[Leica] Re: 50 mm lenses

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

On Aug 21, 2006, at 1:34 AM, Marc wrote:

> I will be the iconoclast, and I will stick with the Summitar.  I  
> love that
> lens, and I have taken satisfying (I started to say "great" but  
> then some
> rebellious soul in our number would start demanding that I produce  
> those
> photos -- I am moving, a SLOW and AGONIZING move, mind you, and I  
> have had
> three scanners die on me in a row, so I have nothing to show to you  
> guys
> save by mail, and even then, it would be a matter of six or eight  
> months
> until my new darkroom is up and operating).  I find the Summitar  
> results
> really great.  The best of the lot in my estimation, though, is the DR
> (dual-range) or NF (near-focus) 2/5cm Summicron, a second-generation
> version, with close-focus eyeglasses.  Get one, and enjoy, either a  
> 2/5cm
> Summitar or a 2/5cm Summicron DR.  Either one will test YOUR  
> limits.  You
> will never test the limits of the lens, I suspect, unless you are Ted
> Grant, that Immortal Soul of Eternal Photography.


I too find it strange that I am ALMOST in total agreement with Marc.  
The 50 mm  Summitar is a great lens and on an LTM Leica permits it to  
go where few other Leicas have gone, i.e., into a coat pocket. Just  
marginally better is the first generation 50 mm Summicron. This was  
the lens that came with my first generation M3, purchased in 1954 at  
a duty free shop for $270 US dollars. I still have the camera and  
lens (and the original receipt to prove the price to doubters). The  
DR Summicron is the lens that Modern Photography (October 1978)  
acclaimed as one of the highest resolution lenses ever offered,  
resolving 105 l/mm at infinity on high contrast film. There are a few  
who claim that this lens reached the acme of resolving power and even  
today, few, if any. lenses can top it.

Larry Z