Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/06/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The RIGID seven element Summicron is demonstably better than the collapsible version, but few SM examples were made... - ---LRZeitlin@aol.com wrote: > > I'm glad to see that there are still screw mount Leicaholics. Many of us old > timers insist they they are the only "real" Leicas, the rest being oversized, > overweight, high tech pretenders for people who lack the manual and mental > dexterity to work all the fiddly little knobs and levers. > > Now about screw mount lenses for those lucky enough to have real Leicas. The > best of the 50mm lenses is, of course, the 7 element collapsible Summicron > which was produced during the twilight of the screw mount era. This is > identical, except for the mount, with the M series lens and is probably the > best normal lens ever released for B&W high resolution photography. Almost as > good, and far more available, is the 50mm F2 Summitar. The only other 50mm > Leica lens I would consider for serious photography of the highest standard is > the 50mm f3.5 Elmar. The Summar and the Hektor are soft by current standards. > > Leica produced a series of forgettable wide angles during the preWW2 era. The > Hektor 28mm was reasonably sharp but only had a maximum aperture of f6.3. The > 35mm Elmar was a good sharp lens with an f3.5 aperture but exhibited some > corner darkening at wide apertures. The best screw mount wide angle was the > 35mm f 3.5 Summaron, essentially the same lens as that supplied for the early > Ms. > > The best short telephoto was the relatively rare Summarex 85mm f1.5, but for > most uses, the f4 Elmar is quite satisfactory and far less expensive. > > A > _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com