Life through 50mm glasses

[rramesh]

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Leica users have a tremendous choice of 50mm lenses (Elmar, Summicron, Summilux, Noctilux) and not to mention the Hector, Summar, the lenses from CV, Zeiss, Konica or even lenses from years back that could be adapted.

I wonder if there are any forumers who shoot only 50mm like HCB, and what their choice of 50mm lenses would be in a 50mm 1 lens kit, 2 lens kit, 3 lens kit?

[lct]

Like HCB i use mainly 35/50/90 kits for full frame. For crop cams, i prefer 28/50 (R-D1) or 28/50/90 (M8.2) combos. As far as 50s are concerned, i prefer the last Summilux pre-asph for portraiture. Otherwise my favorite 50s are the last Elmar and the Summilux asph. FWIW (not much).

[Ellie]

The Summarit 50/2.5 is perfect on my M7 for b&w film and i've used a 28mm on my M9 for a year now.. two one-lens kits

[michali]

Interesting that you should raise this topic today. 50mm is probably the focal length that I use the most.

Last night I ran a mental stock-take of the 50mm lenses in my arsenal and listed them in order of most used to least used.

 

1. 50mm Summilux f1.4 ASPH

2. 50mm on the Tri-Elmar

3. 50mm Summarit f2.5

4. 50mm Elmar f2.8

5. 50mm Summicron f2 (1957)

6. 50mm Elmar f3.5 (LTM)

7. 50mm Noctilux f.95

 

Based on this mental list, this morning I decided to sell the Noctilux f.95 which I bought new last month, and found a buyer for it within a couple of hours. I bought this lens to use on a specific project, however now that that's done, I've discovered it's the one lens that really doesn't turn me on, contrary to what I originally thought or expected. I found that it's so "un M-like" i.e. too big and bulky, I'm also not a big fan of the "excessive" bokeh when shooting wide open, and the chromatic aberration when shooting into the light.

IMO the OOF look and feel of the images when shooting wide open is almost too contrived, it may work for some but I found that it doesn't suit my style of shooting.

 

After a month of shooting with the Noctilux in Africa, I'm very happy to have the Summilux back on the M9 again.

[jdlaing]

50 Summilux is on mine all the time.

I use others but the 50 about 90%.

[ramosa]

Cron 50 it'll be for me. At that focal length, had a Cron, replaced it with a Lux asph, and now happily back to a Cron, which I'll keep forever.

[smkoush]

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50mm is my favorite focal length. For 5 years I had a 1 lens kit. The first 3 were with the Summicron-M (latest), the next 2 with the Summilux-M (pre-asph E46).

 

Then I added a 28mm Elmarit-M ASPH, and last year replaced the pre-ASPH Summilux with the ASPH version. Fantastic lens, I don't want or need any other 50mm. If I add another focal length it will be something along the lines of either a 21mm or a 90mm.

 

Savvas

[Michael Hiles]

Probably 80%+ of my pictures are made with my Summicron 50 v2. I occasionally use my 90mm 3-element elmar, and my 35mm Summaron,both of which I love. My 65mm elmar, 125 hektor and 135 tele-elmar don't get much exercise. The 50mm just makes pictures that look the way I want them to

 

When I travel I take the 35, 50,and 90, and mainly use the 50.

[tobey bilek]

It is not called the nifty fifty for nothing.

 

The only two lens kit I TRIED WAS 35/90. It did not please me. I did a 35 4.0 Curtagon and 60 2.8 for the R for a while. I could make it work.

 

However a 35/50/90 is quite nice or the fifty alone. 1969 V3 Summicron or the second version 50 2.8 Elmar M, collapsible 90 Elmar M + 35 2. V 4.

 

For the M8, the kit is 28 2.8, 35 2.0, and 50 2.8. I am looking forward to buying a M9or M10 to get back to proper focals.

[Hosermage]

I love 50mm FOV... and I interpreted the question a little different than others:

 

1 lens kit: 50'Lux asph (great all around)

2 lens kit: 50'Lux asph, 50ZM C-Sonnar (extra smooth bokeh and compact)

3 lens kit: 50'Lux asph, 50ZM C-Sonnar, 50 Noct (specialty DOF)

 

I'm only at step #1 right now... but would love to be at #3 one day.

[lars_bergquist]

50mm is THE Leica standard, for historical reasons: Max Berek did choose to give the Leica I a 50mm lens (actually, closer to 52mm). And until 1954 and the M3, you had to fit an accessory finder in order to use any other focal length on a Leica. Even the M3 was very definitely a 50mm camera – that frame was always shown, even if you mounted a 90mm or 135mm lens. The first non-50mm Leica was the M2.

 

The standard definition of a 'standard lens' was that it should have a focal length about equal to the diagonal of the negative. That was the rationale behind the competing 'standard lenses' of that time, 10.5cm with 6x9cm, 13.5cm with 9x12cm, and 15cm/6 inches with a 4"x5" camera. So the standard for Leica should have been 4.2cm. Have it ever struck how recurrent the pining has been for a 40mm lens among Leica users?

 

Still, three decades of preferential 50mm use, not only with Leica cameras but a host of others too, left their cultural imprint. Most of the pictures we oldsters saw in the magazines were 50mm pictures, and that shaped or understanding of what photography was. And that tradition does still mean that 50mm is a preferred focal length even among lensmakers.

 

Now consider a 35mm lens and a 52mm lens. Notice that both are pretty symmetrically grouped around that non-existant 'standard' focal length of 42mm. Not arithmeticaly, but geometrically. You might even regard the 35mm length as a 'short standard' and 50mm as the 'long standard'. Both are focal lengths that you can do 90% of your 'general photography' (i.e. exclusive of birdies and arena sports) with. Last autumn I travelled with both a 35mm and a 50mm Summilux ASPH and though I brought other optics, I found that I never used them!

 

HCB was very definitely a 50mm man. My surname is not Cartier-Bresson, and I am equally definitely a 35mm man. Winogrand was a 28mm man. We see the picture before we raise the camera to our eye, and we start our seeing with one 'default focal length'. We all see the world a bit differently.

 

The old man from the Age of the 5cm Elmar

[michali]

So the standard for Leica should have been 4.2cm. Have it ever struck how recurrent the pining has been for a 40mm lens among Leica users

 

Agreed!

After the 50mm Summilux my favorite lens is the 40mm Summicron-C f2, a real little gem!

[skinnfell]

For the first 8 years of my photography, I did indeed use only 50mm (or at least 50mm equivalent). After becoming a professional I have diversified a little bit, adding 24, 35 and 75/85mm lenses, but still 50mm represents 80% of my photography.

 

I could easily live with just a 50mm if it wasn´t for certain jobs.I have identical focal lengths in canon and leica.

 

In fact these days I am thinking of selling my 35 cron, 50 cron and 75 cron to fund the new 50 apo. 10% of the shots I have to make differently from not owning the 35 and 75 will be made up by the roughly 10% or so quality improvement with the 50 apo. (the only real improvement for me is slightly better performance wide open and riddance of flare, which bothers me a bit in the current version.)

 

I love the 50 because of its ability to render pictures the way they were seen. Not too much foreground, not too little background. Also the framelines in the M cameras really shine with 50mm. Being tack sharp and straight as a ruler doesnt hurt either.

[Paul J]

50mm 0.95 is my most used lens, probably my favourite all time lens. If I were to have just one lens that would easily be it. Infact I bought the M9 for that lens alone.

 

Going to get the 50 APO-Cron.

 

My fave 3 lens kit is 35 Lux FLE, 50 Noct .95, 75 Lux

 

50mm is certainly my favourite focal length.

[farnz]

Lately I've been exclusively using a 1947 Carl Zeiss Jena 50/2 Sonnar, which is all I want to use at the moment. I also did a 'stocktake' and found that I have:o:

1. 50/2 CJZ Sonnar

2. 50/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH

3. 50/2 Summicron coll.

4. 50/2.8 Elmar-M

5. 50/3.5 Elmar

6. 50/1.2 Canon

7. 50/1.4 Nippon Kogaku (LTM)

8. 50/1.5 Voigtlander Nokton aspherical

9. 50/2.8 Fed.

 

My favourite 2 lens kit is 90/2 APO-Summicron-M ASPH and 35/2 Summicron v4

My favourite 3 lens kit is 90/2 APO-Summicron-M ASPH, 50/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH, and 28/2 Summicron-M ASPH.

 

Pete.

[brianv]

I might have thirty or so 50mm lenses in Leica mount. I won;t list them.

 

Current favorite is a pre-war 5cm f1.5 Sonnar, converted to Leica Mount.

 

1934 Sonnar 5cm f1.5 in Leica Mount - SeriousCompacts.com Gallery

 

I usually pack a 28 or 35, and 85 or 105 with it.

[sm23221]

Love my Cron 50. It's my most used lens, followed by the Nocti 0.95 and then the Elmar 50 f2.8. At f/2.8, comparing them, in my opinion, the Cron 50 delivers the most pleasing art.

[gjames9142]

It's interesting that this thread started with a nod to HCB. Both Bresson and Frank had retrospectives a couple of years, and I got the overwhelming feeling that Frank has become the more influential of the two. Also Frank tended to use wider lenses, and the whole tendency among a lot of major photographers has been to shoot wider; this is true of a lot of photojournalists, too. I don't actually own a 50 -- although I did lend one to my son and I think he is keeping it. I am thinking of getting another one, just to have a slightly different challenge. There is a French poster whose handle I cannot remember who did some good work in NY, I think with an Elmar. All these lenses are good.

[ramosa]

This is an interesting point. For me, HCB was a strong influence when I first really got into photography (4-5 years ago). While he remains an influence in terms of composition, I am now much more strongly influenced by Frank. The two shared a love for the Leica and candid photography, but not much else IMO. Frank's images are alive and raw and purposive in terms of social commentary. In contrast, HCB's images, while immaculately composed, are trite and relatively unimportant in terms of social commentary. Frank once said, "Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference." He didn't say that this comment related to HCB, but Frank definitely saw himself more as a social advocate than did HCB.

 

This is just my view as a hobbyist, and I actually think many more professional (and other quite skilled) photographers would note the influence of HCB than the influence of Frank.

 

Here's a somewhat related post (oddly) from Irwin Puts: http://www.imx.nl/photo/page152/files/archive-05-december-2010.html

[lct]

HCB was a surrealist remember. The decisive moment. Nothing to do with socialism obviously.

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Hallo,

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