Summicron-M 28 Asph

[IkarusJohn]

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Toying with the idea of this lens, but not really sure I need it.

 

The lens is available 2nd hand (about a year old), and apparently in perfect nick. Cost is around USD 2,500, so it is tempting ...

 

This is probably a case of GAS. I currently have 75, 50, 35 & 21 covered, but there is a little gap between 35 & 21. I've read good things about this lens, and I suspect it might be useful.

 

Any thoughts? How do people find this lens in practice?

 

I'm a keen amateur, and I just carry my camera around looking at angles and taking pictures of things I like.

 

Cheers

John

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[mmradman]

There is a gap in your line up and you seem to need some encouragement and providing you are not going to starve go for it.

 

Realistically only you know whether you need it or not but i doubt there is a such thing as a realistic need, more like want (speaking from own experience ).

 

Actually your post will make me check my usual online dealers for latest offering.

[IkarusJohn]

There is a gap in your line up and you seem to need some encouragement and providing you are not going to starve go for it.

 

Realistically only you know whether you need it or not but i doubt there is a such thing as a realistic need, more like want (speaking from own experience ).

 

Actually your post will make me check my usual online dealers for latest offering.

 

Hi Mladen,

 

I understand all that - the post was not really seeking encouragement for going on a spending spree - the I want it, and I want it now factor. I was really looking for feedback from people with this lens how they find using it, and how it fits their line up.

 

I fully understand the concept of needless lust Photography is, after all, a pastime, rather than something of necessity (at least in my case). I'm not sure that need comes into it.

 

Cheers

John

[farnz]

John,

 

It's one of the lenses I would never part with. It has the best micro-contrast and gradual change of tone of any lens I've ever seen and despite it's being aspherical and therefore very sharp it still maintains that slightly 'earlier' look, perhaps because of the superb micro-contrast. I don't use it as much as I should at the moment because my 50 Summilux aspherical refuses to allow another lens on the camera because I'm concentrating on candid portraits but I know I'll come back to the 28 Summicron.

 

Besides, at $2,500 you should buy it because it's not likely that you'll find another at that price in the future.

 

Pete.

[Jeff S]

I echo Pete's comments, but I avoided his choice limitations by getting a second M8.2 body and putting the 28 Summicron asph on one, and the 50 Summilux asph on the other.

 

I like these two lenses so much that it's one reason I'm reluctant to switch to an M9, which might cause me to substitute my 35 and 75 Summicron asphs (from my film M days) to gain similar fields of view.

 

In reality, I don't think most people really "need" more than one or two lenses. Professionals aside, I bet most enthusiasts use one or two lenses over 90% of the time, even if they own many more. Our feet are our best zooms most of the time.

 

I suppose some people alternate lenses of the same focal length because of distinctions in how they 'draw.' I'm too lazy to switch that much, preferring to travel relatively light, and would rather stick with a lens (or two) that I love, in the focal length(s) that most suits my shooting style.

 

Jeff

[tgray]

My favorite lens. Other lenses in my line up are: 21/4.5, 50/1.4, 75/1.4, and 90/4. The 28 and the 50 are my go to pair, with the brunt of the photos taken with the 28. I don't really feel the need for a 35 with these two lenses.

 

28 is my fav focal length because it's wide, with a little bit of that wide-angle drama, but just a little. It looks pretty normal most of the time for how wide it is. And you can use the internal finder. I find it a perfect lens for when you are interacting with a group of people. Not just taking photos while outside the group, but actually interacting with them as part of the group. You don't have to step forward or back for good framing most of the time in these situations - it's just right.

 

This lens is fast enough for low light too. The 21 is my wide and slow 'tripod' lens. If I'm going out at night with no tripod, or venturing out for a couple days and I don't know what I'll come up against, the 28 goes with me. If I am going out for a sunny afternoon, I might take the 21 over the 28.

 

Not that you asked, but it's clear the 75 is the lens I grab for portraits or when I need reach when it's dark. The 90 is more for travel; it's a daylight lens only. So my lenses tend to make up separate kits. A travel kit might be 28, 50, and 90. A concert kit might be 28 and 50 or 28 and 75. A walk around town kit might be the 21, 50, and maybe the 90.

 

But take this all with a grain of salt. I shot with pretty much only a 35mm lens for a year before getting this 28, and while it was a wonderful lens, it just didn't work for me that well. I didn't think it went with a 50 very well at all, and I didn't have the 75 at the time to pair up with it.

 

This is all on full frame. Here's a link to pictures I've taken with this lens:

Flickr: ezwal's stuff tagged with 28mm20

[lars_bergquist]

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The answer to your query must be in two parts: The factual, and the personal. They are completely incommensurate.

 

The Summicron-M 1:2/28mm ASPH is one of the two or three optically best lenses Leica has ever produced. Erwin Puts put it on a par with the 50mm Summicron, but I rate it even higher. It has all the detail fidelity of the 50mm, but it is also a fully reliable lens which won't sabotage your pictures with strange flare phenomena. It's a splendid optic. If you wear specs, however, or use a correction lens with the eyepiece, you won't see the framelines. So If you care about your composition, you have to find an accessory 28mm finder. And the wider a lens gets, the more careful you have to be in your handling of it. That was the factual part.

 

The personal or subjective part is how it fits your style of seeing and working. That depends partly on what other lenses you have. Nobody can tell you what to do. Just a few observations:

 

Many photographers are associated mostly or nearly exclusively with one focal lenth. Winogrand worked nearly exclusively with 28mm, Cartier-Bresson with 50mm. Then there is that vast majority of us wimps who mostly see, and use 35mm. Now I'm going to become esoteric.

 

We have a Western tradition going back even beyond the Renaissance about how to compose a picture. It's got to be a unified composition with a central subject, everything else subordinate to it. (A Chinese scroll or a Japanese makimono is entirely different.) The wider the image field, the more difficult that becomes. Somewhere at or below 28mm, this regime breaks down. You start composing with two or more equal subjects, and the tension between them. That is difficult. This is not just a focal length matter, of course. René Burri is famous mostly for two pictures. The first is that Che Guevara portrait, but the second is a 1960 picture from a rooftop in São Paulo. It is the cover picture of the latest LFI issue. To the right is a sunlit roof terrace with four dark figures, three of them in suits (real Paulistas ... ) To the left a distant sunlit street chasm with traffic, several hundred meters more distant. Two completely different subjects divided by the picture's center, a stretch of non-descript shadowy skyscraper facade. I suspect that this picture was done with a 90mm lens! But at 24mm or shorter, this sort of thing becomes the rule.

 

So 28mm is the outpost of the Renaissance pictorial regime. Will you be comfortable there? I can't tell you that. Maybe I can make you think.

 

The old man from the Age of the 3.5cm Elmar

[matlep]

Excellent post Lars!

[menos I M6]

At this price (very good, if the package is complete and the lens in very good condition), just buy it and try it.

 

It possibly is the best 28mm lens, Leica makes and you can find out, if you might even like this over the big and heavy 21 Lux.

The 28 is a light and compact lens by comparison, providing even the added convenience of not needing an external viewfinder.

 

If you buy it, make sure, to get a better lens hood for it (several options, including the hyper expensive new scalloped metal hood form Leica for 28 and 35mm lenses and the compact plastic lens hood from the 35 Lux ASPH v1, which works beautifully, even on the M9 and film).

Put the huuuge 28 Cron lens hood in the package and don't use it, you might not be able, to enter doorways or vehicles without unmounting the hood.

 

From a photographic standpoint, you very likely do not need it at all - believe me, many of us went through this (myself included).

We tell ourselves, to focus on less lenses and shrink down the gear, to better focus on photography, but in the end, we all find the next toy at an unbelievable bargain price just around the corner.

 

Best,

 

Dirk

 

PS - the 28 Cron has been my all time favorite lens on the EPSON R-D1 - once you bought the 28mm, make sure, to find a descent R-D1, to check it out ;-)

[250swb]

All you need is Sean Reid's new review of fast 28mm lenses for the M9, and which covers the 28mm Summicron, 28mm Ultron f2 and Ultron f1.9. Its a very interesting and wide ranging article, touching on Winogrand and how a 28mm suits some photographers and not others. Whether there is a clear conclusion in the review its difficult to say. In my experience the Summicron blows the socks off the f2 Ultron, but I can see it does depend on how you use it/what you use it for.

 

 

Steve

[lct]

The Summicron is my favorite 28 ever but the Elmarit asph is a great lens as well and is significantly smaller and cheaper. IQ wise, the latter is a bit more contrasty with a slightly sharper bokeh but in most circumstances i cannot tell a difference (if any). BTW if size matters, you might wish to trade the Summicron's hood for a smaller one like that of the Summilux 35/1.4 asph v2.

[andalus]

I don't like ANY hood for my 28. Because I like to use a B&W linear polarizer. And I cannot mount the lens hood with the pol attached. I am sure the hood makes a difference in some lighting situations, but I think it's not all that necessary for most situations. Anyone else NOT use the hood at all? Do you get by without it?

[Xmas]

I don't like ANY hood for my 28. Because I like to use a B&W linear polarizer. And I cannot mount the lens hood with the pol attached. I am sure the hood makes a difference in some lighting situations, but I think it's not all that necessary for most situations. Anyone else NOT use the hood at all? Do you get by without it?

 

You might be able to get a generic screw in 46mm wide angle hood.

Only really critical if you drop the camera and it lands on the hood, when you may need a new hood, otherwise...

 

Noel

[jaapv]

Heavystar sells qite a nice one.

[pgk]

I found that I simply didn't use mine - I found it too close to the 35mm on my M8 - so I got rid of it. The REAL problem is that you can ask everyone's views on buying one but the bottom line is that you have to try it to see if it suits YOU. If the price is good enough so that you are unlikely to lose much money on it, then its probably well worth buying to find out if its a lens that you like. I echo the sentiments expressed about its qualities and performance but in the end it wasn't a lens for me.

[ho_co]

My case is the opposite of Paul's. Once I got the 28, I virtually quit using the 35 and sold it. Strictly personal preference, of course.

[wda]

John, the more lenses you own, the less each is likely to be used by you. If you don't need the lens, (your assessment), then there is no point in reading many highly subjective recommendations for that lens. If you do need the lens, then members' comments are extremely valuable as I have found in the past.

 

On balance, there is much to be said for settling on a small core collection of useful lenses which meet your personal requirements. Unless you are a serious collector!

[lct]

Same lenses can be used in full frame, APS-H, APS-C and 4/3 formats.

I don't use much 28 with FF, but significantly more with APS-H and even more with APS-C for example.

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Hallo,

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[farnz]

John, the more lenses you own, the less each is likely to be used by you. If you don't need the lens, (your assessment), then there is no point in reading many highly subjective recommendations for that lens. If you do need the lens, then members' comments are extremely valuable as I have found in the past. ...

David,

 

I notice that you've used this word "need". I'm not sure I understand what this word means.

 

Pete.

[adan]

John, Like you I have 21-35-75. I occasionally get an itch for a 28, but I've found in the past it just slows me down trying to choose between 28 and 35 or 28 and 21. So it is more of a headache than a "gap" - although I also skip the 50 as well.

 

As Lars says, by some technical measures the 28 'cron is one of Leica's best ever.

 

For me - it is just out of step with my Mandler 21 and 75 in contrast and color rendering, and neither as fast nor as tight-framing as my 35 f/1.4 ASPH. So I just walk on by.

 

But $2500 is a pretty good price ($3,995 US new - if you can find one!). You can probably experiment with it and sell it at no loss (or a gain) if it doesn't work for you.