does
anybody have suggestions for getting the bad coating off?

Summars are cheap enough though, so you might want to get one and judge the
quality for yourself.

Mike Durling

- -----Original Message-----
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 13:45:42 -0500
From: "Lee, Jonathan" <Jonathan.Lee@hrcc.on.ca>
Subject: [Leica] 50 Elmar vs Summar

LUGers,

I'm thinking about putting a screw mount  50 on my M6.  I'm NOT looking for
a tack sharp lens, after all I do have the 50 Summicron for that, but I'm
looking for a "nostalgic, fuzzy, pre-war" look.  Any insights into choosing
one or the other of these lenses, assuming that they can be found in decent
shape.

Jonathan Lee