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Your favorite focal length (on M8, on film)


pklein

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Everybody has their default lens--the one that they always shoot with unless there's a good reason not to.

 

Someone on another forum posted that his favorite lens on film ended up being his favorite lens on the M8, despite the 1.33x factor. Has anybody here gone that route? If you were a 35mm guy (or gal), did you go for 28mm, or did you end up sticking with 35? If you liked 50mm, did you switch to 35 on the M8, or find yourself gravitating back to 50?

 

With the film M, I've always been a 50mm kind of guy. So with the M8, I've been mostly shooting with the closest equivalent--a 35mm lens. But oddly, I keep feeling like it's a little too wide, and that the perspective I get with it is a bit more elongated and wide-anglish than a real 50mm. Which of course it is, since it's acting like a 47mm lens, and I'm taking a step closer to my subject than I would with a real 50mm on a film M. But somehow the effect of those three little millimeters is more than I expected.

 

I'm not sure why. Maybe it's expectation. I know what each of my lenses physically feels like, and my brain may be expecting it to act as it does on the film M.

 

I think I'm going to put a real 50mm on the M8 the next couple of times I go out and see how that feels. The last time I tried it, it felt distinctly telephoto.

 

--Peter

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Yes the 35mm with the M8 does feel a bit wider than a 50mm on film, because it is wider! It is equivalent to a (hypothetical) 47mm lens on film. The actual focal length of Leica '50mm' or '5cm' lenses has been closer to 52mm ever since Barnack & Berek. So their equivalent is 52 x 1.33 = 69mm.

 

I did always feel that Leica's 50mm lenses were a bit restricting (probably because I started with roll film, where standard lenses are closer to the theoretical standard = the diagonal of the format – which would give us a 42 mm 'standard lens' on 35 mm! So I use 35mm on the M8 a lot more than I used 50mm on film. Still, my most used lens with the M8 is the 28mm Summicron, just as 35mm was on film.

 

The old man from the Age of Folding Zeiss Cameras

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I'm a 35mm on an M6 kind of guy, recently converted to the M8. I just bought a 28mm lens today, in the expectation that will be my new default. I'm finding I'm less inclined to fast lens on the M8, whereas they were my bread and butter for film cameras. I'm very much a WIP though!

 

M

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Am very much with Murray here.

 

At the moment the 35 v2 cron lives on the M8 , and recently it does trade more and more with the Elmar 2.8 (other thread).

I also feel that I am not drawn into the fastest lenses, but that may change over time.

One thing I do expect is that I will get the 28mm soon for some subjects.

Finally I was amazed the otherday using an old collapsible 90/4 Elmar, the focussing was bang on and the images had a lovely quality to them.

Will post a few once I'm back home in next few days (and hopefully my M8 will be returned!)

 

regards

andy

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I like the versatility of the 24 asph on the M8, with a slight nod to 35 'lux in low light (must not think about 28 'cron and enjoy what I currently have - also bank balance needs time to recover from recent additions)

 

With film it is the 35 'cron that seems glued to the camera

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My favourite lens on a film M was the 35mm Summicron. In the 2 months since I got it, I have therefore mostly used a 28mm on my M8, followed by a 15mm and a 35mm, in that order. This may change as I get more experience with the camera, of course - I also have 21mm, 50mm and 90mm lenses.

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With the film M, I've always been a 50mm kind of guy. So with the M8, I've been mostly shooting with the closest equivalent--a 35mm lens. But oddly, I keep feeling like it's a little too wide, and that the perspective I get with it is a bit more elongated and wide-anglish than a real 50mm. Which of course it is, since it's acting like a 47mm lens, and I'm taking a step closer to my subject than I would with a real 50mm on a film M. But somehow the effect of those three little millimeters is more than I expected.

--Peter

 

Have you tried one of the CV 40mm lenses? You would need to use it with an auxiliary 50mm finder on the M8 (it approximates to 54mm with the 1,33 factor), but it might just give you the FOV you are looking for.

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On film I used a 35/2.0 Canon with an M2, although I had other lenses available. I find that I like the 35/2.0 Summicron on the M8 a lot, because it is compact and the viewfinder works well, not significantly blocked by the lens. I don't feel pushed back too far. Also use the 24, but with an external viewfinder, or focus then use the 35mm frame lines to line up the most important elements. And I like the CV15/4.5 also with an external finder. I tend to use each lens exclusively for a few days at a time, then change.

 

scott

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M8 Black 35/2 Summicron Wetzlar # 2312886 and Black 50/2 Summicron Wetzlar # 1954693. The latter marked 1,9N = focal length 51.9 Both used with lens ID turned off, mostly no IR/UV filter.

Also have 35 1.4 aspherical and 50 1.4 new. Latter two with great clarity, higher contrast and less "Schmalz" .

Teddy

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