Which wide angle Summilux

[I love my M8]

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Is there any performance difference between the 21mm 1.4 and the 24mm 1.4 (other than of course the focal length!). They both seem to be priced at exactly the same level (I would perhaps have expected the wider lens to have been more expensive?) and both seem to be very good lenses from comments on this forum and elsewhere. Any advice based on personal experience would be welcome but perhaps it is unlikely that someone would own both of these lenses?

 

For your information, I have an M8 and a 35mm summarit at present (with no intention to upgrade to M9) and am looking for wider lens for landscape photography.

[adan]

Leica's own mtf charts seem to show the 21 is "better" at all sampled apertures (1.4, 2.8, 5.6). I think the similar pricing is just based on construction complexity, which is about the same for both.

 

Any particular reason why you want f/1.4 for landscape work? The Elmarit f/2.8 21/24s generally still outperform the f/1.4 lenses. As does the 24 Elmar f/3.8 @ about 35% of the price of the Summilux.

[I love my M8]

Thanks for that useful feedback. I agree that I don't need a fast lens for landscape photography. However, given that I don't plan to have a large collection of lenses (I wonder how many people have said that and subsequently needed to eat their words?), I can see how a low light lens could be useful in other circumstances, if there is no downside (other than the price!).

[andybarton]

I have moved this thread back to the M8 subsection as I have been advised by the OP that he only wants feedback from M8 users

[I love my M8]

Leica's own mtf charts seem to show the 21 is "better" at all sampled apertures (1.4, 2.8, 5.6). I think the similar pricing is just based on construction complexity, which is about the same for both.

 

Any particular reason why you want f/1.4 for landscape work? The Elmarit f/2.8 21/24s generally still outperform the f/1.4 lenses. As does the 24 Elmar f/3.8 @ about 35% of the price of the Summilux.

 

Just to clarify, are you saying that the Elmarit f/2.8 21mm is a better lens than the Summilux f/1.4 21mm if the 2 stop advantage is not an important factor? Is that a general view?

[jaapv]

They are totally different lenses. Let me transpose to the Summilux 24, where one has the same thing with slower lenses. As for quality, a fast lens often has a somewhat softer result than a slow one. That difference, in practice, is negligible in taking photographs. The main thing, apart from the obvious low-light argument, is the unique ability to combine a wide- angle view with a shallow DOF. I would not part with my Summilux 24 for the world. (Sorry that it is an M9 shot )

[Logic108]

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For me the perfect use of the 21mm summilux is photographing inside, lets say a coffee house, on an overcast day. When it's important to capture moving people in low light then this is the lens. If you are shooting outdoors even on an overcast day then I don't think the f/1.4 is absolutely essential. As a landscape lens then the f/1.4 is pretty much irrelevant.

When choosing Leica lenses one should think about the way the lens will be used and what images are being missed or likely to be missed shooting with less expensive equipment.

[RAnder4370]

I bought the 24 Summilux for use with an M8 because I shoot a lot of people and I already had a 21 elmarit. I did shoot some landscape stuff the other day and I used it wide open as it was snowing and I wanted to freeze the flakes in mid-air. It made for a very nice effect, so don't discount the high speed apeture as not being useful for landscapes. Just a thought.

[marknorton]

I have both the 21 and the 24 and use the 24 more, partly because it's supported "natively" on an M8 - no external finder required. The 21 is magnificent though, especially on an M9, that wide, that fast, just amazing.

 

I don't think you would be disappointed by either of them from a performance standpoint.

[I love my M8]

Thanks for additional comments above. Re the particular point below referring to an external viewfinder being needed for the 21mm, I have read on more than one occasion that the extremities of the M8 viewfinder (ignoring all the bright-line frames) can be used effectively to frame your 21mm lens shot. Does anyone have any experience / comment about that?

 

Secondly, do the 21mm and/or 24mm Summiluxes get in the way when using the internal viewfinder, or do you get a full uninterrupted view?

 

I have both the 21 and the 24 and use the 24 more, partly because it's supported "natively" on an M8 - no external finder required.

[rob139]

You can, and I do frame with the entire viewfinder for the 21mm elmarit. It is not easy when your framing needs to be exact and fast, but if a guesstimate is good enough, it is good enough.

 

The 21mm summilux blocks the viewfinder considerably, about 20%. The 24mm summilux blocks the viewfinder a lot less, also because the hood has a hole in it.

 

Rob