Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Mirrorless Cameras => Topic started by: Erland on May 01, 2016, 04:12:17 am
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Hey Guys!
I have an offer to buy two m Summicrons, at around $300 each. Haven't checked the condition yet, but the price seems very good either way. and it is legit, since it's from a well known photography store. I was planning to use it on my Sony A7, as my main all day use. But since you guys have all the knowledge about everything here, what versions should I look out for, regarding good-er and bad-er versions etc?
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I would expect them both to have somewhat smeared corners on the Sony.
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com
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I would expect them both to have somewhat smeared corners on the Sony.
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com
I wouldn't expect any corner problems with a 50mm focal length.
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FWIW, while I don't have a Leica 50, the Zeiss ZM 50mm is very similar. The comparison of the corners, displayed at 100%, between a Leica M9 and the Sony a7rii is shown here:
http://www.paulroark.com/Sony-a7rii-v-LeicaM9-ZeissZM50-f56.JPG
I have both systems, and the only M glass I have shorter than 75mm that works as well on the Sony is the WATE, which is a retrofocus design. Nonetheless, the Sony is my main system now.
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com
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I have a bunch of Contax RF, LTM & M 50mms—Leitz/Leica, Cosina-era Voigtländer, Zeiss, Soviet Jupiter—of various vintages. There is some corner smudging with all of 'em when used on a Sony A7r. Haven't tried 'em with the A7r2. The Sonnar f/1.5 & f/2 designs are the most overt offenders. With the others the smudging is noticeable at high mag, and presumably when printed big, but not at 2048x1536 iPad res or even on my 4k TV.
The one wider-than-75mm RF lens I own that does work really well on the A7x cameras is ironically one of the oldest: a pre-WWII 35/4.5 Zeiss Orthometar. A very early retrofocal design.
-Dave-
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Why not just buy the Sony 55m? Why bother with adapters if you don't have to?
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Thanks guys!
I love manual lenses. And I don't got the economy to justify the steep price for the excellent 55mm. I will buy a Summicron Rigid, in very good condition. Corners aren't that important to me, and haven't seen any problem with my other 50mm i got.
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The Rigid (well, mine anyway) works pretty well with the A7r. This reminds me to give it a try with the r2. IMO it's the classic Leitz fast 50mm, designed & made during the heyday of the Leica M.
-Dave-
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Regardless if you are going to use it on your Sony, this is a too good to be true buy. at $300 this is the lowest I have ever seen a Summicron. I paid over $2000 for my 50mm.
Make sure they are in working order and with no fungus etc and if that's the case, you should buy them for $300 and sell them for $1200 on ebay, this will give you enough money to buy a Zeiss for your Sony 8) ;)
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The Rigid Summicron is a late '50s/'60s lens, and Leitz made a relative ton of 'em. Thus they're not that expensive on the used market. $300 is pretty low, assuming the lens has no issues, but within the realm of probability if the seller is motivated to turn it over quickly.
-Dave-
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I find that the differences noted in the corners at 100% on the screen don't translate to much in the print for me and seldom if ever hurt a nice image. The joy of working with a nice compact lens overrules it for me. I even happily use a 35mm Summicron IV with my a7ii.
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Seems like a good enough deal to me if that is what you are in the market for.
I have a Summicron-R 50/2 and a replacement mount to make it work on K mount cameras (of which I have several) but haven't gotten around to doing the conversion yet. Mount replacement is the only way to adapt these to K because of the registration distance.
I'm not sure if the optics are the same but if you are adapting it anyway the R versions of several Leitz lenses seem to go a bit cheaper. I also have a Elmarit 135/2.8 that I tested the conversion process on and it's a nice solid lens with really nice color rendering and bokeh.
I need to resume this project, especially if I pick up a K-1.
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The reason I can get the lens for such a low price is I'm getting a friendly price rather than a price the seller makes any profit from.
Though, I actually decided not to buy it, since after comparing it to my Jupiter 8 in superb condition, I found I would rather buy a 35 Summicron. Testing a v3 for 2 weeks now and starting to love the images. I've posted some images on my instagram www.instagram.com/mrcserlndssn from it, and it really is a keeper. Just gonna make sure I get a good price.