1951 Summitar 50mm

Leica CL + Leica Summitar 50mm f2

I was excited to try the Summitar lens from our 1951 Leica IIIf on the digital CL, but so far have not managed to get any decent images. The photos appear soft, and the lens seems easily affected by the imperfect {milky and ‘flat’} light conditions we’ve been having over the past couple of weeks.

Lack of contrast seems to be the main problem. There is also quite a bit of fringing, and a purple-green colour cast over the images.

Interestingly, I do not experience these problems when shooting film using this same lens on the IIIf body. Not sure whether that’s because the lens ‘behaves’ differently with a digital sensor than it does with film, or because I photograph with film only when I know the light is good. But in any case, we have brilliant film photos taken with this 70 year old lens, and I am hoping to eventually do it justice with the digital CL.