New to rangefinder, needs help with a lens

[Crazy Cat Lady]

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I have a M8 and a 35 cron on order. After discovering a thread today about the 35mm's back focusing and realizing that I the 35 might be too wide for me I think I might return the 35 and look for another lens. I come from DSLR's, currently I own a 5D and have no experience with rangefinders. For right now my main focus is portraits of my family (children-2 yrs & 7 months old, husband etc.) with other interests thrown in there like travel, etc. But my main focus is portrait.

 

Since this will be my one and only lens for the time being I am kind of unsure on what focal length to get. On my 5D I have used 80 f/1.8 and 135 f/2 the most. I do prefer available light, whether it is low light or sunny. So from this I have gathered that the 75 lux or 90 cron would be a good start. But from what I have read on a couple of forums others have suggested that a good first lens would be a wide angle. Hence the reason why I ordered the 35, which is almost a 50 with the crop factor. I just cannot get comfortable with only using this focal length. I tried to today on my 5D and had a real tough time. I like to do shoulder and head shots.

 

Since I am not familiar with rangefinders, is a wide lens really the best first lens? Has anyone else started out with a long lens? Was there any regrets? Would it be better if I got a voigtlander lens and maybe experiment before investing into a more expensive lens?

 

Just so you know, total funds for a lens or lenses is $3600.

 

Any advice would be grateful.

 

Thank You

Jennifer

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[robsteve]

Jennifer:

 

You probably picked the best starter lens for your needs.

 

As a second lens for portraits, a 50mm or 75mm would be the next step. Since the 50mm Summilux is such a nice lens and a stop faster than the 75mm Summicron, it may be a better choice for you portraits, while still having f1.4 for shooting indoors in the available light.

 

If you budget is streached with the 35mm Summicron and another lens, a used 50mm Summicron is a very competent lens.

[Laki]

jennifer, i think the choice of the lens depends on what your favourite subjects are. if you're shooting mainly portraits i dont think that a wide angle lens is the best choice. the 35mm is usually recommended because it is the classical one for street photographie. as i understand that you're more into portraits you should consider to go more in the direction of the 50 or even 75. depends again on your shooting preferences.

 

cheers

laki

 

p.s. i use the lux 35/asph and the lux/50 asph and i'm happy with both of them.

[losta]

If the 80 and 135 are your favorites on the 5D the range I would look into is 50, 75 and 90 for the M8. Something one often doesn't think of with cameras with crop factors is that the lens is still the same angle of view but the edges get chopped off (maybe I'm not saying that right but hopefully you'll understand what I mean) so if you like what an 80 does have a good look at the 75 or 90.

[robsteve]

If you are only going to get the one lens choose the 35mm Summicron ASPH. I find, even with my film days, I shot more with my 50mm lenses than the 35mm lenses.

 

Here are a few samples of what you can get with a 50mm on the M8. Some are Noctilux, some a 1980's vintage 50mm summicron.

 

 

 

 

[carcam]

I bet you would love the 50mm lux. It has a built in lens hood that doesn't obstruct your view. It is generally regarded as one of the best and sharpest Leica lenses (good and bad for portraits). At 66mm effective focal length, it sounds good for what you want. None of the backfocusing issues, small and light. The big problem for me is that there are so many nice lenses for the M8 that it is hard to decide what is best.

[Cindy Flood]

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I agree that the 35mm probably does not fit your needs if you are only buying one lens. I was used to using an 85L and a 135L for most of my portraits on the 5D. I bought a 75mm summilux as my portrait lens for the M8. I also own a 50mm summilux ASPH which is great for walk-about and also portraits. You might want to put your money into the 50ASPH and also buy a 75mm CV color heliar f/2.5. You should be able to buy both with your budget. Congratulations on the new M8 and welcome to the forum.

[charlesphoto99]

I would say 50 asph lux and 90. The 90 APO is a stunner optically but is a hefty piece of glass and if you're not used to rangefinders you may find it more dificult to focus than the 135 L (a great lens btw). That said, the 90 2.8 (latest version) is a great performer as well and can be easily found on the used market for about $850-$1000. I owned it for awhile and was blown away by the results. For what I do I needed the f2 of the APO and came across a good deal on one. I miss the size of the 2.8 though and the APO often gets left behind for that reason. The 50 asph is a no brainer - wish I had one. My pre-asph Lux isn't a happy camper on my M8. Apparantly they need shimming. Tried the asph in the store today - super smooth action and incredibly sharp.

[ken_tanaka]

Hello Jennifer;

Given your repeated emphasis that your primary current photographic interest is portraiture, and your plans to have a single lens for a while, I think that the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux would be the best compromise between a good portrait / family snapshot lens and a general-purpose lens. I have one and can tell you it's terrific. (A less expensive alternative, but quite close in overall performance, is the Zeiss C Sonnar 50mm f/1.5.) The 35mm gives you about the same field of view on an M8 as a 50mm on a film/full-frame camera but subject focus separation will be just a tad more challenging than the 50.

 

The 75mm would be nice for portraits but would not really be a good general purpose lens...it's quite a narrow field on the M8.

 

I'm sure you'll be happy with either the 35mm or the 50mm and your new M8. I think you'll find yourself shooting differently with a rangefinder than with your 5D. Not better or worse, just differently.

[marknorton]

Another vote for the 50/1.4 and the 90/2.8, then if you wanted to go wide angle later, a 24 or 28.

[egibaud]

I has backfocusing problem with a Lux35 and sent it back, when I tried a 35cron and had no problem. Try and decide. I prefered to change my focal range and end up without 35.

 

Now I have (waiting for 15 and 28 to arrive) CV15 - Elmarit 28 - Cron 50 - Elmarit 90

 

If I were you if budget is limited, I'd try the 35 cron and then complete the range with a CV 75 as it is very affordable, nad on this angle coding is not essential

 

Eric

[lars_bergquist]

Jennifer,

 

first, be aware that 1) on film, the 50 mm lenses have always been the lenses with the widest range of uses, and 2) the equivalent on the M8 with its smaller sensor (3/4 linear of the classic 24 x 36 mm of film) is 35 mm.

 

A 50 mm lens is actually closer to 52 mm on the Leica M, and while this makes for a wonderful ‘people lens’, it can be a bit tight over the shoulders for general photography. A 35/47 mm lens is very useable for people shots, as long as you remember not to approach closer to the subject than about 1.8 m / 6 ft – it is not the focal length per se but a too close approach that leads to perspectival distortion (big nose, small ears). Children with their smaller and flatter faces allow shorter distances.

 

Also, the desire for a second lens will come sooner or later. 35 + 90 is a good combo for the M8, and so is 28 + 75.

 

The old Crazy Cat Man

[Ecaton]

Another vote for the 50/1.4 or the 50/2.0 which are great mild portrait and good walkabout lenses on the M8. To find out whether you prefer the 75 or 90mm length, I suggest to ad the inexpensive, but very good CV75, which is always easily resellable.

 

Martin

[hiphop]

Before investing a lot in a second lense, I would recommend you to wait in order to get familiar with the rangefinder concept.

You can defer your purchase for a new lense and go for a nice second hand leica lense which will cost you a lot less than a new one.

Personnaly I bought a new 28 Cron asph after having tested the 35. It is my regular lense and I love it.

Before to go for my second lense (which will probably be a 75 cron) I bought an old 90/4 elmar C (should not be collapsed when fitted on the M8 !!) and did really enjoyed it. Also this 90 has nothing to compare with "high tech" 28 Cron but it gives me the flavour of the old leica lenses and from time to time impressing results. The cost of the 90 was a few hundred boxes on e-bay and allow me to test (without spending a fortune) if I have to go for a 90 or 75 or even 50. On the other hand a 90 will be used in a different manner than a 28 or 35. So there is a learning process also to take into consideration when buying a lense especially when you are not an expert with the M series. (I am a myself beginner in the M).

From what you said, it appears that you should go for a ramge betweem 50 and 90.

Hope it helps...

[Jager]

Welcome to the board, Jennifer. And welcome to the wonderful world of rangefinders!

 

You've already gotten plenty of great advice from the good folks here. I'll only add that rangefinders are generally best in the mild-wide-angle to mild-telephoto range. In the DSLR world, many of us might pick up something longer, like say a 70-200, for general portrait work. With a rangefinder you'll quickly get comfortable with a somewhat wider view of the world.

 

If you were only going to have one lens for your M8, I'd recommend the 35 that you already have. It's near-50 FOV provides a great all-around lens, albeit one that is not optimized for portraits. Since that is your focus, I'd suggest, like many others here, that you look at a 50. That gets you much more into the portrait-lens space while still retaining a reasonable degree of general usefulness. Longer lenses get you more and more into the tight cropping you're familiar with on your 5D - and that may be all the reason you need to go to them - but they'll have the disadvantage of not being nearly as useful as general purpose I-think-I'll-go-for-a-walk-with-my-camera lens.

 

For a two-lens outfit, the 35 you've already got paired with the 75 Cron would be a really great combination, IMHO.

 

Congratulations on your M8...

 

Jeff

[jlm]

something to consider is the Leica viewfinder, which "full frame" show what a 24mm lens wouls see, about the same field of view as a 32mm lens. when you start using longer lenses, only a smaller centerportion of the full frame will be your image field. this is very different from the SLR. I find the wider view draws one toward wider lenses in general. I would suggest the 28 cron and 50 lux, but that will be over your budget. However, the zeiss and CV lenses are excellent choices for a second lens, subscribe to reidreviiews,com and read some very useful evaluations.

[Venkman]

If money is an issue (and it often is), I would consider a 1.4/50 Summilux pre-ASPH as well.

 

I like it, it's a considerably softer lense, but that's sometimes what you want in portraits.

[Crazy Cat Lady]

Thanks everyone for your help. Everyone is so friendly here I do have time to think about it and have been looking into used lenses as well. Decisions, decisions.....

 

Thanks again everyone

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[wlaidlaw]

My tuppence worth: I have the current 90 2.8 and I think it is a great lens but I think it is a bit too long for a portrait lens at an effective 120mm - more of a short tele. I am also not sure it would be fast enough. The 90 f2 is also a nice lens but it just seems too heavy on the front of the M8 to me and obstructs a fair bit of the finder. For a one lens option, I personally would go for a 50 ASPH Summilux or ASPH Summicron. I have never seen anything but a rave review for either of these. Either would be a bit more flexible than a 75mm, which I think you could only use if you also had another shorter lens. The 50mm f2 Zeiss Planar is another possibility - again a very good lens and half the price of a Summicron. The other 50mm Zeiss, the f1.5 Sonnar is a bit of a specialised beast and is somewhat compromised as a result, for general purposes.

 

Wilson

[teehas53]

If you like your portraits intimate, 50mm is a very nice perspective on the M8. The Leica 50s are superb, and nice used copies aren't too hard to find. But the CV 50/1.5 Nokton is also outstanding.

 

I know Sean Reid has written often of how much he likes this lens. I also have one, and agree completely. The build quality is excellent, and the images have a really nice look at wide apertures. On a budget, you're giving up very little and maybe saving enough money to allow you to consider two lenses instead of one.

 

Re: 70s, I went with the Cron (vs the Lux) for a several reasons. Smaller, lighter, easier to focus accurately when working quickly, sharper than a, well, whatever... Some feel it's almost too sharp for people - I don't shoot many portraits though. And lately I'm looking for more of that intimacy with the subject I mentioned above, so I usually pick a 50 when shooting people.

 

Tom