Is the nickel Summar a rare lens. I do not see it in eBay. What is the going price for an excellent ++ with clean glass.

Thanks,

Tony

-- Anthony Yau (tonyy88@yahoo.com), November 11, 2001

Answers

The nickel finished rigid version of the Summar is fairly rare but the chrome rigid version is very rare. Collapsible Summars are very very common.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), November 11, 2001.

I paid around $450 for a near mint, six aperture blade nickel Summar with no front/rear element scratchs recently.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), November 11, 2001.

take any pix with it? id like to see some...

-- grant (g4lamos@yahoo.com), November 11, 2001.

Tony

First, there are two basic versions of the 50/2.0 six-element Summar: Rigid (1932-33) and collapsible (1933-39). ALL rigid Summars are very rare. There were about 2000 rigid Summars issued, but a significant number of these were factory converted to collapsible. The rigid Summar was made in nickel as well as chrome, with the chrome a little less common, but all of these lenses are rare. Any rigid Summar would sell for about $ 1500-2000, due to its rarity.

Some of The earlier collapsible Summars were made in nickel, though most are chrome. The nickel collapsible Summar, though uncommon, is not as rare as the nickel rigid Summar.

I should also add that there are really two varieties of the collapsible Summar. Some of the early lenses (late 1932-1933 or so) had a smooth front rim which was painted black, while the rest had the usual silver milled front rim. These "black rim" lenses were issued in nickel and chrome, and sell for a premium (about $ 350-450) as compared with the more common variety ($ 100-200, depending on condition).

Finally, regarding the condition of these lenses, the condition that you specify (E++ with clean glass) is rarely encountered. Even if you could find one with a cosmetically nice barrel, all varieties of this lens usually have problems with glass: cleaning marks on front/rear glasses, general fog/haze due to age, separation (unfortunately, too common), and sometimes fungus. You're lucky if you can find one that has reasonably clean glass, and you will definitely have to pay a premium.

Nevertheless, if you buy a reasonable Summar for $ 100-150, it is not bad for a genuine Leitz Wetzlar lens from the 1930s. These lenses are uncoated, except if they were sent back to the factory post WWII for coating. They will yield a soft "glowing" image, definitely distinct from the biting sharpness of the modern Leica lenses.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), November 11, 2001.

Eliot is right. Every Summar I have ever seen has had pretty bad front coating damage. I was willing to pay alot for mine because it was scratch free and it had six iris blades instead of the usual five. Anyway repolishing and coating it from FocalPoint will set you back a few hundred dollars. In hindsight any reasonably scarred Summar would do since people don't buy it for the sharpness.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), November 11, 2001.

Thanks for the comments

Tony

-- Anthony Yau (tonyy88@yahoo.com), November 16, 2001.