Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Rigid chrome 2/50 M Summicron: The rigid chrome M Summicron was introduced in 1956, and is identical to the NF Summicron (Erwin Puts). There are two different coatings: The first goes off after (long years) cleaning, and the front element looks grey; the second is blue to blue-violett and stays untouched. The lens shows its best results between f 2 and f 8, with an optimum at f 4. It's sharpness is so impressing, that I feel it as comparable to the current Summicron at f 4 or f 8. It is definitely more soft at f 2.0 or f 2.8, specially in the corners, but it's a "pleasant unsharpness", like the 1/50 Noctilux at f 2.8. Different, I don't like it's sharpness at f 11 or 16 (it's like the coll Summciron at f 8), because the loss of sharpness between f 8 and f 11 is too strong. The out-of-focus rendition is soft and pleasant, and tends more to the Summitar, specially in lower f-stops (f 2.8 to f 4), than to the coll Summicron. The modeling effect is less strong than from the coll Summicron. The color and grey tone rendition is very rich, specially in daylight up to (max) f 4, 1/250, E100s. The color saturation depends on the type of pictures: In lower light (1/60, f 4, E100s) the colors are very saturated, the shades are very rich; in bright sun light (above f 4, 1/250 E100s), the lens looses it's magic and is as fine as the Summitar or Summarit. It is my "one and only" 50 mm lens for rainy or strongly overcast days (if I look for color richness), and in b/w up to f 4, 1/250, 200 ASA (if I look for richness in grey tone rendition). The lens is a "cold", low to middle contrast lens. Black 2/50 Summicron: The "black" Summicron was introduced in 1969, and is - according to Laney - the officially 2nd version (thanks to i.e. Erwin Puts, we know better). I had this lens for some month, about 25 years ago, and I can give you my reasons why we "divorced" pretty soon - although you may call me something like a Summicron manic. Compared to the rigid chrome Summicron, my lens had an increased contrast but a reduced sharpness. The contrast agreed to the current 1.4/50 M Summilux, and the sharpness to the 2/50 coll Summicron. Maybe I had a "Monday production", maybe not. I was so disappointed by this lens at that time (in comparison to the rigid chrome Summicron), that I sold her pretty soon. In my memory (which may be errorous), the color rendition is comparable to the coll Summicron resulting from the enhanced contrast. Today, I'm sure, that I over-reacted 25 years ago, and that my expectations resulting from the rigid chrome Summicron (which I had sold to purchase the black Summicron) were too high. On the other side, I've never touched this type of lens again. Current 2/50 Summicron: The current Summicron was introduced in 1980. I bought it last year after reading Erwin Puts comments, which says in short: "simply the best". Whatever Erwin says on his site or in his recent Summicron evaluation and comparison, also agrees to my impression. The lens is astonishing sharp at f 2.0, and very sharp above. The color saturation is extraordinary rich, and the contrast is high. - But, it is not "my" Summicron (I sold it after half a year). For me, the color saturation in combination with it's high contrast was too strong, in all types of light, it reminds me on colors of children sweets (i.e. "Smarties" or "Easter eggs"). Additionally, I missed the rigid chrome's softness in the out-of-focus areas and the richness in grey tones. In my mind, and maybe depending on my type of film-development-print-paper-combination, the contrast in the grey tones is too strong. To give an example: If you have a soft/ tender (?, phrase) subject, like a landscape in fog, you need to underexpose the b/w film at least 1/2 or one f-stop with this lens to get a negative, which's print agree to your memory from the scene. The rigid chrome Summicron gives a correct negative without correction. The lens is a neutral, high contrast lens. continued ... Alf - -------------------------------------------------- Alfred Breull http://members.aol.com/abreull/index.htm http://members.aol.com/mfformat/c-mf.htm