Screw mount Leica c1937 with Summar lens
Toronto. In the 1930s, the films and plates were very slow by today’s standards. Normal lenses were usually around f/3.5. To help this lack of sensitivity, Leitz designed a new lens around 1933. The 6 element lens was a modified Gauss design. With an aperture of f/2 wide open, the 5cm lens was a stop and a half faster than the little 4 element 5cm Elmar.
The new standard lens, called “Summar”, was promoted in advertisements such as this one on page 469 of the March, 1934 issue of American Cinematographer magazine. The Summar was originally a rigid lens in nickel as shown in this ad. It was changed to a collapsible nickel or chrome lens in 1934. An example of the collapsible lens is the 1937 version shown above.
I snapped the Leica and Summar with my iPod Touch and cropped and adjusted it in Affinity Photo with the Focus Magic Plug-in. The advertisement is a scan courtesy of good friend, George Dunbar, himself a retired Industrial Cinematographer and Photographer who has generously shared his historical research.
