Lens recommendation

[mirekti]

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I preordered new M and a 35mm Lux. I decided to go with 35mm as 35L was the lens I enjoyed the most while using Canon.

On the other hand I believe I'll find myself in situations where I'll miss 70-200 or wide angle lenses, but I decided to go light so I'll only add two more lenses to my kit. Given the fact my budget after the inital purchase will be quite small, the idea is to buy CV 75mm and ZM18 or ZM21. I'll wait for the M to get released and hopefully someone will come up with the results how these lenses will perform on M.

I'd like to use 75mm as a portrait lens. What I read was it is a bit soft wide open which is flattering for portraits, but razor sharp stopped down to 2.8 and more.

ZM will be more for fun than something I see real purpose for at the moment.

 

If you were me, what would be your thought on buying other two lenses?

Would you choose something else over these two mentioned? For example, would you rather get some Leica Summarit 75 or 90 and skip wide angle?

Please share some thoughts.

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[CaptZoom]

I don't have experience with the two lenses you mentioned. However, I own and regularly us a Voigtlander 75 f/2.5 lens, which is a stellar performer. From what I've read and seen from the new Voigtlander 75mm, it seems like a winner as well; though it does render differently than the older lens and I think Voigtlander made a mistake when they discontinued it. In any case, it seems that you can't go wrong with the 75mm you're choosing. Since you don't have a particular use in mind for the wide angle you mentioned, hold off on purchasing it. Use the 35 and the 75. Buy your third lens when you're better acquainted with the system.

[mirekti]

Thanks. Photography is a hobby for me so I guess CV will be good enough. I thought the usage of ZM wide angle would be in case of some tight spaces.

Any recommendation for wide angle? I didn't find many notes on CV in wide angle range, most of the "good" stories were about 75mm

[dpitt]

For the long range a Leica 90 Elmar C is a bargain. Compact and sharp from wide open.Also with the M you could buy a Hektor or Elmar 135 mm for next to nothing and they may be not that sharp wide open, but certainly are great stopped down.

With only 400 g the 135 is also very light for a Tele lens.

[philipus]

If you want a three lens setup and are on a budget, why get the 35 Summilux? On a digital body, and esp. not the M with better high-ISO performance, you won't have the same need for f1.4 and so a Summarit or Summicron would be good enough. That said, the Summilux is a wonderful lens.

 

For 75 consider the Summarit, too.

 

On the M, of course, you will be able to use longer R lenses so you need not necessarily miss the 70-200 range. It won't be a light kit, though. You could get a 135 and crop a bit.

[firstlight]

My Startup with the new M is the 35 Lux fle and the ZM 21/2,8 the latter I've used for months as single lense only on NEX and whas not disappointed in any way:

 

+ Excellent build quality

+ Smooth focusing

+ Precise aperture ring, hard clicks (better than the more softy on the Lux!)

+ I'm more than satisfied with the IQ and 2,8 is by any means fast enough for a wide angle.

+ 0.5m closest focus distance, yes this allows some dramatical perspectives

 

Cheers

 

You can't do anything wrong with the Zeiss, you'll get alot for your bucks.

[mirekti]

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I went with a 35 lux as I among other things liked narrow DoF and subject separation that 35L provided. I also read great reviews about this lens so...

If you had $8000, what would your choice for three lenses be?

I thought a lot whether to start with 50mm or 35mm, but most of the photos I liked were 35mm even though some 50 were nice too.

I didn't want to start collecting lenses so my choice kind of narrowed to 18 or 21, 35 and 75 and maybe 135 in the future.

[CaptZoom]

If you can go a little wider and slower, the Voigtlander 15mm f/4 is frakking steal in Leica-land.

 

I don't use wide angles (use 35 mostly at the beach, and the 28 rarely); I have a hard time composing with wide angles. So I really can't offer much advise in that department.

[philipus]

Thanks for the explanation. If you've previously mainly used 35 then that is the obvious starting point when building a lens kit. Full frame is full frame, as they say.

 

If you had $8000, what would your choice for three lenses be?

 

I'm not sure it is about spending the money you have, rather it is about finding lenses that meet your needs. For instance, in addition to a wide angle lens, you could buy only Summarits and get simply excellent image quality for comparably little (google for tests of Summarits and Summicrons - pretty interesting). And I'd wager that very few could tell your 75 Summarit shots from those of the 75 Summicron.

 

I should add I can't really advise on wide angles because I don't use anything wider than 28 (which is an old Hektor at that...). I have read that the Voigtländers and the Zeiss are very, very good for the money.

 

Having the 35, you might (I didn't) find 50 to be too close. Since you like portraits the 75 is a good focal length because it allows being close, but not too close to the subject. 90 would be the other to consider but it is quite a lot tighter and one is further away from the subject. Also 35+75 makes a good and light setup that covers many photographic needs, esp. on a high resolution digital where one can crop a bit. It would make sense later to get a 135. Or you could get an R zoom (which will be larger).

[mirekti]

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

 

I'm not sure it is about spending the money you have, rather it is about finding lenses that meet your needs.

 

I was just trying to give a sence what my budget is cos the price of three lens setup might go way over it. Of course, as you wrote it is about finding lenses that meet my needs.

[earleygallery]

When I go travelling and take a few lenses with me, I invariably end up with the 35mm stuck to the front of the camera for 90% of the time.

 

A 90mm makes up about another 8%.

 

Take the good advice you've been given, get your 35 and add the 75 (or a 90) and decide later on what additional lens/es you actually need.

[philipus]

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

I was just trying to give a sence what my budget is cos the price of three lens setup might go way over it. Of course, as you wrote it is about finding lenses that meet my needs.

 

Sure thing, I understand that. The beauty of the M lenses though is that you can try them out and they usually sell them with little loss. So, with a bit of patience it is possible to get precisely the setup one wants.

[philipus]

Now I'm getting interested in wider lenses myself, darn this thread

 

There's the new Ultron 21mm F1.8 Asph which received a rather favourable review by Tom Abrahamson in the latest Viewfinder. Here's a page at Cameraquest with some interesting photos.

[mirekti]

"Luckily" I still haven't received my M so I didn't purchase any other lens than 35 lux.

I gave a lot of thought and maybe changed my mind about the portrait lens. As mentioned before, I'd like to keep my gear at the minimum. First I wanted to save some money by purchasing 75 CV, but later on I found an interesting posting from one of the members here. It was about coverage of focal lengths.

 

E.g.

 

24mm partially covered

35mm owned

50mm partially covered

75mm partially covered

90mm owned

135mm partially covered

 

Using that logic, I might change my mind and go with 90mm instead of 75mm.

 

I hope all I wrote make sense. I'm aware an angle of view is different, but having only two lenses, 35-90 somehow seams as a combination that would potentially cover a lot.

I read some reviews of 90mm and Rockwell claims Summarit is really lame in a sense the build quality is way bellow expected.

On the other hand Overgaard wrote Summicron is not being produced since 2010, but I can see @B&H that is on back order. Have they fixed focusing issue this lens had on M9 according to Ovengaard (B&H reads Updated for Digital)?

 

 

Could you share your experience with these two 90mm lenses?

Money wise, I'd rather go with the slower one. Could you comment on bokeh, color rendering, contrast and sharpness of those two, please?

Or would you rather stick with 35-75 combination?

[CaptZoom]

The Elmarit-M 90mm is awesome. It's a bit slower than the cron (2.8 instead of 2.0), but 2.8 is plenty fast for a 90mm and it's quite a bit lighter. You can get good copies of the lens for very reasonable prices: $1000-1300 (a steal in Leicaland). If you find the lens not to your liking, you can sell the lens for close to what you payed for it making it cheaper than a rental.

I like your notion of a 35/90 kit. It will give you a good idea for your third lens.

[mirekti]

There are many threads about 90mm here on the forum so I gather a lot of information in the meantime.

 

Would you rather go with a CV 75mm or Summarit 90mm?

I know they are different focal lenghts, but seem to be quite close one to another.

 

I cannot make a decision at the moment. I've been reading different forums for the last two days so my eyes hurt. As already stated I still have some time before M will shipp, but cannot put the thought ouf of my mind. :-)

[CaptZoom]

I've no experience with the Summarit, so I can not say. I also do not have the new Voigtlander 75mm f/1.8.

But I do own the Leica Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 and the Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5. And I would not hesitate to recommend either. I suggest you start with the 90. With a 35/90 kit, you'll have a nice gap between 35-90 range, as well as a nice gap between ultra-wide and 35mm. After using the 35 and the 90, you'll know better what you need between a 50 or a 75 and you'll know how much wider you want to go from 35.

[woorob]

I've got the 18mm Zeiss ZM which I really love. It combines a wonderful perspective with high quality construction and superb optics. A real winner in my book. Only drawback is that they don't come with 6-bit coding, but it's not hard to have added.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[algrove]

You might want to contemplate the R 80-200 since that was a lens type you enjoyed before. Sure it would require an R adapter, but some wide R zooms work well too, like the 21-35 even though you bought the 35/1.4. The 19/2.8 R lens is a very good lens too and easy to find. It has built in filters too.

 

For fixed lenses--the 21 SEM is a very high quality wide lens. I would also vote for the 90/2.8 Elmarit-M. You can find them already 6 bit coded from time to time.

[mirekti]

You might want to contemplate the R 80-200 since that was a lens type you enjoyed before.

 

This is not an option as one of the reasons I sold my Canon gear was it's size. I'll try to keep it at the minimum.

 

For fixed lenses--the 21 SEM is a very high quality wide lens. I would also vote for the 90/2.8 Elmarit-M. You can find them already 6 bit coded from time to time.

 

I was always a bit sceptical when it went to the online shopping. If I found it in some store's used deprartment I would consider 90 Elmarit.

Actually, I'll get 35 lux and M first (that's what's on order) and than add a second lens.

 

At the moment my thoughts are leaning towards 35 lux and 90 Summarit. I'll try to play with those two for a while and eventually add 18 or 21.

 

The plan is to go with no more than three lenses and put it all in a small Billingham Hadley.