Lens Advice Needed for Leica M

[Kyler.]

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Hi guys,

My grandfathers brother used to work for Zeiss and he talked to someone and turns out I can get the Zeiss 50 Sonnar 1.5 for UNDER 700.

Excellent! It's perfect for my first lens on the M8! Except for one drawback: It will take 6 weeks for me to receive the lens and I'm going on a big trip to Italy in 3 weeks (keep in mind that I do not have any lenses for my M8 yet). But I still couldn't turn down the offer. So I bought that lens. But I'm going to need something that I could use on my trip to Italy, probably something wide would be nice. I could rent a lens, but that would run me about 100 dollars-250 depending on my lens choice. So I decided that maybe I should buy a wide angle lens that would compliment the 50 nicely on my M8.2

 

I think 24mm would be the best to go with the 50 on an m8 (1.3 crop factor). Heres the thing is, I don't have enough money to go with something over 400-500 dollars. To the best of my knowledge, that leaves me with one option: the Voigtlander 25/4P Color Skopar.(If you know of any others that are 24 for a good price let me know). At 379 dollars, this lens seems great for its size. The real question is, how does it perform? Would f4 be slow for street shooting and landscapes? It would definitely be fine for landscapes but I'm not sure about street as I haven't done much.

 

 

Basically, I need a wide lens for the m8 thats cheap, preferably small, and performs well. Is the Voigtlander 25/4P Color Skopar my best choice?

 

Thanks,

Kyle

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[garypasz]

Hi guys,

 

Basically, I need a wide lens for the m8 thats cheap, preferably small, and performs well. Is the Voigtlander 25/4P Color Skopar my best choice?

 

Thanks,

Kyle

 

I think you will find F4 a bit slow for any night time shots. I recommend at least F2.8 or lower have a quick look on ebay for secondhand lens may be your best option for now. see example below

leitz elmarit-r 1:2.8 / 28 lense leica - eBay (item 160433854618 end time May-18-10 17:23:47 PDT)

 

better still check out second hand shops in your area.

[andybarton]

Try to find yourself a 35mm Summaron f2.8

 

you will struggle to find a decent 2Xmm lens for the amount of money you have to spend

 

if the Skopar is your only choice at the length you want, then it's the best performer on the market CV lenses are, indeed, very good.

[giordano]

It's likely that most of the best street photographs since the invention of photography were taken at apertures f/4 and smaller - either because that was the lens the photographer had or in order to get enough depth of field for zone focusing.

 

The f/4 maximum aperture is only a big problem if you want shallow depth of field, or if you want to work by available light after dark ... but your Sonnar - when it arrives - will fill both those niches.

[Guest]

Hi Kyler,

the Skopar 25mm I have is a great lens and a true bargain. In fact when the Elmar 24mm came out it left me underwhelmed, because size and price are different and the picture quality is not, at least not compared to my copy of the Skopar 25mm.

So that's why I write: I had a Skopar 21mm first and returned it because the picture quality was poor. When I wrote about it here 2 years ago, others answered that their 21mm was just fine but they tried a 25mm which was not. Sean Reid then mentioned, that this is can happen with this type and brand, much more so than with the Zeiss M lenses, which also come from Cosina.

It won't be wrong to a state a clear return policy with your dealer before completing the deal. I hope that you have enough time before your trip.

What Giordano wrote is absolutely correct.

Makes me happy to see new M enthusiasts joining in

Big spenders are fine, too since they take good pictures just like everybody else and they might eventually feed the 2nd hand market. But people stating a clear budget are fresh air against splendid isolation for all of us.

Have a good time on your trip and perfect light everywhere!

[epand56]

Kyler, I took these two pictures inside at an air show with an Elmar-C 90mm f:4.

The light was few and I had to shoot at f.4 and as you can see this was not at all a problem.

The second one was in a very dark place and this lens is quite longer than a 24 Skopar.

So I would not worry about the f:4 if I were you. Obviously, in the daylight it will give you no problems.

Maybe you'll not be able to have a depth of field this shallow with the 24, but can't swear on that.

 

 

[Kyler.]

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Thanks for all the responses!

 

garypasz- Isn't that an R lens?

 

andybarton- is the summaron 35 f2.8 a good lens? where could I find one?

 

Giordano- Thanks

 

Tri- It seems like a nice lens. I don't know what to do!

 

Epand- Thanks for the test. It doesn't seem like f4 will be a huge problem.

 

...I still have no idea what to do!!

Please help.

 

Thanks for the opinions guys,

Kyle

[andybarton]

The Summaron is an excellent lens and great value in Leica terms.

[Kyler.]

Thanks Andy,

but i it only a screw mount lens?

As I would really like to have the focusing path usable with my lens.

Thanks,

Kyle

[jaapv]

ffordes have a goggled 3.5 Summaron 35 at 299 GBP. Quite good in my experience. Quite a number of Summarons are M-mount. However, finding an ungoggled one ( NOT one that has just lost the goggles, those won't focus correctly!) might be a challenge.

 

Another rather interesting 35 mm lens is the CV Color-Skopar 35. I am quite happy with the results.

 

Meister has an acceptable M-Rokkor 28/2.8 @ 375 Euro

[andybarton]

I have had 3 M-mount Summarons over the years, none of which have ever seen a goggle.

 

The f2.8 version is much better than the f3.5 one.

 

They are worth about £250 - £300 retail and are lovely lenses.

[Kyler.]

Jaap- Thanks! yes, an m mount one without goggles would be nice but it seems hard to find? Would you think that once I get the Zeiss 50, 35 and 50 are to similar?

 

Andy- Do you know where I could find one not goggled and M mount?

Edit: I looked around and they seem to be going for around 700.Too much for me.

 

Maybe I should rent a lens?

Thanks again,

Kyle

[andybarton]

I don't know who has one at the moment, but they do come through the second hand dealers regularly.

[jaapv]

I have both the Summaron 3.5 and 2.8, and though I know the 2.8 is supposed to be better, I cannot see much difference in the results.

[andybarton]

My f3.5 version was noticably worse than either of the f2.8s, even after coming back from Leica after a CLA. It was very soft and very low contrast.

 

The f2.8 versions were sharper, more contrasty and generally "better"

[jaapv]

These old lenses might have some sample variation. Maybe I'm just lucky.

[Guest]

I guess your concern about the 35mm being too close to the existing 50mm is valid.

The 2.8/28mm Minolta Rokor for the Minolta CLE is certainly a good alternative to the 25mm Color Skopar, if you find it within what you allocate without having to cut down on your great journey to Italy.

I don't thing anybody round here is embarrassed, you noticing very early on, that this is secondly a photo-forum and firstly a gear-head forum. The couple of guys helping you so far have certainly more than 100 lenses put together. Or maybe just one of us ?

Are you familiar with the term GAS?

Just that you know where you're heading :D

 

Have a good trip to Italy Kyler

 

Cheers!

Simon

[giordano]

My f3.5 version was noticably worse than either of the f2.8s, even after coming back from Leica after a CLA. It was very soft and very low contrast.

 

The f2.8 versions were sharper, more contrasty and generally "better"

 

Same here. (3.5 in screw mount, 2.8 in goggled M3 mount).

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[Kyler.]

Thanks guys,

I think I might just rent a lens for my trip and save up for a nicer wide angle instead of buying a cheap one. Out of these; LensRentals.com - Leica M for Leica

which one would you chose for a trip to italy?

 

Thanks,

Kyle

[jaapv]

LensRentals.com - Rent a Leica 28-35-50 Tri-Elmar ASPH for Leica