Can I live with 50mm on M8?

[Westend_jon]

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Hi everyone

 

I've been thinking about the field of view on the m8 with a 50mm summicron and worrying whether it's too narrow due to the crop factor and whether I should buy a 28 or 35mm lens. However on the basis that I'm blind in one eye (the right sadly) my field of view is about 20% less than someone with two eyes. This means that the equivalent 67mm focal length of the 50mm on the M8 is closer to how I see the word than someone with two eyes. In fact 67mm x 80% = 53.6. So for me the m8 with the 50mm is actually the best choice!

 

Have I deluded myself?

 

Great site by the way - first post but have read lots

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[wda]

Westend_jon, welcome to the forum!

 

It sounds as though you have almost convinced yourself by turning eyesight deficit to your advantage. Nothing wrong with your logic; in fact many for whom the 50 is the lens of choice retained that belief even when owning an M8 camera.

 

My experience shows that the most used focal lengths on my M8 have been 28 and 50, closely followed by 75 and 21. In your case the 50 would be perfect. I would try it for a time and note how often you wish for something wider. Subject choice will point to the need. I think 28 and 50 make a good pairing; that has served me well since I bought my M3 nearly fifty years ago! I don't think I would ever be without my 50mm lens.

[JeTexas]

It depends what you're shooting. The 50mm on an M8 is very restrictive indoors. I found I ended up with a 28mm on the M8 85% of the time just to be able to fit people in the shots.

[earleygallery]

Hi,

 

There's no right or wrong answer. On a full frame M the vast majority of us will choose either a 35 or 50 as our 'standard' lens.

 

50mm on an M8 would be too narrow for me, but you make an interesting point as to how you see the world, so it just might be the perfect choice for you.

 

What has made you ask the question? Do you find yourself limited by the 50? I take it you only have the one lens?

[lct]

I would try a 40mm lens with 35mm framelines. The latter are much more comfortable than the 50mm ones and they are more accurate with 40mm than 35mm lenses for anything else than closeups.

[marknorton]

I think a 50mm is too long for general purpose use on an M8. I would go for a 35mm lens - say the V4 Summicron - which is equivalent to 47mm - so close to the usual "standard" lens.

 

Before the M9 came out, I rarely used my 50s on an M8 though they are goot for portraits - head and shoulder shots.

[Michael Geschlecht]

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Hello jon,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

If you want to photograph what you see as you see it most of the time:

 

Since more or less 36 degrees is what you see of the World, as opposed to the more or less 45 degrees that some other people do, then a 50mm lens on an M8 might be a good start for you. A 40mm lens which covers a little more than a 50mm lens might also be OK.

 

If you later find yourself with a full frame camera you can replicate the coverage of a 50mm lens on an M8 with a 65mm Elmar I or II on a M-240, Visoflex, SL or R.

 

A 75mm or 80mm lens on a full frame camera will cover just a little less than the 65mm lens will.

 

Another thought:

 

Your eye's limited angle of coverage does not limit your ability to see & compose images with wider or narrower angles of view. You have all of the choices anyone with a different angle of vision has. The only difference is you are using slightly different parameters.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[Dougg]

I was surprised at how useful I found the 50mm on an M8, as I usually prefer a wider view. So it's like a "long normal", and well-paired with either 25mm or 28mm for me. The only way you'll know how well it works for you is to live with it for a while... have fun!

[luigi bertolotti]

I'd say it depends on your favorite kinds of pictures : a general rule which, simple as is, I always have in my mind (with my M8) is this :

 

1) If SUBJECT is the most important element of your pictures, 50 can indeed be the right normal lens even on M8

 

2) If you want to give importance also to the ENVIRONMENT in which your subject is, going wider is the right choice, and 28mm the right focal on M8.

 

Finally, if the subject IS the environment (paysage) .... it's all about perspective and composition of the scene... and no rule about focal length can be drawn... in my albums, I have paysage pictures which I was satisfied with (to justify a good enlarged print) , taken with focals from 21 to 800....

 

Those are sort of "personal dumb rules"... questionable of course, but I think that anyone must have some simple rule in his mind.

About your sight's limitation, I think it is not to be considered at all : the goal of photographing is to have a GOOD PRINT TO LOOK AT : and this is imho unrelated to your personal field of view (a print is a flat object by definition)

[kanzlr]

well, there where 58/60mm normal lenses a few decades ago, so why not

[Erik Gunst Lund]

The current Leica M 50mm 2.0 Summicron is actually 52.3 mm focal length, so on the M8 crop 1.33 its around 70mm

 

I shoot with these focal lengths on M8u:

28mm approx 35mm

50mm approx 70mm

21mm approx 28mm

90mm approx 120mm

135mm approx 180mm

 

Next lens will be most likely 35mm to get a lens approx 45-50mm

 

The 40mm 2.0 Leitz C Summicrons I have found so far are simply not good enough at night time too much flare with city lights.

[chalkdust]

On my M8.2 I prefer 50mm. It is the way I see things that strike me as being interesting to make into photographs. It is my natural way of looking at things.

 

I also use other focal lengths. But 50mm on M8 is "home" for me.

 

People differ on this topic. But there is nothing odd (to me, at least) about 50mm on M8.

[ramosa]

Indeed, it depends.

 

On how you see and what you shoot. Could I? No. If I could have just one lens, it'd be a 35mm. If I could have just two lenses, it'd be 35mm and 90mm. Three? 35-50-90.

 

In fact, it depends a lot, as I'm talking about use on FF, and you're talking about use on the M8 crop. On an M8, a 50mm lens is like a 67mm lens on FF, which many would view as a good portrait lens.

[IWC Doppel]

I am a 35 more than 50 man in my M9-P but 50 is close second. I sold my 90 as I just didn't bond with than length, however having tried 75mm on my M9 I have bonded and now own a 75.

 

I used my 50 a lot with my M8 I really liked the effective length of 69mm. A long way of saying yes

[Westend_jon]

Thanks everyone - a really interesting set of views which together confirms that there is no real right or wrong answer to the question. It's a new to me M8 so I guess using it will be the only real way to work out whether the 50mm is the right lens for me. To make things easier I've just bought a secondhand Voightlander 35mm 2.5C - it was cheap and should be fun. It's also in chrome and my M8 is chrome (the 50mm is a black summicron) but that's another thread altogether!

 

 

Regards, Jon

[dwyersean]

The 35mm color skopar is a lovely lens and very tough. I fell heavily on mine in the snow last weekend and dropped it across the floor the week before. It 's as sharp as ever. I find it a fast lens to focus, it's a good one to start with for sure. You can be confident to shoot at f2.5 as much as at f8.

[menos I M6]

Welcome!

 

You may very well be very happy with just an M8 and a 50mm lens.

 

This combo was for a long time my absolute favourite and most used combo - M8 + fast 50mm.

 

Only when I started to get crazy about older lenses, did I go over board with lens selection.

 

Keep it simple, try it out!

[Peter H]

Jon, there's no reason why a 50 shouldn't be your only lens if that's what you enjoy using.

 

But equally, despite your narrowed vision, the relationship between 28, 35 and 50 for example is the same for you as it is for everyone else.

 

I see you've bought a 35. How are you finding it?

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[Westend_jon]

Hi - the 35mm arrived today so I haven't tried it yet - it's very small and neat on the camera but clearly not as well made as the 50mm summicron - the hood ring moves around a bit for example. It's going to be really interesting to see which lens comes out top in use. One advantage of the 50mm which I can see already is that I can see the framelines when I wear glasses whereas with the 35mm I can't see the lines as clearly and I'm guessing where the edges are.

 

Other observations on the M8 by the way - the shutter is really loud compared with an X100, the menu is really simple and easy to follow compared with practically every other camera I've owned (Canon G9, Nikon D300, X100 for example) and the absence of buttons is really good - I read a review of the EOS 6D tonight and this camera has buttons everywhere!

 

 

 

Regards, Jon

[hepcat]

One advantage of the 50mm which I can see already is that I can see the framelines when I wear glasses whereas with the 35mm I can't see the lines as clearly and I'm guessing where the edges are.

 

Other observations on the M8 by the way - the shutter is really loud compared with an X100, the menu is really simple and easy to follow compared with practically every other camera I've owned

 

Regards, Jon

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of rangefinder cameras, John.

 

As a fellow eyeglass wearer who has shot Leicas for a lot of years, the frame line-spectacle issue is something, that with use, you just get used to. I'm kind of at the point where I pretty much ignore all of the framelines and just shoot what I want, with a pretty good idea of how much image I'm capturing with a given lens. That's part of the "camera getting out of your way" as described in another thread here. I find that the 90mm framelines on the M9P (and M4 et.al.) are very useful when doing relatively close-up work for a little more refined framing.

 

The lack of buttons, menus and controls are precisely what draw most of us to these bodies. It's quite refreshing to be able to operate the camera and have it respond like a camera is supposed to instead of having to search through endless menus to turn something off or on.

 

And the shutter is a Copal metal vertical shutter which is always much louder than the in-lens leaf shutter of the X100. The old Leica focal plane shutters, while very quiet, are louder than an in-lens leaf shutter. Just goes with the territory.