Search the Community

We already have a very extensive 'Mandler Magic' topic, but as much I am keen on Mandler's signature look and his contribution to the "Leica glow", there is another very distinguished gentleman in the 'House of Leica' that as a leader of Leica's optical design team since 2002 gave us a bunch of new high performance M-Lenses and pushed the terms FLE, ASPH and APO towards modern Leica perfection. He was the guy that had the balls to say Dr. Mandler's 75mm Summilux 1.4 was his *least* favorite design and went on to "Make Summilux great again" - all the way down to 21mm. Show us some of the "clinical look" of the Peter Karbe magic and do tell what lens he designed is your favorite...

Apart from the $300 Leica service, one way to get lenses coded is to replace the flange, or send it away for coding to a third party. This led me to do some research on flanges. There is a Chinese vendor offering what I call Type I flanges, and also Type II ones. Here is what I found out. Note that:- All measurements in degrees clockwise from the centre of the key as viewed looking at the rear of the lens. Measurement are approximate and have been rounded to what appears to be the nearest whole number. All flanges come in three variations for 28/90, 50/75, or 24/35 viwefinder frame lines. 6-bit code start 115 finish 142 Type I flanges These appear to be on all digital era lenses as the screws don't invade the code area. Six screws at 40 80 160 210 275 340 Type II flanges Examples I have seen include Product Year 11815 1982 Summilux 75mm f/1.4 11800 1973 Tele-Elmarit 90mm f/2.8 11134 1991 Elmarit 21mm f/2.8 Six screws at 60 72 36 72 72 36 Note that the second screw sits right in the 6-bit code area and looks like a "1" to the sensor. Thus uncoded lens with type II flange looks to have code 000100. Which is great if it is the 90mm above, but a problem elsewhere. Type III flanges I have only seen one. Product Year 11817 1968 Summicron II 50mm f/2.0 Five screws at 45 135 225 270 315 Again, the second screw sits right in the 6-bit code area and looks like a "1" to the sensor. Worse though, if that screw is omitted, there will be a full 180 degrees without one. I'm not sure if the flange would stay flat and square under such circumstances. Type O flanges I call them this as they have no screws at all in the face of the flange This makes it difficult to remove. I think all the early lenses were made like this Examples are Product Year 11631 1955 Elmar 90mm f/4.0 11870 1967 Summilux 35mm f/1.4 - (this has screws around the edge of the flange) 11118 1953 Summicron (I) 50mm f/2.0 11850 1961 Elmar 135mm f/4.0 16464 OTZFO M-mount for Visoflex lens heads also the Voigtlander 12mm Ultra-Wide Heliar (are all Voigt. flanges screw-free?) I hope this helps.

I have asked the ChatGPT AI bot to describe Leica M lenses with precision. Here is what it wrote. Lots of solid facts, some complete nonsense. "Leica M lenses are widely considered some of the best and most sought-after lenses in the photography world. These lenses are designed and crafted by Leica, a German company with a long history of producing high-quality optics. In this essay, we will explore the key features and benefits of Leica M lenses and why they are so highly valued by photographers. One of the most notable features of Leica M lenses is their exceptional image quality. These lenses are made with the highest-quality materials and are constructed with precise tolerances, which results in sharp, clear images with minimal distortion. The lenses are also designed to produce beautiful bokeh, which gives photos a dreamy, out- of-focus background that can add depth and dimension to your shots. This is especially important for portrait and street photographers who want to isolate their subject from the background. Another great feature of Leica M lenses is their compact and lightweight design. These lenses are perfect for photographers who want to travel light and don't want to lug around heavy equipment. They also make it easy to quickly compose and shoot a photo, which can be particularly useful for street photographers or other types of photographers who need to move fast. The compact design of the lenses also makes them easy to handle and provides a better grip while holding the camera. Leica M lenses are also known for their durability. These lenses are built to last and are designed to withstand the demands of professional use. They are also weather sealed, making them ideal for photographers who shoot in inclement weather conditions. This allows photographers to shoot in any weather condition without worrying about damaging their equipment. Another important aspect of Leica M lenses is their versatility. These lenses can be used in a variety of photography styles and genres, from street photography to landscape, portrait, and event photography. They are also compatible with a wide range of cameras, including digital and film cameras. This allows photographers to use the same lens with different cameras, making it a great investment. In conclusion, Leica M lenses are some of the best lenses on the market, due to their exceptional image quality, compact and lightweight design, durability, and versatility. They are perfect for photographers of all levels who want to take their photography to the next level. Whether you're a professional photographer or just starting out, a Leica M lens is a great investment that will help you take your photography to the next level."

What are your cravings, needs, wishes and desires regarding M lenses that do not exist yet? 21mm Summicron? Perhaps a 24mm Summicron? A brand new and Karbe - updated 75mm f1.4 Summilux? A new line of affordable budget M lenses? Some vintage revivals? Share your thoughts - within reason of course.

M lenses: How often do they need a CLA or overhaul? I Google searched that question and could find no definitive answer. I have searched this forum and found no answer, definitive or otherwise. Some M users say an M camera should be overhauled once for every ten years of average use (however you define average use) - more often for rampant shooters like photojournalists who may make 100,000 or more images in a year (yes, I know that precious few photojournalists work with M cameras these days). In thinking about this, it occurred to me that M cameras have significantly more moving parts and more total parts that can malfunction/break/wear out than M lenses do. So does the ten year suggestion apply to lenses, too? Or is "if it's not broken, don't try to fix it" the principle to apply to CLAs or overhauls for lenses?

Here's a new video that will help create M lens GAS (as if any of us need help in that area). The Art of the Leica M Lens with Peter Karbe https://vimeo.com/392151658

Here's a question for M camera photographers (film or digital): If you were to choose to work with just one M lens, which would you choose and why? Which focal length? Which maximum aperture? Is the one camera, one lens approach a valid approach or is it an unnecessary limitation? Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! 😉

I just watched this video by Tony Northrup about full frame vs smaller lenses. He makes some good points about the larger lenses collecting more light due to 'basic physics' But this also has me wondering about M series lenses which traditionally have very good quality ratings despite their small size - where is the trade off? I feel like I am missing something in the way that lens size applies to a rangefinder?

Dear all, I maybe the latest GAS syndrom victim as I bought a Leica SL + 90-280 to use on a trip along with my M(240) and CL. Could be useful to photography whales and penguins in Cape Town I am wondering how you set your SL when using manual lenses (M lenses in my case) ? On the CL, I use the wheel to quickly zoom in, nail focus and shoot. I came to like that method. But on the SL ? I found the default setting quite cumbersom (thought I've been playing around with the camera for 1/2 hour only...) How do you set your SL to be efficient and fast at focusing using the zoom-in possibility ? Is it possible to set a kind of automatic 10* zoom when you frame ? thank you for your answers ! Didier

Hi What are your Top 5 Favourite lenses? Any and all lenses.

With the advent of the M10, there has been much kerfuffle. This has got me to wondering (which by the way, is usually not a good thing): Let us assume for the purpose of discussion that one fine morning you wake up to find that a mysterious envelope has magically appeared. Inside it is the purchase price of a new M10 with one proviso attached: You must spend this magical money on photography related stuff, photography workshop(s) and/or travel for the purpose of photography. How would you spend your magical $6600 USD? Would you buy an M10? Buy M lenses? Buy film M cameras? A combination of M lenses and cameras? Other non Leica kit? Travel? Photographic workshop(s) or some other form of photographic training? I am quite interested to know how my fellow forum members would spend their magical free photography money. I am not sure how I would spend mine; my first reaction would be to buy an M10, buy I'm not sure I really need an M10 since I have a perfectly functional and up to the task M-P 240. Free magical money drops into your life that must be spent on photography - what do you do??

Hello all, Just want to introduce myself - I am doing photography since 1985. As the headline states, I grew up in Germany but live for professional reasons not related to photography since 2005 permanently in the US. I just recently acquired my first Leica camera - the Leica M6 since I always wanted to have a fully mechanic reliable camera including a light meter. I want to do B&W film photography with this camera since I still develop my own film and use my darkroom to make silver gelatin prints both from digital files (using homemade digital negatives) and from film negatives. My style is predominantly landscape and fine art photography combined with B&W converted infrared photography. This said, I am also using digital cameras in parallel to film cameras. For infrared, I am currently using a converted Canon 5D MkII full frame DSLR with 715 nm cutoff filter, for digital landscape/macro/fine art work I am using a Sony A7R - predominantly with Leica and Voigtlander lenses plus adapter. I am not fixed to just one brand regarding photo gear and simply use what I consider best for my needs. I am looking forward to share photos and experience regarding Leica cameras and M mount lenses. Martin

Apologize for the newbie question, but I've had a hard time deciphering this through the manual: I'm trying to get focus peaking to work with M lenses. When I push the bottom left button, I can magnify through the viewfinder X10 and it works great....but I haven't been able to figure out the button to press to get the peaking function to work, when not magnified. I have gone through the settings and enabled it. Does anyone know the way to do this? Thanks in advance.

I have owned a Leica camera since the introduction of the M9, and since then, each and every iteration of the M series, excluding limited editions. In late October, I purchased the SL, along with the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90. Initially, I shot solely with the Vario-Elmarit on the SL, but I soon got the urge to try my assortment of M lenses, and so I purchased the Leica M-Adapter T, and began using primarily the 50 Lux and the 90 Cron, on the SL. Although I have become fairly adept at rangefinder focusing, the EVF focusing experience with the SL was truly amazing. Focus magnification and focus peaking made focusing with the M lenses, especially the longer lenses, quick, easy, and accurate - or so I thought. While shooting with the SL/Ms, it seemed that I was hitting focus with amazing consistency, that is until l reviewed them on the LCD and zoomed in to check focus. It was just not right. Same thing when I viewed them in Lightroom - very much out of focus. Therefore, I started questioning my shooting skills, but knowing that as a left-eye shooter I am pretty good at shooting hand-held, I felt that something else was wrong. So, last night, I set up a quick test using the same two lenses, the 50 Lux and the 90 Cron, on the SL and M240. I stood an open book on my dining table, and then, in turn, shot with the SL and M240 rested on the table top. My suspicions were confirmed: focus is way off with both adapted M lenses on the SL, while spot on with the M240. I did not take the time to determine if the SL is back- or front-focusing, but it is definitely not focusing as indicated in the EVF. I called B&H, and they offered a replacement without explanation, even though I am considerably beyond the 30-day exchange period. Is it the camera, or the adapter? Soon to be determined. Is mine an isolated case, or has anyone else experienced this issue?

Although I've been considering the SL, I've been put back by the realization that it seems that focusing M lenses on the SL will not be a straight forward action. Based on what I read in Reid Reviews (and another source I don't now recall), since the M lenses are designed for a mechanical finder, and not for focusing Through The Lens, they lack auto aperture stop down (AASD - which is what every SLR has, as well as the native lenses for the SL). So the implication seems to be that in order to focus well an M lenses, you will need have your lens wide open to focus and then re-adjust aperture as desired prior to pressing the shutter. I'm attaching a brief screen capture that helps explain my concern in a more articula way. Is anyone out there using M lenses and is this in fact necessary? I don't have the experience, but would seem to be a cumbersome task to do for every shot made, making me feel it will only work for very 'still' kind of image making. Any thoughts? I would really appreciate 'real life' feedback. Thanks so much. m.

Hi, I want to buy a Noctilux f/0.95, wondering if I should buy it for Christmas or wait in case they release a new one for Photokina. Any opinions? Q isn't even available for Christmas.

I took the Sl out for an initial spin to take some of the central London night lights. I've been shooting a Sony A7r II and an M240 with M lenses and was hoping that the SL experience would be better than either. My feelings are somewhat mixed. I tend to shoot such scenes in one of two ways: * using a table top tripod, placed on a suitable support -- London is not short of street furniture -- at ISO 100, f2.8-5.6 * hand held, auto ISO, near wide open (the fast Leica M lenses tend to suffer from bad purple fringing wide open, but improve significantly even one stop down) Starting with the shooting experience: I like to use both focus peaking and the level. This is hard to do on the SL without multiple button clicks because focus peaking is a separate viewing mode, rather than being something that you can switch on and off in any of the different viewing modes (information modes). This is a fundamental problem, because I need to fiddle with the bottom right button to switch between the level and focus peaking (without that much indication of which mode I am in). I then have to fiddle with the bottom left button and the joy stick to get me to the place I want to focus on, at the right magnification. The absence if a tilting screen makes this even more wearing. Leica are not known for changing the user interface aspects of their products in firmware revisions, but I certainly hope that they address this fundamental usability problem in future releases. As it is, the supposedly technocratic Sony, a camera not known for the ergonomics of its user interface, will be providing a more natural, intuitive one than the Leica. On the plus side, both the screen and the EVF are excellent. Even in the dark, where the Sony and M240 struggle to help you with focusing ( because of the accompanying noise) the SL excels. I was gratified to find that infinity focus was infinity focus with the M-T (not M-L, as it is referred to in the manual) adapter. (With the Sony, I tend to find myself focusing at a marked 5m or so to get infinity focus.) The exposure metering is excellent. Night pictures look like slides of yesteryear. Exposure is, if anything, a bit under, for highlight protection. I have yet to do much processing, but suspect that +1/2 or +1 would be a better compromise, as the shadow performance of the SL is not class leading. By comparison both the M240 and the Sony need about -2 night to preserve any highlight detail. The colour balance of the EVF was not completely accurate, in comparison to what I was seeing, but the results were pleasing enough. I like having GPS (as I do with the M240's multifunction grip, but don't have with the Sony). It's not hard to add GPS data with Photo Mechanic after the event, but having it removes the chore. Similarly, getting the lens spec directly into the picture metadata removes the further chore of getting the right profile correction applied by Lightroom. I have not compared lenses or resulting images with the M240 or A7r II in any systematic way, but the results are pleasing for the weight, which is what counts to me. The Batis lenses for the Sony are bulkier and heavier, but the body is lighter, so it's much of a muchness. The produce great results (clean pictures from wide open) and have AF. The absence of image / sensor stabilisation is a pity. I can get great results at 1/f shutter speeds on the Sony; the SL allows the setting of 1/2f shutter speeds in its auto ISO settings, but would probably benefit from a 1/4f setting. It would also be good to be able to set a minimum ISO to avoid drifting into ISO 50, if you don't want to. Although the camera has a touch screen (unlike the Sony or M240), it appears to be largely wasted (unless you are using the AF lens, perhaps; which I don't, because it is too heavy, bulky and expensive). Anyway, the upshot is that it's not (yet) a more pleasurable camera to use than the M240, or even the Sony, for M lenses, but the pictures look good to me. After all the rabbiting, here's a sample pic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/14315820@N03/23519536246/

Hi, I want to buy a Noctilux f/0.95, wondering if I should buy it for Christmas or wait in case they release a new one for Photokina. Any opinions? Q isn't even available for Christmas.