Now That Is Sharp

Voigtländer Heliar 3.5 50 mm at f/9, whole image

As opposed to this:

1950-ties Leitz Elmar 3.5 5cm in a contre jour situation

Everybody knows that nothing lasts forever, not even the enthusiasm about a new (old) camera.

Especially if the lens on it, a Leitz Elmar 3.5 5cm from the fifties, flares like mad on anything lighter than, say, zone VIII in a picture. Some Leica Glow! Upon closer inspection, the front lens had a myriad of “cleaning marks”, i.e. finest scratches.
There is another lens, though, built just like it, with the same specifications, that Cosina Voigtländer misnamed the Heliar f/3.5 50 mm. That one is sharp:

Cosina Voigtländer Heliar at f/9, center

And at the edges:

Cosina Voigtländer Heliar at f/9, center

And at f/3.5. By the way, that’s Kodak TMY-2 for the test shots, developed in X-TOL 1+1.
By the second way, that’s Hiroshi Sugimoto’s fabulous exposition catalog from Hatje-Cantz on my bookstand in the following photo:

Cosina Voigtländer Heliar at f/3.5, center

All’s well again.

Tags: Elmar, Heliar, Leica, Shiny things