Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/09/29

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Subject: Re: Summar, Summitar, 73 Hektor, '96 Summicron
From: Nick Jackson <jacks@pop.jaring.my>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 07:42:34 +0800

Alf

Sorry I'm fairly new to the list, but what do you mean by
'bokeh'...bouquet..?? or character (or is it german?).

I own both of these lenses, the Summitar (mine is post war, coated) has
great ambience, but I find it loses it in situations where the light is
a little flat, or too overcast.  This may just be me of course..:-)

We get a lot of hazy days here (at the moment particularly!) and I find
the summicron can pull out a little bit more life from some scenes,
especially semi interiors.  Before the summitar I had a pre war Elmar,
which I almost prefer to the Summitar - it seemed to have more bite,
although it would miss a lot of shadow detail in the forests. 
Personally I love the detail and sharpness of the Summicron.  I only
bought the M6 a few months ago, and I still can remember the quiver of
excitement when we pulled the first set of negs from the tank and held
them up to the light....We'd been out in the forest trekking to an orang
asli village with friends, and my wife had shot a roll of the huts in
the clearing, all made of split bamboo with attap roofs.  Somehow the
summicron had caught the quality of the split bamboo walls to a tee and
you really had a feel for the nature of the material..

All a matter of taste really - both are wonderful in their own ways.

Nick Jackson
Kuala Lumpur

PS - somebody from KL, and Singapore got in touch recently after a post
I made- could you resend your messages as I inadvertently wiped them
without keeping your address, many apologies 

Alfred Breull wrote:
> 
> In comparison, the lastest 50 Summicron is ffar more sharp at all f-stops
> compared to the older 50 mm lenses, it's color performance is at least 50%
> better, but - from my point of view - it's bokeh is far more "hard" (and
> unpleasant in my mind), probably based on it's contrast abilities also.
> 
> All in all, I'm very glad, that I have those old lenses. In comparison, I'm
> as happy to have those old lenses, as I've been unhappy with the latest
> Summicron's out-of-focus performance.
>