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Favorite M Lens?


Eric1

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I recently noticed my go to lens for the last several months has been my 35mm Summicron f/2 asph. I think part of the reason is I just like the way it balances perfectly on the M with both digital and film bodies. Ive been thinking of getting a 28mm at some point too if it balances nicely also or possibly just a second 35mm cron.

 

Feel free to share your favorite lens and why.

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I would be hard pressed to choose between my 50 lux pre ASPH (v2) and my 50 APO which I like for very different reasons. I got the 50 lux pre ASPH expecting to upgrade to ASPH after I understood what it could do but I have been so wowed by it I've decided I don't want the ASPH lux. The APO has become my goto lens on my M10 with my 50 lux on my film MP. I'm going to take a plunge and say that I prefer the old 50 lux because of the magic I have seen it produce:

 

27057466149_3b984c1368_b.jpg

 

I sold my 35 cron once I realised it didn't have any super powers. Replaced with a 35mm Voig 1.2 which I haven't really used much yet.

Edited by PaulJohn
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For now it is complicated, I have only one favorite lens so far :)

 

Size and build are matters to me. I like fiddling Leica cameras. Not on purpose of fiddling, but for getting of pictures. I think, to me it is main reason to have and use them. And to do it, camera/lens kit has to be balanced with lens not in the contrabass size. I quit from taking of DLSR, SLR out because it became too bulky and not so quick, suitable for my outdoors photography anymore. 

 

After trying some less expensive, non-Leica 35mm lenses, I settled with Summarit-M 35 2.5. Prior to it I was not able to force myself to pay more expensive price for older Mandler miracle lens. I had Elmarit-M 28 2.8 III ELC and while it is special on prints, the build is kind of weird. I have same era 50 Cron IV ELC and it feels the same. Strange, not old, not modern build,  odd old hood...

To me where was too much gamble with getting of older Leitz 35mm lenses, including ELC made. And only few people left who could fix them... So, NiB Summarit-M 35 2.5 was the winner. It is very pleasing, not flat lens on film and it is super lens on digital. Free of some older Leitz made lenses glow, yet, no flat rendering. And I don't mind some distortions. 

 

Earlier this year I had an idea to get exactly the same Summarit 35 lens, because I don't like to toss lenses between film and digital, but it is kind of silly and I also was able to see by myself what M-E is not so accurate with 35mm lens. Now, I'm also thinking of getting modern compact 28 Leica made....

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I tend to be a 50mm shooter, and in my year and a half with Leica (M240 in my case) I've tried a bunch of 50s: v3 pre-ASPH, v5 Summicron, v4 Summicron, Zeiss Planar, a couple different 50 Lux ASPHs. Six months after getting into Leica, I owned three of these 50s at once, which hadn't really been my intention: I bought each to "try it" but then liked each one for different reasons and was reluctant to let it go.

 

Eventually I forced myself to scale back to just one 50 and am happy: I kept a 50 Lux ASPH. The copy I have now has been to Wetzlar to be optimized for f/1.4 on the M240 body and I find it to be amazing. I could happily just shoot everything with this one lens - it's excellent for portraits, details, urban scenes, or as a "long wide angle" for landscapes.

 

However, like Ko.Fe above, I do also own a 35mm Summarit f/2.5. I really enjoy its rendering and small size compared to my 50 Lux ASPH, so I use it when I want to carry a lower-profile one-lens kit - even though I find myself having to work harder to create compositions I like with a 35 vs a 50. Regardless, this lens would be my close-second choice. Perhaps I'd like a Summicron better, I don't know - the Summarit is the only Leica 35 I've used but I'm so happy with it I've not faced the temptation to experiment with others.

 

I own a couple other lenses for my M, but I seldom touch them. I could easily be quite happy with just my 50 Lux ASPH, or that and my 35 Summarit.

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Each time I get an M lens out of the bag and use it for a bit, that lens becomes my favourite.  In all honesty, I love them all.  If I have to chose one, it would be the 0.95 Noctilux.  I know it's big and it's heavy, but it goes so well on the SL I'd be hard put to let it go.

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50mm Summicron v4.

 

I tend to 'see' in 50mm and the Summicron offers the pretty much perfect (for me) combination of superb performance with light weight and small size. I do have three other 50s for the M (one lighter, two faster) but the v4 is almost always the lens which will be on the camera when I go out.

 

Pip.

Edited by pippy
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