Through the Lens – Mid-century Meets Modern

Pairing 1950's Leica Lenses with a 21st Century Digital Video Camera

by Dan Valdes & Charlie Crose

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 21^st 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.   

Dan Valdes is Director of Production with Firstline Creative & Media, LLC.
Charlie Crose is a videographer and editor also with Firstline Creative & Media, LLC. Mr. Valdes and Mr. Crose have both privileged to see their video and photographic work featured on a variety of national and local broadcast and cable outlets as well a on websites and numerous print publications.