Most Popular M Lens

[paulsydaus]

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My brother asked me what the most popular (as in most number sold) Leica M lens is. Of course, I didn't know the answer but suspect it might be the regular 50/2 Summicron? Anyone know for sure?

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[mmradman]

My brother asked me what the most popular (as in most number sold) Leica M lens is. Of course, I didn't know the answer but suspect it might be the regular 50/2 Summicron? Anyone know for sure?

 

Check this out

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/Main_Page

[Ecar]

And this:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/customer-forum/217388-most-popular-m-mount-lenses.html

[algrove]

I tend to go with the Summicron 50/2 also.

[Guest Marc G.]

I would suggest the 35mm f/2 Summicron-M ASPH or the 50mm f/2 Summicron-M. Although in recent times the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH and the second version of the 35mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH tend to be more popular and sought after.

[UliWer]

Depends on which period you look:

 

If you look at all 60 years M-Cameras and lenses were produced, the 50mm Elmar still would rank very high in sales, since production numbers were much higher than today during the first ten years, and the 50mm Elmar usually came together with the camera - if you didn't pay some more for the 50 Summicron.

 

The 50 Summicron has seen 4 basic versions since it came out first (with some variants for the different versions). If you add them all together there might be sold more Summicrons today than Elmars with M-bayonet.

 

If you just look at the present market, I'd also guess that the 50 Summilux and either the 35 Summicron asph or the present 35mm Summilux have the largest numbers in sales.

[Bill W]

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Leica Wiki says 94,573+ 50mm Summicron so far. 1979-present. Totaling up the variants of the 35 Summicron and it appears about the same but if you total the numbers by year, it is much more. Not sure which numbers are good. It looks like the 35 would win out.

[algrove]

I tend to forget that the M8 sure helped 35 lens sales and probably 28 lenses too.

[paulsydaus]

Wow interesting, thanks...

[luigi bertolotti]

If one makes the right computations, the Summicron(s) 50 wins by far : surely in the range af 400.000+ as of today (all the versions, excluding the APO, which anyway doesn't contribute for much, at the moment.... )

[Dr Owl]

When I was considering buying my first Leica in February of this year, Ivor Cooper at Red Dot Cameras in London spent about 40 minutes on a quiet weekday afternoon showing me how to use an M9. An extremely good experience ... after which I ordered an M240 and bought a lens for it ... and during which he said that, of the 50mm lenses, it was the Summilux that was most commonly bought at present.

 

From this I inferred that blurred backgrounds are popular among modern English Leica users.

 

Later,

 

Dr Owl

[algrove]

Dr Owl-

 

The 50/2.0 can blur backgrounds too, but just not at f 1.4.

[TomB_tx]

I suspect a lot of new Leica buyers aren't too concerned with price, so it's easy to tell them that a lens twice as expensive is a "better" lens. That may partly account for the shift from Summicron to Summilux.

[Dr Owl]

Dr Owl-

 

The 50/2.0 can blur backgrounds too, but just not at f 1.4.

Touché

[Guest Marc G.]

When I was considering buying my first Leica in February of this year, Ivor Cooper at Red Dot Cameras in London spent about 40 minutes on a quiet weekday afternoon showing me how to use an M9. An extremely good experience ... after which I ordered an M240 and bought a lens for it ... and during which he said that, of the 50mm lenses, it was the Summilux that was most commonly bought at present.

 

From this I inferred that blurred backgrounds are popular among modern English Leica users.

 

Later,

 

Dr Owl

 

I think it's just good to have f/1.4. Many people still know analog photography and it really does make a difference with film if you can open up the lens 1 more stop, especially when using slow or medium speed films. After all the Summiluxes of the current generation are ahead of the Summicrons (note: except the 50 APO ASPH Summicron) optically.

 

But a certain fascination with shallow depth of field is around, yeah...

[luigi bertolotti]

When I was considering buying my first Leica in February of this year, Ivor Cooper at Red Dot Cameras in London spent about 40 minutes on a quiet weekday afternoon showing me how to use an M9. An extremely good experience ... after which I ordered an M240 and bought a lens for it ... and during which he said that, of the 50mm lenses, it was the Summilux that was most commonly bought at present.

 

From this I inferred that blurred backgrounds are popular among modern English Leica users.

 

Later,

 

Dr Owl

 

From this I infer also that Ivor Cooper knows well how to do his job...

[algrove]

When considering lens choices on the new M which has much better and higher ISO capabilities plus the ability to push M and M9 files so much more easily in LR5, it would seem that f2.0 lenses have plenty of speed in today's digital world.

 

That said I do own plenty of 1.4, 1.0 and 0.95 M lenses.

[aesop]

I suspect a lot of new Leica buyers aren't too concerned with price, so it's easy to tell them that a lens twice as expensive is a "better" lens. That may partly account for the shift from Summicron to Summilux.

 

 

...this is outrageous, TomB_tx. (P.S. You mean it really isn't true? )

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[IWC Doppel]

I'm not sure one buying experience is sufficient market research to draw all these conclusion on 50 summilux's, however if you are new to Leica I have no doubt you would cover a summilux over a summicron given it is higher up the price point and one stop faster. The 50 APO may change that initial perception

 

In any case haven't Leica always attempted to produce faster lenses that perform as well as their 'slower' counterparts at similar apertures ?

 

Seems to me that the popularity of 50 Summicron's is more value/price led than anything else, even Leica owners have some price sensitivity. I know I do

[philipus]

I think it's just good to have f/1.4. Many people still know analog photography and it really does make a difference with film if you can open up the lens 1 more stop, especially when using slow or medium speed films.

 

I, as someone who only shoots film, also like having 1.4 and find that it makes a real difference in many situations.

 

But I recently bought a 50 Summicron from 1970 to pair with my M4 and I'm finding that it is suprisingly usable in darker surroundings even with ISO 400 film. By exposing for the brighter areas in a frame it is possible to isolate them and "lift them out" from darker areas in the image. The 50 Summiluxes - I have an Asph and a pre-asph - are small as lenses go, but rather large in comparison with a Summicron. So for a lightweight high performance kit a 50 Summicron is pretty amazing in terms of image quality. And with respect to the Rigid and 11817-11819 Summicrons the value for money is also really amazing. I'm currently advising a friend on how best to enter the Leica (film) world and Summicrons are high on the list.

 

Anyway, all this to say that I'm so far very happy with the Summicron. It has that special Mandler character which is most pleasant.

 

Back to the question though - the answer depends on the definition of popular. In numbers sold then it's quite easy to find which lens over the decades has been the most popular.

 

On a subjective level, well that's tricky. I suspect that it is not too uncommon among the members of this esteemed forum to have several lenses of a given focal length. And I have a feeling that that focal length in most cases is 50mm With my Summicron I hit 4. In sane, cool and calm situations I would probably tell myself that any one of them would be enough, sufficient and good enough. But then again there's rarely anything sane about Leica.

 

Philip