Monthly Archives: February 2026

The Blue House 3

Leica, Photographs

3 of 3.

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Click the image for a larger version.

The ‘glow’ from the lens’s spherical aberrations at f/2 is abundantly in evidence around the white woodwork.

Leica M10, Light Lens Lab 50mm S-P II at f/2, 8x ND filter.

A note on the use of ND filters: The intent here is to permit the use of the lens at f/2 in bright daylight without over-exposing the image. Ordinarily I have the M10 set on Auto ISO and Auto Exposure. If you retain Auto ISO then the camera will crank up the ISO to allow the use of the shortest shutter speed (I have the shutter speed lower limit set to 1/4f where ‘f’ is the focal length of the lens). But, in doing so, you will run into lower resolution owing to the higher ISO selected by the electronics. To avoid this I set the ISO manually to 400, which is easily done with the manual knob, sadly deleted in the M11 series which relegated ISO setting to the LED screen. This results in a lower noise file. You can use Auto Exposure or set the shutter speed manually by rotating the shutter speed dial until the center circular LED is lit. The resulting shutter speed between the two methods – Auto Exposure or manual exposure – will be the same.

The Choir

Leica, Photographs

Leica Summicron ‘glow’.

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The standout characteristic of the LLL 35mm ‘Summicron’ 8 element and the LLL 50mm Cook ‘Speed-Panchro’ S-P II clone lenses is the glow they produce around strong highlights at full aperture. Want the best definition? Stop down to f/2.8 or smaller and the glow is gone. In a sense you get two lenses in one, with each variant.

This was snapped at f/2 in the local Episcopal cathedral. Click for a larger image, click again and you will see what I’m going on about. Cutting edge sharpness at full aperture? Nope. But a charming rendering unlike that of modern optics.

Leica M10, LLL 35mm 8 element at f/2, ISO 1600.

Leica lens coupling ring

Leica

Very handy in the field.

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The Leica part number is 14838. Look around on eBay and they can be found for under $10.



Shown with the 75mm Voigtländer Ultron and the LLL 50mm Summicron clone at right.

When street snapping I typically go with something short on the camera and another lens a little longer in my pocket for picking out details. To protect the rear element of the latter I use this Leica lens coupling ring which allows two lenses to be attached back-to-back. The secret is to use it with only one lens at a time so, when it comes time to swap lenses, I extract this from my pocket, remove the lens from the camera, attach it to the other side of the ring then simply pop the other optic off for attachment to the Leica M body. If you use it with two lenses attached and a third on the camera you risk engaging in a dangerous juggling act as you try to replace one lens with the one just removed from the camera, risking dropping one or more lenses. Not a prescription for success.

The red line (there are two, 180 degrees apart) provides a handy index for insertion of lenses.

The ring is sufficiently deep to allow all but the earliest ultra-wides to be fitted without the risk of interference from deeply protruding rear elements (21mm Super Angulons would be an example) while affording good protection for the rear element. By the way, these old ultra-wides are a poor match with digital sensors owing to the very oblique angle at which peripheral rays strike the sensor, often resulting in ‘rainbow’ aberrations on the image periphery in color images. Modern ultra-wides adopt a retrofocus optical design which avoids the deeply protruding rear elements.



The Schneider designed 21mm f/3.4 Super Angulon, showing the deeply
protruding rear element. Made 1963-1980. An optic which has
very much not improved with time.