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[W4Leica]

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After sane or insane debating, I have decided to plunge myself into the Leica digital world. Currently, I am using Nikon film and digital, Hassy V film for landscape, architecture, portrait, street and travel photography. I also have some photojournal work. They are still good equipment and I intend to use them for long. However, under some situations, I like to have a smaller and simpler camera with a couple of high quality glass lenses. M9 shows up in my mind and every where around me. So on this Christmas day, I give myself a gift as a decision for getting a M9 when it's available in the market (either B&H or Adorama)

 

Because of Leica's unmatched price, I plan to only have two lenses. My first lens will be 35mm f2 summicron-m asph which I already placed an order from B&H. My other lens would be either 75mm f2 or 90mm f2. I feel I would go with 90mm because it can reach more and better bokeh. Since I do not have much experience on rangerfinder, I would like to solicit your opinions. Thank you for your help. W

[sanyasi]

You and I are in the same boat. I ordered the M9 from a smaller retailer a month ago. I figured since I would pay the same price for the equipment as from the discounters, I might as well get to know a Leica camera dealer who can better answer questions.

 

In any event, I ordered the 35 summicron and will wait until I get the camera to order another lens. I am considering a 90 summarit or a used 90 summicron, but will be interested to read the responses on the 75/90 choice. Also thinking about a 50 summicron to complete the kit.

 

Great present for yourself. And it didn't cost you anything--yet.

 

Jack Siegel

[farnz]

After sane or insane debating, I have decided to plunge myself into the Leica digital world. Currently, I am using Nikon film and digital, Hassy V film for landscape, architecture, portrait, street and travel photography. I also have some photojournal work. They are still good equipment and I intend to use them for long. However, under some situations, I like to have a smaller and simpler camera with a couple of high quality glass lenses. M9 shows up in my mind and every where around me. So on this Christmas day, I give myself a gift as a decision for getting a M9 when it's available in the market (either B&H or Adorama)

 

Because of Leica's unmatched price, I plan to only have two lenses. My first lens will be 35mm f2 summicron-m asph which I already placed an order from B&H. My other lens would be either 75mm f2 or 90mm f2. I feel I would go with 90mm because it can reach more and better bokeh. Since I do not have much experience on rangerfinder, I would like to solicit your opinions. Thank you for your help. W

W,

 

Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on coming to a decision!

 

A word of friendly advice: before you slap down all that money for a RF camera, try to find one - in a shop, friends, passers-by, whatever - and see if the RF system works for you. It's very different from SLR and that's serious money to front only to find that you can't get on with RF - some people just don't click with it (please excuse the entirely intentional pun:p).

 

However, once you've decided that RF in your thing then your two lens choices are fine. The 35 Summicron asph is an excellent choice for a first lens to cover the wide-angle end and the 90 APO-Summicron asph is an outstanding lens that will cover your telephoto needs although some might argue that the gap between 35 and 90 mm focal lengths is slightly large. But since you're clearly a seasoned photographer you will already know what suits your style and subjects.

 

You might like to consider a magnifier to help you to nail focus with the 90 because the subject will be relatively small in the viewfinder. There are a number of magnifiers available and you might like to try one at the lower end of the market from HK Supplies which won't break the bank if you find you don't need it. The qulity is okay although not up to the standard of the proprietary Leica magnifiers, which go up to 1.4x but are more expensive.

 

Good luck, and when you do get an M9 be sure to post some shots in the photo forums!

 

Pete.

[Jager]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Leica! I hope it brings you as much pleasure and reward as it has brought me, and many others here. DSLR's today are amazing, but rangefinders are just something very special.

 

Focal length choices are very personal. But the two most popular, classic kits over the decades have been 35/75 or 35/50/90. Either one of these gets it done, with the 3-lens kit being slightly more flexible, at the cost of a slight bit more weight and complexity.

 

One of the pleasures (heartbreaks?!) of embracing the Leica M system are the very special lenses that exist across the entire line. It truly is hard to go wrong.

 

Congratulations...

[LeicaS2]

I have both a 75 and 90 but find myself prefering to match a 75 with the 35 on a trip. A third lens would be to add a 21. I own no 50. Sounds like a budget is not a problem for you, so buy both and see which you prefer. For me, I like a lot of low light portraits and the limited DOF makes me prefer the 75 for getting the focus point in low light over the 90. Even with a magnifier, the 90 is very challenging.

[Bo_Lorentzen]

One more vote for the 35 and 75 cron combo.

 

As Peter said, go take a rangefinder for a quick spin before you commit to a M9.

 

You mentioned the 90cron for better bokeh, but these lenses are both fast and smooth, you don't need to stretch the lens to get nice defocus. 75mm is a nice match to the 35, but naturally that is all a matter of taste.

 

.

[doug_m]

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Another vote for the 75 Cron but one cannot argue with a 90 AA either. There was a very recent

thread on 75 vs 90 that you way want to review. The 75 cron focuses down to 0.7M and I find this to be a big plus.

[Samir Jahjah]

After sane or insane debating, I have decided to plunge myself into the Leica digital world. Currently, I am using Nikon film and digital, Hassy V film for landscape, architecture, portrait, street and travel photography. I also have some photojournal work. They are still good equipment and I intend to use them for long. However, under some situations, I like to have a smaller and simpler camera with a couple of high quality glass lenses. M9 shows up in my mind and every where around me. So on this Christmas day, I give myself a gift as a decision for getting a M9 when it's available in the market (either B&H or Adorama)

 

Because of Leica's unmatched price, I plan to only have two lenses. My first lens will be 35mm f2 summicron-m asph which I already placed an order from B&H. My other lens would be either 75mm f2 or 90mm f2. I feel I would go with 90mm because it can reach more and better bokeh. Since I do not have much experience on rangerfinder, I would like to solicit your opinions. Thank you for your help. W

 

I would go for the 90mm... the 75mm is a neither here neither there, meaning its range is to short to get this nice telephoto look provided by the 90mm, and not too different than the look of a 50mm. The difference between a 50mm and a 75 is just a few steps away. But then, the 50mm is not on your list.

 

But again it is all about taste!

[k_g_wolf ✝]

>> Samir

 

 

From what I can read above you seem to live in three places at ones.

So it should be easy for you to reach a LEICA- dealer who would be

more than happy to allow you to try out the lenses in question.

 

I´am not using a 90mm AA or the 75 mm SUMMICRON. What I have at

hand is a 9o mm ELMARIT and a 75 mm SUMMILUX. From the two I choose

the 75 mm lens in 80 %, the 90 mm lens in 20 % of the occasions, when

I want a longer lens. That is for portraits, when I want to be a bit closer

and to be able to communicate - optically, verbally - with the "subject".

When you like to take portraits, the close focusing ability of the lens is

what you should also take into consideration.

 

It all depends on your personal photographic style, the answers you are

getting here are valid for the person who gives the answer. Of course

you know that and for the near future you should be prepared to allow

for a load of photographic frustrations when you never had a r/f- camera before.

 

Don´t give up, the LEICA is worth it.

 

Enjoy your camera and your entry into the LEICA- world. For many on this

site it took years to gather enough r/f- experience and this included

buying and trying lenses and selling them again when time comes.

Most likely, this is also what you have to go through ... But watch it,

it can easlily be VERY expensive. Go perhaps the s/h- route, even

older LEICA - lenses can still be state of the art.

 

There is a lot of work ahead of you and there are many new photographic

opportunities round the corner.

 

 

 

Best

 

GEORG

[Steve Fines]

Hello,

 

In Lightroom (although I suspect other programs can do it too) one can sort photos by the focal length that was used when shooting.

 

I did this for my last two years of photos and found that I had three "peaks" - 14mm (I was using the Nikon 14-24 for landscapes), 35mm and 600mm.

 

So in Leica terms I got a wate and a 35mm lens. Kept a Nikon body for the long glass.

 

Because of a good deal I decided to try a 75mm. Beautiful lens and results. However, for the last several years I've had a 24-70 on my Nikon and taken relatively few photos at 70mm. Changing the brand of lens in front of me hasn't changed things - the Leica 75 seems to get pulled out much less frequently.

 

So anyway, I suspect the answer to your question of whether to get a 75 or a 90 might be in your files - take a look and see what focal length has worked best for you in the past.