Jian Posted August 18, 2011 Share #1 Posted August 18, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) I am a film shooter, and i have MP and M6ttl with 50 and 35 summicron lens. Recently, I wanna another wide angle lens for my street and photojournalism photography, I am struggling with which one should I get? I am afraid the 21mm is too wide to shoot documentary photographs, since it is too wide and lack of reality( much more distortion). Anyone has good suggestions? Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 18, 2011 Posted August 18, 2011 Hi Jian, Take a look here which one should I get, elmar 24mm 3.8 or new super elmar21mm 3.4?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted August 18, 2011 Share #2 Posted August 18, 2011 If a 21 is too wide, why should you consider one? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jian Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share #3 Posted August 18, 2011 I want to choose one of them-24mm and 21mm, which one is more suitable?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 18, 2011 Share #4 Posted August 18, 2011 Welcome to the forum. Which lens is more suitable - that is a very personal decision, and not one that virtual voices can make for you. Go over your images and imagine them with a wider/smaller field of view and decide which look you prefer. Do you crop your 21 images often? In that case go for the 24. If not, not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted August 18, 2011 Share #5 Posted August 18, 2011 Welcome, Jian. We have no idea of what your work looks like, of your tastes, your style, your level of competence or your choice of subject. We have no idea if you like to work "up close and personal" or if you step back. We have no idea how you use your current lenses. We have no idea if the streets you work in are crowded, deserted, busy, cramped, wide... In short, we have no criteria upon which to advise you other than you are asking for us to choose between two focal lengths one of which you say is too wide... How can we help you? Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted August 18, 2011 Share #6 Posted August 18, 2011 At the obvious risk of the 'never crop' brigade falling over themselves to say it shows no skill to crop an image, the external 24 or 21mm viewfinders are so approximate in framing accuracy that you may as well buy a 21mm and crop the image if you want less in the picture. But the best thing you could do is find somebody who's images you like, the angle of view and situation, and ask them what lens they used (if it isn't already clear). Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted August 18, 2011 Share #7 Posted August 18, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) How can we help you? I suppose I could flip a coin: 'heads' get a 24mm/F3.8, 'tails' go for the new 21 Super Elmar. Tails it is! I suggest that you buy the new 21mm lens. Perhaps more helpfully; you've already given a perfectly valid reason for preferring the 24mm over the 21mm. A 24mm will give you a much wider FOV than your current widest lens (35mm Summicron) and is, I think, a perfectly good focal length to explore a 'wider look'. The 24mm/F3.8 is also cheaper and readily available new. As you are using film, you can also freely consider (that is free from any concerns about red edges, 6-bit coding, etc.) other lens manufacturers. For instance, you could buy two Zeiss ZM lenses for the price of one Leica. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted August 18, 2011 Share #8 Posted August 18, 2011 Ah, but which coin should you flip...? Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted August 18, 2011 Share #9 Posted August 18, 2011 IIRC there was the question what to call the 50p (UK) coin and the answer was the "Harold Wilson" with the motivation: 2 faced, 7 sided, and nobody likes it:cool: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 18, 2011 Share #10 Posted August 18, 2011 Having said that I have just yesterday rearranged my lens spectrum. I found the series Super Elmar 18 - Summilux 24- Summilux 50 asph to be a rational series of steps, skipping the 28 and 21. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jian Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share #11 Posted August 18, 2011 Thanks everybody, I have no experience of using 21mm lens, the only thing that I concern about is the distortion. when I use 35mm lens, maybe I crop a little, it depends. The reason that I want to choose a wider lens is that I can take pictures without attention( for example, I point my camera to other sapces instead of the subject that I really want to shoot...), the second reason is sometimes, I want the street shots looks more dynamic,so... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted August 18, 2011 Share #12 Posted August 18, 2011 @Jaap(v): Spoilsport! We were just going off on a tangent:D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted August 18, 2011 Share #13 Posted August 18, 2011 @Jian, all the lenses Leica produces have very little distortion. Wide is wide but no noticeable barrel or cushion distortion. So the question is mainly what field of view you want. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jian Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted August 18, 2011 I dont use leica to shoot architecure. Sometimes shoot some pictures that like stephen shore's style. The main subject matter is daily street looking photos:) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted August 18, 2011 Share #15 Posted August 18, 2011 Having said that I have just yesterday rearranged my lens spectrum. I found the series Super Elmar 18 - Summilux 24- Summilux 50 asph to be a rational series of steps, skipping the 28 and 21. No 35mm? Which lens do you take out for casual 'do it all' use - the 50 Summilux? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thighslapper Posted August 18, 2011 Share #16 Posted August 18, 2011 Well, my philosophy is ..... if you are going to go wide, you might as well go VERY wide....... 21 and 24 are 'in between' lenses in my book..... I'd go 18mm or Tri-elmar .... or forget it completely.... Distortion is no problem.... unless you have people in the periphery when they go all elongated and peculiar.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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