New Leica owner: which "ikon lenses"??

[nicolo' bellotto]

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Hello everybody!

I just sold my Nikon D3 and will soon receive an M9-P

 

I would be happy to understand from you Leica experts and afecionados which kind of lenses would you suggest to buy.

 

I tend to do street photography especially during the night so I like fast lenses. I also love portraits with fast lenses as well. So the idea is to buy 3 lenses at the top of the quality and which represent a kind of "must have" to henance Leica's potentialities.

 

Of course the lenses do not have to be only Leica so Zeiss and russina lenses are more than wellcome if you think that are really a must have.

 

Any suggestion? Thanks for your help!

n

[jaapv]

Welcome to the forum and hopefully the Leica community.

Fast lenses are called Summiluxes and the landmark lens, much beloved by accomplished low light photographers (and by posers) is the Noctilux. Any Leica lens is a prestige lens and Zeiss and Voigtlander are excellent too, so you must buy a lens for the photographic applications you want it for, not because it is a must-have (whatever that means...). Sometimes a 300 Euro old Elmar M is better suited than a 9000 Euro Noctilux.

[lct]

...I tend to do street photography especially during the night so I like fast lenses. I also love portraits with fast lenses as well. So the idea is to buy 3 lenses at the top of the quality and which represent a kind of "must have" to henance Leica's potentialities...

No problem with current Leica lenses save that there are no 28, 75 or 90mm lenses faster than f/2. You have the choice between 21/1.4, 24/1.4, 35/1.4, 50/1.4, 50/0.95, 75/2 and/or 90/2.

Among discontinued lenses, 50/1 (or 50/1.2) and 75/1.4 are to be considered as well.

[!Nomad64]

Hello everybody!

I just sold my Nikon D3 and will soon receive an M9-P

 

I would be happy to understand from you Leica experts and afecionados which kind of lenses would you suggest to buy.

 

I tend to do street photography especially during the night so I like fast lenses. I also love portraits with fast lenses as well. So the idea is to buy 3 lenses at the top of the quality and which represent a kind of "must have" to henance Leica's potentialities.

 

Of course the lenses do not have to be only Leica so Zeiss and russian lenses are more than wellcome if you think that are really a must have.

 

Any suggestion? Thanks for your help!

n

 

Ciao Nicolo' e benvenuto nel forum.

 

 

My very personal suggestion would be to start with one lens only in order to get accustomed to the new way of seeing that a rangefinder camera will pose to you.

Then you'll see what you'll need and will buy accordingly, if necessary.

As far as I know the M9 handles well higher ISO speeds, therefore you are not obliged to have a very fast lens.

 

You didn't mention whether you already practiced street photography with the DSLR and, if so, with which lens.

If you did, I'd suggest you to start with a lens of the same focal length you were accustomed to with the Nikon.

If not, if I were you, I'd just start with a Summicron 50. For years it's been the benchmark against which any other 50 mm had to measure and at full aperture (f2) it's already giving top performance so you can't possibly go wrong.

 

As you'll do street you might eventually find that something wider such as a 35 mm might suit you better. Again, a Summicron 35 might do very well. What I'm not in condition to tell is whether you'll like or not the aspherical signature. There's been lots of debates about the rendition of the preasph Summicron vs the asph one.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers,

Bruno

[lars_bergquist]

My considered advice is to get just one lens, either a 50mm or a 35mm – both are really 'standard lenses' on the M. First of all, you have to learn to handle a manual-focus rangefinder camera; not really difficult, but it is totally different from AF, and focusing is a conscious, deliberate act. You decide, intelligently, we may hope. Exposure, too, is for thinking photographers.

 

When you have the camera, you will find on its front a lever that at your pleasure activates finder framelines: 28+90mm, 35+135mm and 50+75mm. You can see what suits you. If you like 50mm as a basis for your lens kit, good supplements might be 28 or 24 and 135mm. If 35mm, then a classical and very useful combo is 35+90mm supplemented perhaps later (quite a bit later) with 21mm. The important thing is not to rush things. Learn your lenses one by one, find out what they do, and don't do.

 

Many 'prestige' lenses are difficult to come by, because of demand surpassing production capacity. One piece of advice that you should consider, is to look at the Summarit lenses. They are not 'prestige', but damn good and in no way 'lower class'. Don't worry about speed; best quality has been upped from digital ISO64 (Kodachrome) to 160 with the M9; and 640 is no slouch either.

 

Zeiss lenses are generally good, and some vie with Leica in quality. But with the exception of the 50mm lenses, they have to be coded by some competent camera mechanic.

 

The old man from the Age of the Zeiss Tessar

[businessasusual]

Summilux 50mm 1.4 ASPH - Light Poetry. Can't go past this one.

[jaapv]

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Come to think of it, the only real prestige lens is the Noctilux 1.0, Torschlusspanik version.

[kdriceman]

I concur with these gentlemen and strongly suggest starting with one lens, probably the focal length you are currently most accustomed to. You will soon know which focal length, speed, size, signature you want to add next.

[kaiwing]

You won't go wrong to start with a 35 Summilux / Summicron or 50 mm Summilux /Summicron.

[wda]

Welcome, Nicolo'! Find the fastest lens in the range 35-50 and buy that one. Work with it before proceeding to the next step. Really learn what that lens can do and can't do. Advice will be mixed but subjective. Listen, observe and make up your own mind based on your experience with NIKON focal lengths. Leica lenses will add a little magic to your pictures!

[GLAUMAX]

I would start with the Summilux 50 1.4 ASPH and further add a Summicron 28 ASPH.

[bbbonthemoon]

I would start with the Summilux 50 1.4 ASPH and further add a Summicron 28 ASPH.

 

great combo indeed

[nicolo' bellotto]

Dear all, many thanks for all your help, I didn't expect to receive such a worm wellcome in this forum... I really appreciate it!

 

I will certainly not rush, also because it is a huge investment to enter into the Leica world so my first lens will possibly be, as many of you suggested, the 50mm 1,4 which, incidentally, was also the lens I've been using on the Nikon D3.

 

Then, after having recovered by this financial collapse, I may think to buy a wide angle. A friend told me that if I now go for the 50 I should choose a wide lens at least 21 mm. Not sure if this is correct but I certainly like super wide lenses and I will carefully study what to buy next.

 

Again, thank you all for your support!

 

ciao

n

[!Nomad64]

Then' date=' after having recovered by this financial collapse, I may think to buy a wide angle. A friend told me that if I now go for the 50 I should choose a wide lens at least 21 mm. Not sure if this is correct but I certainly like super wide lenses and I will carefully study what to buy next.[/quote']

 

It's correct for your friend, not necessarily for you

 

Cheers,

Bruno

[glacierparkmagazine]

We're all about "worm" welcomes!

[Fang]

Excuse ? huh ? Non-comprehendo ?

 

We're all about "worm" welcomes!

[colonel]

well done!

 

distilling all the good advice here, get a 35mm f1.4 ASPH or a 50mm f1.4 ASPH, depending on your preference.

 

shoot with it for a month and see if you need anything else.

 

where you don't need the light, for example a daylight landscape wide, you can definitely try a good alternative, e.g. a zeiss 28mm f2.8.

 

for lens reviews you can look in many places, e.g.:

Home

Leica Camera And Lens Reviews | STEVE HUFF PHOTOS

THORSTEN OVERGAARD official homepage since 1996 - Danish feature writer and photographer - Portr

 

Ken Rockwell has a useful cronology but don't take everything says as read:

LEICA Lenses

 

 

rgds

[Beyder28]

Hello everybody!

I just sold my Nikon D3 and will soon receive an M9-P

 

I would be happy to understand from you Leica experts and afecionados which kind of lenses would you suggest to buy.

 

I tend to do street photography especially during the night so I like fast lenses. I also love portraits with fast lenses as well. So the idea is to buy 3 lenses at the top of the quality and which represent a kind of "must have" to henance Leica's potentialities.

 

Of course the lenses do not have to be only Leica so Zeiss and russina lenses are more than wellcome if you think that are really a must have.

 

Any suggestion? Thanks for your help!

n

 

check your messages, I sent you a PM.

[alzurzin]

Summilux 50mm 1.4 ASPH - Light Poetry. Can't go past this one.

yup, it's great to have a fast lens, if for no reason other than to show off. but in reality, f2 with say camera iso 400 is all you really need. the digital imagers really cannot handle the higher incidence created by faster f stops, and the Kodak imager is no exception. with the micro lenses, it's much better than prior tech, but not the total answer. you should be able to see this for yourself, by comparing images shot at f1.4, 2, 2.8. smaller than f2, and odd things start happening. myself, I prefer to use lower iso 100 for general light, and use flash if the meter shows I need beyond iso 400, just as in the olden days, and very rarely use an f stop smaller than f2. the images seem perfect this way.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[jaapv]

the digital imagers really cannot handle the higher incidence created by faster f stops, and the Kodak imager is no exception. with the micro lenses, it's much better than prior tech, but not the total answer.

Excuse me, but this sounds like gibberish. I cannot even divine what you are trying to say.