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Third party lenses on M - which are your "gems"


mmx_2

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Well, the headline sort if speaks for itself, but what are your thoughts on the subject? Novoflex (and the new M) has given us the opportunity to use "other than leica m glass". So what's your experience and which lenses perform well on it? Personally I've only used Leica R lenses other than my "M:s" but since I'm currently looking for a good long zoom I've seriously considered the Contax 80-200 f4.

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Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor-S from 1958 for LTM, with M adapter. Sonnar design, slight focus shift, but well worth the trouble of learning this lens' quirks. Seems to be optimized for close shooting around 4 feet, wide open is slightly dreamy, but by f/2.8 it's my favorite 50mm.

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1. Carl Zeiss Jena 85/2 Sonnar in Contax RF mount: the lens exhibits some back focus wide open and the M's EVF sorts that out.

2. Contax 80-200/4 Sonnar. I find the trombone zoom action a trifle awkward but the typically smooth out of focus areas and gentle focus make up for it.

3. Not third party but 19/2.8 Elmarit v2 without needing to use an external optical VF.

 

Pete.

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It's a broad topic as there are many non-Leica lenses from the likes of Zeiss, Voigtlander in M mount and many others that can be adapted for use on a Leica M.

 

Among the ones I have tried, the following stand out based on the criteria 'Value for money".

 

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Check out those lenses as well:

 

- Olmypus Zuiko 3.5/21 (compact, light and still so good)

- Minolta Rokkor 2/28 (SLR lens, I always say that's the Summicron-R 2/28 Leica has never built!)

- Nikkor 2.0/35 (AI or non AI, doesn't really matter. Either one is good.)

- Konica Hexanon AR 1.4/57 (That lens has something special ,hard to explain.)

- Nikkor-H 1.8/85 (simply amazing!)

 

That would make a great set-up.

 

I have to add that I have only used those gems on my EOS 5D and/or my NEX-7.

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My one and only: Voigtländer Nokton 1.2/35mm asph. II. "Slightly" cheaper than the Leica 1.4 FLE version, but by all means sharp enough (at least to my style of use), the ideal night glass with high iso. I use it on a M240. Greetings, Ingo

 

Oh, could you please show some pics that are shot with the Nokton on the new M? This lens convinces me on the M9 like the Voigtländer Nokton 50/1.5 does, but but I don't like the latter on the new M. Not every lens that is good on the M9 is also good on the new M in my opinion.

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Voigtländer Heliar Classic 75mm f/1.8 (M mount)

Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical lens (M mount)

 

I have a 50mm f/2.5 Summarit-M Manual Focus Lens and the Nokton blows it away. it's just a phenomenal lens.

 

I know that I don't have the money for the better Leica lenses, but the CV lenses are so good, so vastly ahead of my Canon L glass that there's little sense in going higher. It'd definitely be a case of diminishing returns. Beautiful rendering, bokeh, contrast, etc.

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I bought a Canon 28mm f2.8 lens for my 3G many years ago, which came with a shoe-mount viewfinder. It is excellent. I recently connected it to the LTF/M converter which is 6-bit coded, and now can use it with the M9P, M3, and M4.

 

The only drawback is obtaining 40mm filters. I did find some by heavy searching.

 

Al & Ash

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  • 2 weeks later...

Canon LTM 50mm 1.2, Memphis | Flickr - Photo Sharing! everything in this set was shot on the 1.2 Canon April 2013 Road Trip - a set on Flickr , not super sharp but it really fitted the mood or Road trip done in a 56 Caddy. Love this lens.

 

Or 2" Taylor Hobson for a Reid, Zeiss Contax Sonnar 50mm F2, old lenses are wonderful on the MM , and newer a ZM 21 2.8, or a little wild 50mm 1.1 MS-Optical Sonnetar. For a pretty rough and primitive look at 50mms on an M9 try here 50mm LTM lens comparisons - a set on Flickr

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