Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Doug Richardson wrote: > > I've been interested to see the generally favourable comments which > users have made concerning the 5cm f1.5 Summarit. I'd always assumed > it was simply a coated version of the Xenon, a lens I once owned in > (third-party?) coated form and found to be horribly soft at full > aperture. Perhaps I just had a bad or poorly-reassembled example. A > recent article in the "Viewfinder" compared a single example of the > uncoated Xenon and the a contemporary uncoated 5cm f1.5 Sonnar, and > reported a generally similar level of performance from both. I've been > looking for an LTM f1.5 Sonnar - perhaps I should be thinking of the > Summarit instead. > I wouldn't say it's horribly soft wide open. But it certainly has a soft look. This is more due to low contrast (it has a lot of flair) than lack of resolution. It's a bit worse at minimum focusing distance. It doesn't hold shadow details very well but the midtones have a very smooth creamy look. It's got boatloads of coma (fat-comet shaped out of focus highlights) which gives it charming, distinctive look. You can get a really nice 'wrap-around' framing effect with it. I've got some pictures on my site taken with it. Check out http://deepturtle.ch/steve/photos/pod/1feb00.html through to 17 Feb. - -- Stephen Holloway http://www.deepturtle.ch/steve/photos