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New Leica Owner

Undead

By Undead
in Leica M8 / Leica M8.2

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Undead

Undead

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Hi all, just introducing myself. I have just bailed out of my Nikon kit, (D800) and lens after many years and bought my first Leica. I used M8 with 1000 shutter activations, but someone I know looks after his kit very well.

 

Now in the slow process of selling off the rest of my Nikon mount lenses so I can buy a second lens.

 

The M8 came with a Voigt 15mm and a Canon 50mm. Looking for a 21 or 24mm then 35mm.

 

I am leaning towards Carl Zeiss, no haters please. If I find the Leica system an I get on then my investment might grow.

 

Having grown up and worked in the industry in the 80's many with medium format Blads, I wanted to find a new way of taking photos rather than chasing digital technology and upgrading year on year just because.

 

Anyway, just wanted to say hi form Canberra Australia, Happy Christmas to you and your families.

 

Tony (Undead)

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pippy

pippy

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Hi Undead.

Welcome from another relative newbie to the world of the M-8.

 

As it happens I was reading up on 21's myself and I found this link to be of some interest;

Voigtl

Obviously it's not as fast as the f2.8 Zeiss but I find the size to be very appealing indeed. I aim to buy one in the new year.

With the .75 crop of the 8's chip I suspect the corner-to-corner performance will be very good.

Mr. Rockwell's not everyone's cup of tea but the review seems pretty positive and so the lens might be worth your while taking into consideration.

 

FWIW I've bought the Voigt. 28 f2 and the 40 f1.4 (to go alongside my old Lietz 35 and 50 from my M-2 days) and they are pretty amazing performers - especially when we consider their price-point. The 40 in particular is a gorgeous lens; pin-sharp even at f1.4 and, if this matters to you, it appears (to me) to possess excellent 'Bokeh' properties...

 

On which note; how do you rate the Voigt 15mm ?

 

Philip.

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Undead

Undead

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Hi Undead.

Welcome from another relative newbie to the world of the M-8.

 

 

 

On which note; how do you rate the Voigt 15mm ?

 

Philip.

 

Thanks All.

 

So far the 15mm seems fine. It is WIDE, an effective 20mm. It has some pleasant distortion of subjects close to the lens, of course. I have a separate view finder but it is not matched on a cropped sensor being 15mm and I need a diopter corrector for it, my eyes won't focus through it.

 

Everything is in focus so not being rangefinder coupled doesn't matter.

 

I have looked at the Voigts as well as the Zeiss but there are some very mixed reviews. I will go with either a 21mm Voigt or Zeiss and fast 50mm next. But some of the old Canons are very nice and well priced.

 

I also have a Fuji X100 that I got when they first came out and quite like that as well, my daughter has been hinting at me handing that down to her.

 

Cheers, Tony

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Lenshacker

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You will enjoy the M8. I have several of the Cosina/Voigtlander lenses, they are very good- build quality comparable with Pentax and Minolta SLR lenses of the 1960s. The 50/1.5 C-Sonnar is the only modern Zeiss that I have, a favorite.

 

Which Canon 50mm lens do you have now? There are quite a few ranging from F3.5 to F0.95.

 

Also be sure to visit Arvid's site for some post-processing software for processing "raw" M8 files.

 

http://m8raw2dng.de/

 

This software gives new life to the M8 for shooting high ISO.

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pippy

pippy

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Thanks All.

 

So far the 15mm seems fine. It is WIDE, an effective 20mm. It has some pleasant distortion of subjects close to the lens, of course.

 

...I will go with either a 21mm Voigt or Zeiss and fast 50mm next. But some of the old Canons are very nice and well priced.

 

I also have a Fuji X100 that I got when they first came out and quite like that as well, my daughter has been hinting at me handing that down to her.

 

Cheers, Tony

Thanks for sharing your views, Tony.

I occasionally use a 17mm for my 'real work' and although I'm not really a 20mm guy as far as the Leica is concerned I think the 15mm might be handy to have in the bag for those odd occasions.

 

One thing I might mention is that the inferior coatings (relatively speaking) of those old Canon lenses might be problematic. I don't want to be a Domesday merchant but there's no way my '60s Leitz lenses can compare with modern optics. I carried out side-by side tests and, as an experience, it was an eye-opener...

I've also got several Nikkors from the '60s to the '80s which I considered using with an adaptor yet, notwithstanding they were the benchmark in their day, they can't compete with current issue; flare - both frontal and rear-projection - being the prime difficulties.

Hopefully your Canon will prove to be superior to my Nik's.

 

I look forward to hearing of your progressions!

 

Philip.

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Lenshacker

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Selecting lenses can be a matter of personal taste, the older lenses are not as sharp used wide-open, or as resilient to flare. At F4, many of them can out-resolve the M Monochrom.

 

The Cosina Voigtlander 50/1.5 Aspherical Nokton in Leica thread mount is a "modern classic" that goes in the $300~$400 range used, about the same as the Canon 50/1.4 in LTM. The Canon 50/1.8 in LTM compares well with the Summicrons of the day. With the M8, you get the center 2/3rds of the lens- the "sweet spot".

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david strachan

david strachan

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Selecting lenses can be a matter of personal taste, the older lenses are not as sharp used wide-open, or as resilient to flare. At F4, many of them can out-resolve the M Monochrom.

 

The Cosina Voigtlander 50/1.5 Aspherical Nokton in Leica thread mount is a "modern classic" that goes in the $300~$400 range used, about the same as the Canon 50/1.4 in LTM. The Canon 50/1.8 in LTM compares well with the Summicrons of the day. With the M8, you get the center 2/3rds of the lens- the "sweet spot".

 

Lenshacker is right. The Canon LTM's are excellent.

 

I love to test lenses centre focus and corner focus...I see a lot of aberrations even on the cropped sensor of the M8...I'd hate to have to contend with them on a FF M9.

So the "sweet spot" is very important. No colour shifts, CA is reduced, coma is radically reduced. Vignetting is more controllable. And especially smearing is v bad sometimes...all reduced because of the "sweet spot".

 

cheers Dave S :)

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david strachan

david strachan

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Well, I took a few photos with the M8 and mostly with the canon 50mm.

 

I really like the separation and look.

 

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A7G4TcsmnhUIn

 

Tony

 

Good shots Tony.

Don't let the tiny Canon 35mm f2 LTM pass by. Also known as the "Summicron buster" it is a beaut lens. I like it much more then the modern Voigtlander 35mm f1.4.

 

cheers Dave S :)

Edited by david strachan
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Undead

Undead

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Good shots Tony.

Don't let the tiny Canon 35mm f2 LTM pass by. Also known as the "Summicron buster" it is a beaut lens. I like it much more then the modern Voigtlander 35mm f1.4.

 

cheers Dave S :)

 

Thanks all for the welcome and advice. I bought a voigt 35mm 2.5 at a bargain price and am quite impressed with it. I think I have enough to get on with for now and will put some savings aside and look out for a Summilux 50mm at the right price.

 

Cheers,

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Undead

Undead

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I have a few test shots taken on the M8 using the Voigt 15mm f4 and the Voigt 35mm f2.5.

 

Considering the price, I am very happy with these lenses. They will do, until I can afford a Summilux.

 

The 15mm https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A75nhQSTG4S4W9

 

The 35mm https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A7GY8gBYloI1u

 

Cheers, Tony

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