

- #Leica 50mm summicron r prototype serial number#
- #Leica 50mm summicron r prototype serial#
- #Leica 50mm summicron r prototype full#
These used to sell in upwards of $100, but have recently dropped in price I recently acquired one for $30. There’s also a folding “barn door” hood available.

If you get a copy of the lens with the adapter you can use a screw-in vented hood these are readily available on eBay. I couldn’t find the adapter, so I ended up having one custom machined by SK Grimes, which set me back about $75. Filter use isn’t a huge deal in digital photography, unless you plan on using the lens with the M8-then you’ll need to use a UV/IR cut filter to prevent unwanted color shift. They aren’t the easiest things to find, and can sell for $30 to $50 when you do come across one. You need to get an adapter in order to use a screw-in filter or hood. The Summitar also has a non-standard filter ring. Kodak Tri-X TX400, Leica M3, Leica Summitar 50mm f/2. It may not sound like a big difference on paper, but getting in just a little bit closer can make or break a shot. A newer Summicron, which is a lens that will probably set you back around $1,000 on the used market if you luck out and find a deal, can focus down to 0.7 meter. The Summitar can only focus as close as 1 meter-that’s just about 3.3 feet for those of us who prefer a quarter pounder with cheese to a royale with cheese. As I discussed when talking about the unique 50mm DR Summicron, rangefinder lenses aren’t really suitable for close up work. There are a couple downsides to buying this versus a modern 50mm Summicron-one is the minimum focus distance. That is something that might be a little awkward at first, but I eventually got used to it. It also has an infinity lock, which requires you to hold down a little button in order to move it to or from the infinity focusing position. The lens hides like a turtle until it’s time to use, and then extends out with a twist so you can shoot with it. Kodachrome 64, Leica M3, Leica Summitar 50mm f/2.Įrgonomically, the lens is a collapsible design, which helps to save some space in your gear bag. Its aperture blades form a hexagon as you stop it down, and in certain situations the lens creates a rather trippy, swirly pattern behind your subject. The lens can also create some really nifty bokeh-which is a fancy way of talking about the out of focus blur behind a photo. The lens isn’t the sharpest in the world at f/2-there’s a bit of a dreamy glow around highlights-but drop it down to f/2.8 and it sharpens up nicely. I’ve shot it lots on film and on the crop-sensor M8, but I’m a 50mm kind of guy, and I wanted to know if it would live up to my demands as my main go-to normal lens when I eventually break down and get an M9.įrom what I’ve seen, the answer is yes.
#Leica 50mm summicron r prototype full#
I plan on writing more extensively about that in the future, but one of my objectives was to see just how well the Summitar performed on a full frame digital camera. I was driving from city to city, testing cell phones-and I had a lot of time to take pictures. I just finished up two weeks with the M9-P, which I reviewed for PCMag, mostly on a road trip through the south as part of the Fastest Mobile Networks project. The lens is actually in a Leica Thread Mount, so you’ll need to use an adapter to mount it on an M-mount camera.
#Leica 50mm summicron r prototype serial#
My copy, manufactured in 1951 based on its serial number, set me back a whopping $225 when I bought it in 2010. The Summitar is one of the great bargains of the Leica world. There are bargains to be found in older glass, and if you can mount Leica glass to all kinds of cameras these days-including the $700 Sony Alpha NEX-5N. Or Best Offer +$13.44 shipping.īut you don’t have to buy the latest and greatest camera and lenses. 9 product ratings - Leica 50mm SUMMICRON M Lens 11826 black. Related: leica 50mm summicron m leica 50mm summicron r leica 50mm summilux leica summicron 35mm leica 50mm summarit leica 50mm summicron rigid leica m6 leica mp leica m leica 50mm summitar leica 50mm summicron dr leica m4. The raw data was supplied courtesy of Leica, by Mr.
#Leica 50mm summicron r prototype serial number#
Leica SLRs Sorted by Model and Serial Number 1963 to 1996: Leicaflex to R8. Also, there is only one version of the collapsible Summicron in M mount. As far as I know, there is just one version of the collapsible screw mount Summicron. Aside from absurdly priced special editions-like a $50,000 special edition M9-P with four lenses and Hermés leather-a run of the mill M9 will set you back around $7,000, and the least expensive new lens you can buy from the company is the $1,500 50mm Summarit f/2.5.Īssuming you are talking about 50mm Summicrons. The Leica brand has become synonymous with excessively priced camera gear in recent years.
