There's some flare in photos using my Summicron 50 f2 when shooting into a light source (say a window, or open sky through trees) without a hood (don't have one). This lens provides absolutely clear photos with beautiful tone when the light source is behind me. This chrome Summicron is probably a 1959 lens (#1534+++) which I bought used recently. Apart from what looks like some cleaning scratches, the glass is perfectly clear. Is the flaring a problem for old lenses? Do the more recent Summicron 50/2's also flare?

Will using a hood help? If so, which hood fits this lens, and where can I find a used one at a good price?

-- Jung Suh (jsuh@enron.com), August 27, 2001

Answers

Rule#1: never shoot in any weather, sunny or overcast, without a lens shade. I have two 50mm Summicrons, one a collabsible 1950's vintage and the other from the early 1970's. Both are excellent lenses but I never use them, or any of my other lenses, without a shade. You can purchase one used in any camera store that carries Leica stuff, especially if they carry used geal. They are not cheep, even used. I paid around $35.00 for a good condition metal shade (circular) but now use the rectangular shade for my 50mm Summicrons. Both work great! Good luck in finding what you are looking for.

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), August 27, 2001.

All lenses will flare if pushed to extremes, but you can help eliminate this by using a lens hood. The older designs flare more readily too. But shooting straight into a very bright light is asking for problems whatever lens you have. One disadvantage of a rangefinder is that you cannot see flare so you are often none the wiser until you see your shots.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), August 27, 2001.

As the light source is in the frame, a hood will not help. That is not to say a hood is not a good idea, it ceratinly is, but not for this problem. If there are many very fine "cleaning" scratches then this is probably most of your problem. The scratches are not in the glass but in the coating and it can be recoated. If there are just one or two scratches, I would not worry about them. Modern lenses have superior coatings and can handle shooting into the light better.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), August 27, 2001.

I love these vintage coll. Summicrons but all seem to have some degree of fogging. Take a good look at it against a bright light source and if there is even minor fogging of the elements then a $35 CLA will help a lot. Also I wholeheartly agree a lens hood is a must with this Summicron. I strongly recommend you get the 12549 which is the chrome screw-on hood for the current 50/2.8 Elmar. There is no vignetting with this hood even if you use a filter with your Summicron. You can order one from any Leica dealer.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), August 27, 2001.

My old DR 50 was a flare machine with any strong back light source. My current Summicron is about as resistant to flare as I've ever seen in a lens. By the way, I thought the glass was clear on the DR until I did a close inspection with a flashlight. Not only was there some fog on the inner elements, but when I sent it out to be cleaned, I found out the "fog" was actually coating that had failed on several elements and the lens could not really be just cleaned.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), August 27, 2001.

Even the Summicron is not entirely flare-free. My Tabbed 50mm, which is optically equivalent to the current model, can be made to flare quite readily by placing the sun just above the frame.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), August 27, 2001.

. . . And that's with the proper lens hood (before someone asks).

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), August 27, 2001.

It is possible to see a flare using RF-camera. Take off a back door from a camera, very carefully insert a thin (0.8 – 1.0mm) ground glass into the film channel, set the “B” on a shutter speed disk. Now you can check any lens, when looking at a very bright source of light.

-- Victor Randin (ved@enran.com.ua), August 28, 2001.

It is possible to see a flare using a RF-camera. Take off a back door from a camera, very carefully insert a thin (0.8 – 1.0mm) ground glass into the film channel, set the “B” on a shutter speed disk. Now you can check any lens, when looking at a very bright source of light.

-- Victor Randin (ved@enran.com.ua), August 28, 2001.

It is possible to see a flare using a RF-camera.

Not when the camera actually has film in it, which is when it is useful!

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), August 28, 2001.

'Not when the camera actually has film in it, which is when it is useful!'

I mean anyone can see a flare on the ground glass inserted in a RF- camera instead of the film.

-- Victor Randin (ved@enran.com.ua), August 30, 2001.

I am using a current Summicron-M 50 with built-in hood. I often forget to pull the hood out in quick grab shots and really notice a lot of flare in the results. I never used a hood on my Nikon 50's and never seemed to have flare problems. Maybe I'm more critical of my results with the M6?! My pre-ash summicron-M 35 has the hood permanently attached and I've had no flare problems with that.

-- David Carlisle (dave_carlisle@hotmail.com), September 18, 2001.