Non Leica 35 mm?

[Charlie Johnson]

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I have been really enjoying using the M6 and 50mm 'cron I bought recently. However, I feel I would get more use out of a 35mm lens.

 

As a philosophical question as much as a practical one....would I feel cheat somewhat if I was using a non Leica lens?

[bill]

No.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[Rusted Chrome]

I have Canon and Voigtlander 35mm lenses in Leica mounts and I have suffered no pangs of conscience so far.

[chrism]

I have had three different CV 35's, but sold them all . From Leica I have a Lux (blessedly with hardly any focus shift, so no need to even consider the new one), a Cron (which I sold because of the next lens) and a Summarit, which has been the sharpest of all of them. Had I not had the Leica lenses, I would be delighted with the value of the CV lenses. I sold them as they were rather soft and lacked contrast, but I might never have known the difference if I hadn't the Leica lenses to which I could compare them. If you have a CV budget, enjoy them and revel in the great value for money. If you have a Leica budget, enjoy the improvement it brings. In the end, the only difference is in picking apart the photographs, not in whether the photos are any good!

 

Chris

[cheewai_m6]

well i confess i used to be brand conscious, not very long ago. i thought, if you have a leica, you only buy leica. but i don't think that's right. i think other brands are an alternative rather than a compromise. i have a type 35mm summicron which i don't like, but from reviews i've read and other people who own a zeiss 35mm biogon, it's as good as a leica lens. but cheaper. different, but as good. i'm probably going to get one.

[earleygallery]

Even Leica have used non-Leica lenses - Sigma, Kyocera, Minolta, Panasonic..........

[a.noctilux]

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Leica lenses are not (for me) "overall better" than others.

I use 35mm Leica lens and appreciate using M-Hexanon, Canon LTM of 60's for "atmosphere" they give.

 

Arnaud

[bill]

As I have said before, I sold a V4 35mm Summicron in favour of a CV 35mm Pancake because I preferred the rendition. Lenses are to photographers as brushes are to artists - you choose according to your tastes and your desired end result.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[H. James Wolf]

I have, and use, a Zeiss 35mm f2.8 and a CV 35mm f1.7. The Zeiss gets a fair amount of use when I don't need a Summilux and the CV gets less use. Both do the job quite well.

[aesop]

I have been really enjoying using the M6 and 50mm 'cron I bought recently. However, I feel I would get more use out of a 35mm lens.

 

As a philosophical question as much as a practical one....would I feel cheat somewhat if I was using a non Leica lens?

 

...free your mind, Charlie Johnson. It is just another quality brand, of which several others exist.

[peter_n]

I think many of us use 3rd party lenses. I use Voigtlander and Konica lenses but Zeiss also has a strong presence in M lenses. The CV, M-Hexanon and Zeiss 35mm lenses are all very good. Go to flickr to take a look at the signatures of these lenses to help you determine what you might like.

[caugustin]

Just a hint: Look at the shortest distance the lense gives. Should be 0,7 m. There are good and not so good lenses with nearly every brand (I tested a pre-ASPH 35 lux and was really disappointed, but I'm happy with the fourth version of the 35 cron I own). Had a CV 35 pancake, but would prefer the cron. You could also look at the old 35 Summaron (without goggles) as an alternative (I would if not having the cron).

[ndjambrose]

I use several non Leica lenses, all of them duplicate focal lengths of Leica lenses I have already. They're different in character. All are interesting, and some of them are interesting in better ways. I don't lose any sleep over 'cheating' :-)

 

One of my preferred lenses is the 35 VC 1.4 Nokton classic. You might find it a suitable candidate for a 35mm.

[cocker]

Leica, canon, Voigtlander, Chivers, Robertsons, Hartley. They are all good depending on your taste.

[Xmas]

Hi Keith

 

You empty out the jam and use the jar as a lens, what sort of speed do you get?

 

The Russians made clones of the Zeiss pre wwII lenses in LTM, all the ones I've used (in LTM) have been ok.

 

Noel

[luigi bertolotti]

You feel guilty only if you put apart and cease to use a Leica lens in favor of a 3rd party of the same focal ... so no problem with a 35, but if you take, say, a Nokton 50 and leave always the Summicron on the shelf... it obviously feels offended...

[aesop]

Just a hint: Look at the shortest distance the lense gives. Should be 0,7 m. There are good and not so good lenses with nearly every brand (I tested a pre-ASPH 35 lux and was really disappointed, but I'm happy with the fourth version of the 35 cron I own). Had a CV 35 pancake, but would prefer the cron. You could also look at the old 35 Summaron (without goggles) as an alternative (I would if not having the cron).

 

...hey, caugustin, any chance of some elaboration on your "shortest distance" comment?

[caugustin]

I'm not a native speaker and have to look for the right words ... Some lense constructions have a shortest focussing distance of 1 m (many old LTM, because this was what you could get with the Leica III, some 35 mm M lenses too), others of 0.9 m, 0.8 m or 0.7 m (some even shorter, mostly ultra-wides, but the M6 rangefinder stops at around 0.7 m).

 

You will miss those 30 cm sometimes. So better look out for 0.7 m shortest focussing distance.

 

I had a quick look at the Voigtländer website: The CV 35 mm lenses have all 0.7 m, so no problem there. ZM lenses in 35 mm too. I've looked inside a book and found that the 35 mm Summaron has 1 m minimum distance – so nice to play around, but it couldn't be the only 35 for me.

[aesop]

I'm not a native speaker and have to look for the right words ... Some lense constructions have a shortest focussing distance of 1 m (many old LTM, because this was what you could get with the Leica III, some 35 mm M lenses too), others of 0.9 m, 0.8 m or 0.7 m (some even shorter, mostly ultra-wides, but the M6 rangefinder stops at around 0.7 m).

 

You will miss those 30 cm sometimes. So better look out for 0.7 m shortest focussing distance.

 

I had a quick look at the Voigtländer website: The CV 35 mm lenses have all 0.7 m, so no problem there. ZM lenses in 35 mm too. I've looked inside a book and found that the 35 mm Summaron has 1 m minimum distance – so nice to play around, but it couldn't be the only 35 for me.

 

 

...thank you for clarifying, caugustin. I totally misunderstood your previous e-mail and thought you were suggesting that the shorter the minimum focusing distance, the "better" the lens. My error.

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[Xmas]

Hi

 

The CV 35mm f/1.7 will only focus to about 1 meter, it was only available in LTM, but is an ok lens, and cheap if you find one second hand, if you mishandle it will dismantle but then so do some of the Leica lenses. The rule is mount and unmount only by rear ring counter hold filter ring when a filter is tight, Solms charge a lot & you will be sorry, The CV are easy to fix yourself..

 

Some people select a lens by contrast, some Leica/Leitz lenses are low or medium contrast, CV do SC or MC lenses for high volume lenses to cater for the 'fussy'.

 

The Summaron f/2.8 (from '58 if in good condition optically), summarit f/2.5, asph cron are all good performers, but expensive, first is medium in contrast.

 

Your technique needs to be real good to be limited by any of these lenses, photographing brick walls with a tripod is only for strange people.

 

Noel