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M8 with 21mm Elmarit


dwyersean

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  • 1 month later...
How did you get on composing the image with the M8 and the 21 Elmarit ?

 

Can you get away with ignoring frame lines and shooting 'full view' ?

 

I find that it's important to really force myself to take in the total viewfinder and disregard any frame lines. It can be very easy to miscompose an image if I'm not careful. It's a lovely lens though, but it might be a little on the wide side for me. That's odd in a way as I always pair a nikkor 17-35 with a 70-200 at press events.

 

It's an endearing lens though...

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I find that it's important to really force myself to take in the total viewfinder and disregard any frame lines. It can be very easy to miscompose an image if I'm not careful. It's a lovely lens though, but it might be a little on the wide side for me. That's odd in a way as I always pair a nikkor 17-35 with a 70-200 at press events.

 

It's an endearing lens though...

 

I am looking forward to taking some pictures with the 21mm, its about the right size for a useable lens. I have the 24mm, I will decide which one I keep when I ultimately move on to a n M9 ;)

 

An actaul 28 should be very nice for indoor shots, shame it's not the 1.4 ! :cool:

 

I do wonder if we will see 21 and 24 Simmicron's this year. A big gap now between 3.4/3.8 and 1.4 .... I suspect they will be £3.5k-4k+ given the last price on the 21mm was £3k before they stopped production last year, the 24 was £2.9k from memory

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Before I picked up the 21mm I tried out the 24mm f3.8. It's a lovely lense, in some ways a better fit on the M8 than the 21mm. Using it in low light seems like a bad idea, but it draws the light something lovely regardless of how much light there is.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have spent some time with my 21mm Elmarit F2.8 and really like it. ;)

 

Both in terms of image perspective and image depth it has the Leica '3D' in spades. I also like the way it renders in low light and handles noise better than other lenses, it is very sharp but has a 'pastel paintinng' qaulity with noise.

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Got the 21mm 2.8 ASPH used during the summer, it's kind of a love/hate -relationship for me.

 

I can't understand the framing for the death of me: it's somewhere between the dedicated viewfinder (which is 21mm actual) and the M8 viewfinder (which is supposed to be around 28mm), so I just end up guesstimating.

 

I also experience cyan corners, especially with the UV/IR filter (my lens is uncoded).

 

But it's very sharp and nice. The geometry is not perfect but it's not off that much either. I like the half-stop aperture ring and focusing tab compared to my ZM lenses. And most of all, it produces some pretty nice images.

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With my M8, I look through the finder ignore lines and move a little side to side I have got a consistent method that seems to work, sort of rock to check sides.

 

I am thinking of trying a 21-24-28 viewfinder on the basis that 28 will be right for this lens on the M8 and it will work with this, my 24 and 28 on the M9 when I eventually get one

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With my M8, I look through the finder ignore lines and move a little side to side I have got a consistent method that seems to work, sort of rock to check sides.

 

I am thinking of trying a 21-24-28 viewfinder on the basis that 28 will be right for this lens on the M8 and it will work with this, my 24 and 28 on the M9 when I eventually get one

 

That was my plan, two problems.

One there are no frame lines in that finder and you can not see the edges well. This was the worst Leica product I ever bought.

 

Second use the 21 setting on the finder and it will still be too narrow for distance work for a 21 2.8 on the M8. It is pretty easy to do a photo, then look at the back of the camera and look again thru the VF. You will find it take in more than you can see wiggling your head to get a clear idea of edges. I think I will have to dig my Leitz 21 metal finder out and compare that. I also checked at 10 feet with the same result. Maybe the CV15 would work out.

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Tobey, hi

 

You will get used to framing with the view finder, if you don't wear glasses I am sure.

 

If you look right in o the view finder I can see more than the 21 takes, I am not prefect when taking pictures but the 21 for me is more about subject with panaramic background than architecture most of the time.

 

Try keeping it on the front of the camera for a few days/weeks hopefully you will dig it then. Interesting what you say about the 21-24-28 I am not sure if they are still for sale, I might have a look in a dealer and have an experiment ;)

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