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M9 and a summaron 35?

Moonshine

New member
Just bought a Summaron 35 2.5 and am going to use it on a M9...has anyone used it before? Any advice or input please?
 
S

Seafurydriver

Guest
I mainly use this lens on my M2, but I have mounted it on my M9 from time to time. It has a classical rendering, albeit a little soft at the edges, especially wide open, compared to modern Summicron and Summilux ASPH lenses.

It would not be my first choice to pair with an M9, but there is no reason you cannot get some very nice images with this combination.

Stephen
 

sirimiri

Member
Based on what I've seen of my LTM Summaron (which was just tidied up for the first time in decades) you can expect lower-than-modern contrast in full light, and halation if there are truly highlighted bits.

Which might lend itself very well to some black and white conversions...actually.
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
I personally feel that the M9/Summaron 35 mm f/2.8 is a fantastic combo for one striving for a classic look, lower macrocontrast, and very high performing in the microcontrast department, especially if stopped down a smidge...However, it's fully capable of gorgeous results wide open and works very well as a daylight/midday lens, especially for B&W, as sirimiri stated above
 

250swb

Member
I would have thought it a great combination. I like lower contrast lenses (you can always add contrast, its more difficult taking it away), and it may give a bit more dynamic range to your M9's sensor. I often use a Summitar on my M9and the colours and rendering are wonderful.

Steve
 

Chuck Jones

Subscriber Member
My advice? Leave the coding off. Your shooting a classic lens, for the classic look. You need to ask yourself "Do you REALLY want a computer adjustment that will change that great classic character?" I don't, but it's a personal choice...
 

Chuck Jones

Subscriber Member
For a 35mm, not many that I can think of. Most of the coding applies to lens corrections for color shifts across the frame or CA correction in camera that I have seen. Neither of which you should be concerned with. I doubt highly that software based corrections for more modern lens designs would be all that effective in your case in the first place, and could likely have just the opposite effect - they may just degrade your file further. In my experience, pretty much anything going on in software in camera can be done just as effectively or better in post processing yourself using Photoshop or your choice of RAW processor. You've also got a lot more choices, since the CPU in your computer is far more powerful than what you'll find in any camera body.
 

250swb

Member
To code or not to code, that is the question.

What you have to remember is that the M9's sensor does not record the image the same way that film does. Hence the red edge problem with very wide lenses, and vignetting on wide lenses. So I appreciate the sentiment that you should go for the classic look of the lens. But the coding is there to adjust the software and neutralise the characteristic's of the sensor, not to modify the lenses characteristics.

So if you find you get vignetting etc, try coding it. First manually, experiment with the codes available.

As to the practicalities of having automatic recognition, firstly you have to make sure there isn't a screw where the code would be. Secondly the M9 doesn't like sharpies as much as the M8 does, it tends to need a much denser black mark for the code. Paint will wear off, as will a Sharpie after a few uses. So you are left with a Dremel to engrave some marks on the lens flange. This is easy enough, and you can make your own lens coder to position the marks (test with paint or sharpie first). Try here

http://bophoto.typepad.com/bophoto/2009/01/m8-coder-simple-manual-handcoding-of-m-lenses.html

Steve
 

Moonshine

New member
Thx all.
@Scott : how do your color pics come out? I know b&w on this lens is great. I'm not planning on coding but I was wondering if u manually enter it as a different 35 on the M9? I read in one of the forums that one should enter it as a 35 Summicron. Does that help any?
 
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