Leitz Wetzlar SUMMICRON 50mm F/2 [II] Dual Range

From the LEICA photography magazine (Fall 1956, Vol. 9, No. 3):

new Summicron focuses to 19 inches!

two focusing ranges: both work with rangefinder-viewfinder!

Another Photokina sensation this year was the new bayonet-mounting, noncollapsible 50mm Summicron f/2 for the M-3. It has two focusing ranges - one for normal working distances, another for close-ups. There is automatic parallax compensation in both ranges and you work through range- and viewfinder as with other Leica lenses.

The normal focusing range of the new lens is from infinity to 3 feet, 4 inches; the close-focusing range runs from 2 feet, 10 inches down to 19 inches. The latter range gives reproduction ratios from 1:15 to 1:7.5. A focusing scale is provided for both ranges.

optical viewing unit

With the new lens mounted normally on the M-3, the close-focusing range is locked, so that no mistakes are possible in focusing or framing due to using the lens in a wrong position. To unlock the close-focusing range (and simultaneously lock the normal range), you must mount the auxiliary optical unit on the lens. This unit slides over the upper rim of the lens mount and corrects the range- and viewfinder images of the camera for use at close range.

With the auxiliary optical unit in place, the normal focusing range of the lens mount is blocked and cannot be used until the optical unit is removed. You can buy the lens without it and add it later at any time. The new lens does not replace the collapsible Summicron, which will still be available.

used with Focaslide

The lens unit of the dual-range Summicron can be unscrewed and used on either the Bellows Focusing Device, the BOOWU-M or the new Focaslide for the Leica M-3. It is attached to the Focaslide with a special helical focusing mount.

The price of the lens is $198.00 with the optical viewing unit. The unit alone costs $22.50.

October 1, 1956:

Ernst Leitz, Wetzlar, has announced at the Photokina in Cologne, Germany, several new Leica items which will be of extreme interest to all Leica owners.

Dual-Range Summicron for the M-3

Supplementing the collapsible Summicron which continues to be available, the new 50mm Dual-Range Summicron f/2 provides in addition to its normal focusing range, a near focusing range down to 19 inches.

The Dual-Range Summicron is in a rigid mount and features an optical viewing unit which slips over the top of the lens to correct the range- and viewfinder images for work at close distances. The normal focusing range is from infinity down to 3 feet, 4 inches; the close-focusing range is from 2 feet, 10 inches to 19 inches.

Not only does the lens focus through the range- and viewfinder of the M-3 in both ranges, but parallax compensation is automatic all the way down to 19 inches.

The optical viewing unit is used only in the close-focusing range of the new lens. A special safety device makes operation foolproof; the lens without viewing unit cannot be used in the close-focusing range. With viewing unit in place, it cannot be used in the normal focusing range.

The new Dual-Range Summicron comes in a non-collapsible bayonet mount for M-3 Leicas only. Its lens unit is removable and can be used with the new Focaslide for M-3 cameras and (with adapter) the new BOOWU-M Auxiliary Reproduction Device.

Leica ad, December, 1956:

NEW 50mm SUMMICRON gives you close-up vision with viewfinder-rangefinder focusing system!

Now you can switch from normal range to close-up work, using the same lens and sighting through the camera viewfinder. The new 50mm Summicron f/2 has a unique dual-range focusing mount and optical viewing unit which permit rangefinder function and parallax correction over both focusing ranges - from infinity to 19 inches! With the new Summicron, you can obtain close-up images of areas as small as 7x10 inches, having reproduction ratios of from 1:15 to 1:7.5. When the lens is used in normal working range, detach the optical viewing unit from the camera. This new Summicron utilizes a linear diaphragm scale.

From the LEICA photography magazine (1958, No. 1):

the creative scope of a new lens

Dual-Range Summicron offers new convenience: quick changing from normal to close-up range

The fortunate owner of a Leica M-3 can have his photographic vision expanded in a unique way. The Dual-Range Summicron f/2 lens not only allows him to move up to within 19 inches of his subject but gives him new picture-taking convenience in the close-focusing range, a freedom that matches the traditional Leica ease and flexibility. The new 50mm lens offers the precision and rapidity of combined rangefinder-viewfinder focusing and the exactness of parallax-free bright-line framing in both ranges. In other words, with one lens, you can now shoot close-ups as quickly, conveniently, and accurately as you can shoot at normal distances, and check action and focus without interruption as you shoot.

Consider the extraordinary aspects of the new lens: first, how the lens does it; second, what it can do for you.

The lens itself is a true innovation of Leitz designers. The optical system combines unsurpassed correction and freedom from vignetting in both the normal and close-focusing ranges. Even at f/2, it gives outstanding resolution, unusually high contrast, and an excellent degree of color correction. Recently formulated, highly refractive optical glasses used in the production of the Dual-Range Summicron contribute greatly to the remarkable results obtainable.

An optical viewing unit which slips onto the top of the lens mount converts the rangefinder for close focusing, reducing the angle of view for this range, and extending parallax correction to 19 inches. The lens itself goes on the M-3 in the normal way and is used in a normal way for the normal focusing range, from infinity to 3 feet, 4 inches. When it is desired to switch to the close-up range, 2 feet, 10 inches, to 19 inches, the focusing ring, which is spring-loaded, is pulled out and moved across a stop. The optical viewing unit will then slide in place. A safety device prevents improper operation of the lens, with or without viewing unit.

At 19 inches, the Dual-Range Summicron cuts a field approximately 7 by 10 1/2 inches. At 34 inches, it outlines an area 14 by 21 inches. These figures give you an idea of the size of the "world" in which you would be working when sighting through the modified M-3 viewfinder. This brings us to the second consideration - what the lens can do for you. And we find that this 19-to-34-inches-away world is a challenging and unexploited realm - as far as spontaneity and realism go. We have worked this close before, but never with such ease.

Every kind of photographer will find a métier for this close-focusing range; to enumerate picture possibilities would be as dangerous as selecting subjects for someone else to photograph. Leica M-3 owners who have already acquired the lens are just beginning to discover the potentials of the Dual-Range Summicron. However, we have compiled a list of general applications, keyed to some of the individual approaches to photography, and you can take it from there. Here they are:

• creative photography: The emotional and interpretive values of a face, hands, or anything close-up, especially in real action, or engrossed activity.
• documentary photography: Hands at work, "portraiture" through details.
• photojournalism: Telling details within the whole picture story - objects on an executive's desk, the tools of a craftsman, any revealing and informative close-up in existing light.
• advertising illustration: True spontaneity in depicting the product in use. All other fields mentioned here can be considered for advertising.
• pictorialism and the salon: A new ease in approaching the object or still life. The Dual-Range Summicron could unshackle the stiff and redundant images of yester-year, still seen in the monthly and annual exhibits.
• industrial photography: Hands or equipment or both, in action. Laboratory procedures and operations in vivid detail.
• fashion photography: A free and easy approach to gloves, shoes, accessories and jewelry.
• nature photography: Plants, rocks and natural textures can now be approached quickly if necessary.
• how-to-do-it photos: Editorial illustrations for home workshop, cooking and manual crafts can be depicted as actually happening.
• personal records: All of the foregoing fields have their counterparts in the amateur photographer's daily camera work. There are a thousand and one times when the hand-held Leica must move in close. At the museum, in the park, at work, on vacation, a quick copy of a page out of a book or a "grab shot" of a small object or texture observed "away from home," all of these are within the province of the Leitz Dual-Range Summicron.

... Leitz also unveiled three completely redesigned lenses - a novel "dual range" Summicron, a Summaron wide-angle with an auxiliary element which adapts the M-3 (or MP) camera's viewfinder to the 35-mm field of view, and a 400-mm Telyt of 5 element Gauss-type construction.

The new Summicron 50-mm f/2 is in a rigid (non-collapsible) lens mount, and has two separate focusing ranges. When the lens is bayoneted into the mount of either "M" camera it focuses from infinity to about 39 1/2 inches. At the top of the lens barrel, flush against the camera body, there is a flat area with dovetail slots on either side, and a spring-loaded button in the center. A special close-focusing attachment slides into these slots, depressing the spring-button to unlock the close-focusing range, positioning separate optical elements in front of both the rangefinder and viewfinder windows. The lens is now prepared to focus from 34 to 19 inches with both the coupled-rangefinder and automatic parallax features of the M-3 and MP Leicas. The close-range focusing and framing device is very easy to attach and remove, and may be purchased separately when needed, or not at all, as it is not used over the normal focusing range.

The Summaron lens with the auxiliary optical unit for widening the M cameras' 50-mm viewfinder field to cover the greater angle of field of the 35-mm focal length (like the dual range Summicron) is made only for the Leica M-3 and MP cameras. The optical-field compensating device, which superficially resembles the Summicron close-range unit, attaches to the lens in much the same way. Unlike the Summicron, however, this gadget must be purchased with the lens which, as a matter of fact, will neither focus nor couple to the rangefinder without it. It's also worth noting that this new Summaron focuses as close as 26 inches instead of the 3 1/2 feet which has been standard heretofore.

Both the new Summicron and Summaron lenses have linear diaphragms which give even spacing between consecutive f-stops. In other words, the distance between f/2 and f/2.8 is exactly equal to the spacing between f/11 and f/16. Another point about the new Summicron is that it can be removed from the rigid dual-range lens mount for use with the new Focaslide copying attachment. Another rigid-mount Summicron introduced at Photokina has only one focusing range (34 inches to infinity) but all other features of the dual-range version.

A special version of the SUMMICRON 50/2 with a close-up focusing range with automatic parallax compensation, and rangefinder coupling for both ranges, INFINITY - 1 metre and 88 cm - 48 cm.

According to the "Leitz/Leica Photographic Equipment Catalog 45" (effective January 1, 1972), for use on M5 the lens and viewing unit must be modified by E. Leitz.

Weight: 11 3/4 oz. (lens), 1 3/4 oz. (viewer).