The M9 with the new 35 Summilux

[andym911]

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Jono

at least the thread has moved me to get out my old 50 lux for a circus event this afternoon,on my humble CL

Only a bit of banter really ..no offense intended.

 

best

andy

[jonoslack]

OK, well at least this means the new lens doesn't appear to have focus shift or back/front focus type issues. It probably does but perhaps it is better controlled.

 

As per the existing (old?) version the lens the sharpness is a thing of beauty, imho.

 

LouisB

 

Well - back or front focusing would be more of a calibration issue - that seems to be spot on with this copy of the lens. With respect to the focus shift - exhaustive tests (which I'm not posting - Sean does it much better ) have showed me that it's there - but really not so it's going to matter.

[jonoslack]

Jono

at least the thread has moved me to get out my old 50 lux for a circus event this afternoon,on my humble CL

Only a bit of banter really ..no offense intended.

 

best

andy

 

HI Andy - great - then it's done some good

no offense taken - of course, how could I!

[Jose_Salcedo]

Beautiful images, Jono, and certainly a very good lens indeed. Leica is doing a superb job at revamping its line of lenses, pushing the state-of-the-art forward.

[jplomley]

Beautiful images, Jono, and certainly a very good lens indeed. Leica is doing a superb job at revamping its line of lenses, pushing the state-of-the-art forward.

 

Agreed. Any bets on what comes next, the 28 Lux or 75 Lux?

[shootinglulu]

75 Lux please:)

Getting my M9 on Thursday (super excited!), 35 and 75 Lux will be perfect for me!

[adli]

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Agreed. Any bets on what comes next, the 28 Lux or 75 Lux?

 

Would love a 35 Noct, but I doubt we will see it

 

Love your pictures Jono, they make me look even more forward to receive my copy of the lens (ETA august).

[Jamie Roberts]

not if you use velcro

 

I'm mortified, that someone--even in jest--would even imagine using such a horrible and inhumane method of controlling plants!

 

 

Nice work Jono It looks to be an interesting lens... I don't have issues, currently, with my existing Lux, but it's still interesting to see the difference in character.

[ohnri]

I'm mortified, that someone--even in jest--would even imagine using such a horrible and inhumane method of controlling plants!

 

 

Nice work Jono It looks to be an interesting lens... I don't have issues, currently, with my existing Lux, but it's still interesting to see the difference in character.

 

I have the current lens and am considering the upgrade. Would you be able to verbalize any differences in character you have noted between the current 35 ASPH 'lux and the incoming model with the floating element?

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[jonoslack]

I'm mortified, that someone--even in jest--would even imagine using such a horrible and inhumane method of controlling plants!

Absolutely inhumane . . . . . . . and if you applied it to that cat you would quickly cease to be human at all (death would definitely ensue)

 

 

Nice work Jono It looks to be an interesting lens... I don't have issues, currently, with my existing Lux, but it's still interesting to see the difference in character.

 

Do you see a difference?

[lars_bergquist]

Agreed. Any bets on what comes next, the 28 Lux or 75 Lux?

A 21mm Elmar, I guess.

 

The old man from he Age of the Angulon

[Artichoke]

enjoyed your web review & the photographs you posted here

these certainly give a sense of what this fine lens can do

I liked particularly seeing how well this lens performs in a concert setting, which is both a stress test for any lens & a job I would expect it should be asked to do

I suspect you did not use any correction of CA in these and if so this lens is an admirable performer

that said I think the 24 Lux is above this one on my wish list, but only because I don't have a lens at this useful focal length & think I would use it a great deal on the M9

I still need to see more images from it (perhaps Leica will give you a few weeks with one:))

low light performance is a torture test for lenses and one area I look at carefully for fast lenses

thanks for posting these fine examples & for your as always gracious replies

wine helps

[jonoslack]

enjoyed your web review & the photographs you posted here

these certainly give a sense of what this fine lens can do

I liked particularly seeing how well this lens performs in a concert setting, which is both a stress test for any lens & a job I would expect it should be asked to do

I suspect you did not use any correction of CA in these and if so this lens is an admirable performer

that said I think the 24 Lux is above this one on my wish list, but only because I don't have a lens at this useful focal length & think I would use it a great deal on the M9

I still need to see more images from it (perhaps Leica will give you a few weeks with one:))

low light performance is a torture test for lenses and one area I look at carefully for fast lenses

thanks for posting these fine examples & for your as always gracious replies

wine helps

 

HI There - thanks for chipping in, I hope you're flourishing.

as for the gracious replies, I'm not sure that the wine really does help (I left it until the morning!).

I like the idea (and results) of the 24 'lux, but, it's too big for me: It's why I got rid of my old Noctilux . I don't think Leica are going to give me a few weeks with one!

[Alnitak]

The Leica was from the outset a great camera for catching life on the run, spontaneously. Oskar Barnack himself used it that way. But the quality limitations inherent in the small format (grain, sharpness) meant that very many dedicated Leica photographers also used medium format cameras, as we would now call them. (But remember that during the 1930's the Rolleiflex was also regarded as a 'miniature camera'. The first time Eugene Smith was fired from Life, it was for using one of these substandard 'miniature cameras' on the job.)

 

I too used medium format cameras as long as I could fit a wet darkroom into my life. My last one was the wonderful Mamiya Six.

 

The digital Leica M has moved out of the circumscribed role of yore: I can now use the M9 to do things I could not do with my M4-P, because, in the days of film, that took 120 film to do. No excuses are needed anymore. So, why not use those new opportunities that are given unto us? That of course means that we take pictures we would not have taken before with 35mm cameras.

 

I take that as a welcome expansion of my capacity -- not as a lapse into heresy. I am, I know that, somewhat disposed toward unorthodoxy in the first place (as some people know who have read my postings). There are really too many 'don'ts' around, and too many of them are in fact the wrong don'ts. Let's see what we can do, and then evaluate the results fairly. A nice landscape is a nice landscape, even though it was not made on a glass plate in a view camera.

 

The old man from the Age of Glass Plates

 

Hear, hear! Well spoken.

[tashley]

Jono, not that you sound insulted but please don't be privately even a little bit hurt. I have the book, it sits on a coffee table in my house and people regularly enjoy and admire it. I suspect that your main detractor here is just p***d off because someone dropped a house on his sister or whatever: you can tell from the logic (that this isn't traditional or suitable Leica material) and from the untrained eye (that the photos could have been taken with any camera) that he hasn't in any way done anything other than shoot from the hip.

 

As you say, the shots represent what goes on around where you live: for me that is true documentary photography. If the critics want to see obese people sucking ice cream on Staten Island or leopards jumping out of shop windows or people jumping over puddles or war victims running naked down the road, that's fine. But nowhere in my M9 instruction manual does it say that these sorts of shots are what the camera was designed for.

 

I like the book a lot. You are a great photographer and your work, because it documents quietly and with a considered and well developed aesthetic rather than with 'look what dangerous places I go to' visual bling, adds to the larger document on which we all work. I want to read the whole of life's visual book rather than the chapters that set out to thrill. So - thank you for doing what you do and for sharing it generously.

 

Tim

 

Wow - I seem to have caused a controversy - how refreshing.

For those who stick up for me - thank you!

 

Kristian (and Andy as well).

first of all, the 'plants and pets' and 'could have been taken with any camera' are terribly cliched jibes - surely you can do better than that . . . . but then, perhaps you like your jibes to be traditional too?

 

First a little self defence.

The book is nothing to do with the lens test - I made the book for myself, as a record of time spent testing the M9. It was suggested that some others would like it, so I made it public and added the exposure and lens information - every book sold also contributes to a charity - none of it comes to me, and if you wish, you can look at all the pages online for nothing. Some people have looked at it, some people have bought it, and from those I've only had nice comments (thank you!). More about the content a bit later.

 

As far as the 'plants and pets'. I've had the 35 'lux for a little over a week, unfortunately,during that time I haven't been to any gritty third world countries . Still I was aware that others would like to get some kind of a handle on the characteristics of the lens, so I tried to present that - mostly with wide open shots to give some idea of how the lens draws, and, Andy, if you aren't interested in the bokeh - fine - others certainly are. I live out in the country, amongst animals and plants, graveyards and church concerts - so that is what I had available to shoot. Of course I understand that beyond the documentary aspects this isn't traditional M photography, but I was hoping that it would give people some idea of how the lens performs, and perhaps be a little more interesting than the kind of test shots you get on some sites.

 

Right - defence over.

 

as far as 'traditional M photography' is concerned. Sorry - I take issue with your point of view. One of the real joys of digital M photography is that the possibilities have really expanded - whether photographs of rural scenes/landscapes/plants are worthwhile is perhaps questionable (I ask this question often). However, the M9 makes an excellent landscape camera:

GetDpi landscape thread, it's also fine for travel (which is actually what my book mostly relates to, and anyway, I thought that WAS a traditional M use).

 

I feel quite evangelical about this - it's very sad to feel limited with subject matter using a camera which is actually very versatile.

 

 

erm . . . did you really meant that about financial value?

Doesn't sound like the spirit of M photography to me.

 

The 'it could have been taken with any camera' remark I also take issue with - characteristics of leica lenses shine whatever the subject may be, and the small lightweight camera and lenses makes it a travel kit second to none (the smallest full frame camera).

 

Finally - back to the content of the book - out of several hundred pictures I counted 4 pictures which include pets (mine or others) and 8 if you include horses and chickens as pets; the whole last section is dedicated to People. The rest either relate to travel / landscape / wedding / people, two of which certainly ought to fit into your criteria Kristian. There isn't any gritty realism . . . . I consciously don't do gritty realism, I try to celebrate the world around us, the people the places and the things, and in my opinion the M9 helps me to do this, partly because it doesn't get between me and the subject, and partly because of the wonderful quality of the optics. Other cameras are not the same. Whether the subjects are worthwhile, or my realisation successful is obviously up for discussion (and don't imagine that you are more critical than I am).

[jonoslack]

Jono, not that you sound insulted but please don't be privately even a little bit hurt.

 

Thank you Tim . . . I'm deeply flattered and very grateful - Kristian apologised nicely, but I wasn't really insulted.

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