|
I've uploaded this picture in a large
size to show what the Summaron can do when flare is no problem. Do click on it.
The
shot was made on a cloudy late afternoon when the light was weak; I had to set the aperture just one-third
of a stop from wide open. Saturated-color film, not the lens, kept the colors alive despite the poor light.
However, the lens did not cancel out the film. I see no vignetting here, and am well pleased with the resolution of
detail. Remember that Leica designed and first produced this lens in 1946.
All the shots on this page are with Kodak's 400UC emulsion. For comparison,
I'm someday going to use the same film with recent lenses and see how deeply the colors saturate.
The light was coming in from the upper left, as you can see. If you
click the picture to full size, you will see degradation by flare at the upper left. It's there because I left
my lens hood at home.
I deliberately sought to challenge the Summaron with this angle
on New York Harbor. As you see, the flare is godawful. And yes, I had the lens hood mounted for this shot.
Here are two photos for
comparing the close-up and infinity performance of the Summaron. The close-up photograph has the Leica glow
and sense of three dimensions. The second shot is not as sharp, but I can't blame that on the lens. I was standing
in a strong wind as I clicked away, and the camera shake is evident. Look closely at the red lights; they
are degraded in classic wobbly-photographer style. Overexposure didn't help the sharpness, either.
|
|
| Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, 2004 |
City vistas are better served by medium format, anyway.
This next picture was taken from medium distance: fifty feet, I would
estimate. There was no lens hood, but the image is not degraded by flare. I also seem to have held the camera
steady. This is not your usual movie theatre, so I did not hold the camera parallel to the subject. I wanted to
keep a slight distortion. A 35mm focal length also makes the marquee thrust forward nicely.
|
|
| Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, 2004 |
|
You will note that the posters higher up on the theatre have weaker colors. The Summaron didn't do
that, nor did Photoshop. These upper posters get sunlight more hours of the day than the lower ones.
In summarizing, I would say that the Summaron 3.5 can perform to high standards if it is handled
carefully. You will probably want to use one of the saturated-color films that are popular now, and you must take steps
to avoid flare. I want to use this lens more for street shooting, and will post the results here.
Now let's go long, as they say in football: let's have a look at the 90mm Elmar f4.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
