Pairing 1950's Leica Lenses with a 21st Century Digital Video Camera
by Dan Valdes & Charlie Crose
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| Summaron 35mm f/3.5 circa 1957 – f3.5-f.22 |
What happens when you pair up classic, 1950’s vintage Leica
35 mm camera lenses with a 21st century digital video camera? We put four lenses to the test, and
discovered that kicking it old school can produce some pretty spectacular
results.
The irony of shooting moving pictures with lenses
specifically designed for optimizing still photography is not lost on us. In
fact, the first Leicas were actually designed to adapt the exciting new medium
of the day, 35 mm cine film, for still photography. So, we basically did a complete 360 – we took
a still camera lens, which was inspired by lenses used in making moving
pictures - and used it to shoot moving images on a digital video camera.
HISTORY
As a bit of history, it was 1913 when the first Leica
prototypes were created and built by the visionary genius Oskar Barnack, the
father of modern 35 mm photography. Barnack sought to reduce the size and
weight of cameras and support equipment.
In doing so, he changed the world of photography and photojournalism
forever.
His 35 mm design helped introduce the concept of exposing a
small area of film to create a negative and enlarging that image in the
darkroom. Instead of exposure plates
used in other cameras of the day, Barnack’s camera used the Eastman–Kodak roll
film. Due to the onset of WWI, the fist
Leica cameras were not commercially produced until 1925. The Leica became an immediate success.
Before Barnack, photography was laborious and cumbersome,
often involving a very large 8x10 view camera, tripod, bellows and shroud for
the photographer. Not exactly suited to
capturing action or images on the go. That’s fine for landscapes and portraits,
but imagine setting up that rig for action. By time you have the camera in
place and the focus adjusted, your subject has moved on. The rangefinder
allowed photographers to carry, in hand, a small, precise and highly reliable
camera that could get into the action without weighing the photographer
down.
Barnack conceived the Leica as a portable camera using a
small negative. By transporting the film horizontally, instead of vertically as
in cine cameras, the frame size is extended to 24 x 36 mm with a 2:3 aspect
ratio instead of the 18 x 24 mm frame of cinema cameras. The larger area of
coverage required development of a lens specifically designed to accommodate
it. The fist leica lens was a 50 mm f/3.5
design based on a lens of the day. In order to make large photos from small
negatives, it was imperative to have the highest quality optics.
1930 brought another innovation from Leica - the
interchangeable lens system. In addition to the 50 mm normal lens, a 35 mm wide
and 135 mm telephoto were initially available.
In the mid 1930’s, a legendary soft focus 90mm f/2.2 was introduced. Leica
lenses are renown for their outstanding quality and for pushing the limits of
optics. Today, the 50 mm f /0.95 Noctilux-M sets the gold standard for super high-speed
photography, capturing the sharpest of images in the lowest of light
levels. Ideal for street photography and
photojournalism, the superior speed afforded by Leica lenses allows the
photographer to capture images that otherwise would be impossible.
With that bit of history as a backdrop, we set out to focus
on putting vintage Leica lenses to the test by recording video with the micro
four thirds mount and the Panasonic AF-100 as our tools. There are many instances where these lenses
are not ideal for recording video, but for certain projects and certain shots,
there is simply nothing quite like shooting with Leica lenses. Be it optical purity, contrast range,
exposure range, low light performance or shallow depth of focus bokeh, Leica is
in a class of its own.
THE TEST
For our test, we used the following lenses:
·
35 mm f/3.5 Summaron
·
50 mm collapsible f/2.8 Elmar
·
90 mm f/4 Elmar
·
50 mm f/1.5 Summarit – the fastest of the group
·
We also used a 15mm aspherical Voigtlander lens
– the only non- Leica of the bunch
The last 2 lenses are from the screwmount family, while the
others are all bayonet mounts. Our particular
collection all date back to 1957 date of manufacture. Our adaptors are the Dot Line series of Leica
M to micro four thirds adaptors readily available at B&H. The adaptor is streamlined and low profile
which helps keep the balance of the lens closer to its native feel. This low profile also enhances the ability of
the lens to cover more of the image sensor and removal is a simple thumb
release to one side and the lens comes free.
We’ll start with Dan’s personal favorite, the 35mm Summaron
f/3.5. This lens was manufactured from
1946-1960 and is a 6 element 4 group lens.
It comes with auxiliary finder optics, a feature of no use to us working
with Micro Four Thirds mounts. For our
purposes, the lens functions essentially as if working with TTL DSLR
optics. These lenses are perfectly
suited to mirrorless micro four-thirds cameras like the Olympus Pen or OM-D, as
the size and weight and functionality are perfectly suited to the smaller size
camera body – not unlike the classic Leica rangefinder they were originally
built for. In our test, we wanted to see
how they would perform using a Panasonic AF-100 and in particular, note the
challenges of working in video over stills.
Here’s how we conducted our test:
·
we opened each lens to its widest aperture
·
we kept the camera in the same place
·
we used the same scenario for each shot
It was very cool to finally see how these Leica lenses would
look on a video camera. For the most part, we thought they felt and looked
great! We’ve included a video with a few
shots from each of these lenses so you can judge for yourself.
ERGONOMICS
Each lens was very similar in terms of look and style with
just a few little differences. Aside from the 135mm, they all looked extremely
tiny on the AF-100.
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| Summaron 35mm f/3.5 circa 1957 – f3.5-f.22 |
The Summaron 35mm. Definitely
a good solid build. Not too heavy and not too light. The focus ring, located on
the bottom of the lens, has a pin to control the focus ring, which moved easily
and quietly. The aperture ring, located on the top of the lens, also moved
easily and quietly. I did find it difficult using the pin to focus while
shooting video. It’s not the most ideal way to focus a lens with video. But
it’s fantastic for shooting stills with the Olympus OM-D digital camera.
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| Summarit 50mm f/1.5 circa 1958 f1.5-f16 |
The Summarit 50mm. Very similar to the 35mm. It had the pin to
use for focus, solid build, and very smooth and quiet.
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| Elmar 50mm |
The Elmar collapsible
50mm. This lens also had a solid build. It was heavier than the Summaron
35mm but hard to notice attached to the AF-100. This lens is collapsible and
also has a pin to control the focus ring. I found it difficult to find the
aperture ring while looking through the camera, as it’s very small and at the
tip of the lens. No problems otherwise.
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| Elmar 90mm f/4 – f32 Collapsable |
The Elmar collapsible
90mm. Very similar in weight to the
35mm, but more similar to the 50mm in style. However, instead of a pin to
adjust the focus ring, you use the rings itself to make the adjustment. Again,
this made it tricky to find the aperture ring, but everything was very smooth.
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| Hektor 135 mm f/4.5-f/32 |
The Hektor 135mm. Charlie’s favorite when it comes to focusing
for video. The ring is a nice wide band that was very smooth, and being
non-collapsible, made it easier to find the aperture ring as well. It was
definitely the heaviest of the bunch, but that’s understandable being the
longest of the lenses.
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| The Voigtlander |
The Voigtlander 15mm.
Definitely was the smallest, lightest and had the least solid build. Its
aperture ring is similar to the Leica lenses. Its focus ring felt a little
smaller, but still smooth and quiet.
OVERALL LOOK
We definitely could see each lens being used to cut scenes together
with very little color correction in post-production. The color reproduction was pure and rich.
Charlie thought the 35mm overall had the noisiest image of
the group, especially in the darker sections of the shot. He also thought it
had the least amount of contrast. Charlie did, however, think the bokeh was nice,
especially for a 35mm. The center sharpness of the image was also pleasing.
Charlie feels the Summarit circa 50mm was the most
interesting (Dan calls it the most challenging) of all the lenses. This is mainly
because of a haze that forms over the image when opened to its widest aperture.
(Visible in the video example.) The good thing is that as you close your
aperture, the haze does disappear. You can also get rid of the haze with some
color correction in post-production by simply dropping the level of your
blacks. It’s something that could
possibly be cleaned by a professional camera shop but ours hasn’t yet been refurbished.
The Elmar collapsible 50mm was the second favorite of the
group. It had a very nice film look to it. Charlie thought the sharpness of the
image was nice, but not as sharp as he’d like. The contrast was nice and the
bokeh was good.
The 90mm lens was our favorite by far. The contrast and
overall sharpness was great! The bokeh
is very pleasing to the eye and just kind of fades away - not distracting at
all. The image is clean with no noise.
The 135mm has by far the best bokeh, even at an f/4.5. Charlie wanted it to be a little sharper than
it was along the lines of the 90mm, but it didn’t quite get there. The contrast
was still good and it was a very clean image with no noise.
The Voigtlander was an amazing 15mm lens. We hardly noticed any distortion. The
sharpness was great throughout the entire image. Overall, it was a very clean image with not
much noise at all; well, maybe just a little in the darker parts of the image.
It also matched really nicely with the Leica lenses in the colors and contrast.
The hardest part was probably adjusting to the focus and
aperture rings since they are flipped on these lenses. Otherwise, they fit
perfectly and didn’t require any change in the camera to start shooting. In the future, we’d love to try out the R
series or S series for video as opposed to these smaller M series because they
are bigger and more ergonomically balanced with a larger video camera. They would also mate more easily with follow
focus and matte box accessories.
Ultimately, we feel like the Leica M series would not be the
best lenses to use for run-and-gun type b-roll shoots or, for that matter, any
shoot that requires a lot of movement and adjusting focus. The lenses were just
too small. We do agree that they’d be
great to use for sit-down interviews and shoots alike.
We’ve been excited to try out these lenses for the longest
time and it was a lot of fun finally being able to do it. In the final analysis, we’re confident that
we can use the M series lenses to shoot some beautiful video, and in the
process, capture that unique Leica look.
