[Leica] Old Leica lenses

[LEN-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier)]

Ever since I purchased my M8 I've been experimenting with it and my  
older LTM Leica lenses. This not only gives me an idea on what my  
film photos taken with the Leica III series bodies will look like but  
it allows me to compare performance to the modern lenses. I find the  
older Summars, Xenons and Summarits are very low contrast, flare  
easily and definitely need a lens hood at all times.  However that  
does not mean they are low resolution lenses. The next 5 photos will  
demonstrate what to expect from a 50mm Summarit directly from the  
camera and then 3 easy post processing steps ending up with the  
comparison of the final photo compared to a 50mm Summilux Asph.

First I would like to mention that none of the photos have sharpening  
applied during the process.

The first photo is taken directly from the camera and has not been  
altered except to convert it from a raw file to a jpeg. All the  
Summarit photos are from the same M8 digital photo. It has low  
contrast even at f4.

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LeonardT/Summarit/L1008908.jpg.html>

The 2nd photo is the same as the first except the saturation was  
reduced to zero in the raw converter.

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LeonardT/Summarit/ 
L1008908_BW.jpg.html>

The third is the original except Auto Levels was used on the image.  
Things are looking better.

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LeonardT/Summarit/L1008908a.jpg.html>

The fourth photo is the same as the third except contrast was  
increased +20 and green was increased +20 in Color balance.

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LeonardT/Summarit/ 
L1008908a_Color_Contrast.jpg.html>

or

http://tinyurl.com/373sce

The final picture is a comparison shot to a 50mm Summilux, unaltered.

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LeonardT/Summarit/ 
L1008910_SummiluxAsph.jpg.html>

or

http://tinyurl.com/37tctj

The Summarit lens cost me $275  1 1/2 years ago. The Summilux cost me  
$2350 two years ago.

Regards,
Len