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T vs TL, What lens to buy as only lens?


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Hi everyone, glad to be here, and very excited to join the red dot shooters out there.

 

I should start by saying my photography experience is mostly in the Nikon and Canon dSLRs. While once upon a time I wanted a giant dSLR, more recently I kept reaching for my Canon SL1 with a 40mm pancake when I wanted to go out and do some street photography.

 

Of course I've always wanted a Leica, so I decided to take the plunge, but on a budget (I'd really like to stay under $2k total for lens + body). So, with that being said, here is where I am:

 

Heavily leaning towards an L for the body, as my understanding is it's basically the same thing as the TL. I have found some Leica T bodies for around $600 pre-owned.

 

As for the lens, I'd like to get an all around prime lens for street shooting / bokeh. The Elmarit TL 18mm pancake ($1300) looks very appealing, unless there is another pancake I can get that's less with an adapter.

 

So how does that sound? Am I crazy to do that in 2018? A Leica T + a prime for around $2k? Is there a better way about getting into Leica?

 

Thanks!

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The less expensive T body is pretty similar to the TL.

 

If you must have super compact then the 18 mm pancake is a nice choice.

 

Finding a 18-56 is a much more practical lens for not so much more money. Or, the 11-23 Leica offering.

 

If you want or can live with some MF prime choices which are inexpensive, you might consider Voigtlander lenses or even some Zeiss lenses. I had once owned the Zeiss 50mm f2.0 planar and the Zeiss 35 f2 options. The 50mm can be found pre-owned for $600 range and the 35mm for just a tad more. 

 

Rob

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I'd go for your own idea: T with the 18mm. I get where you're coming from with a preference for prime lenses.

 

The lower cost route into Leica is by getting an X. A used X2 will also give you a 16MP APS-C sensor and a neatly sized fixed focal length lens of 23mm for about a third of the price.

 

Welcome to Leica - it's addictive!

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By catching some keywords from your message like "street shooting" and "bokeh" and also presuming you're looking for something small - I think you should think about 23mm. They can be found relatively cheap used.

 

18mm is small

23mm is still kind of small, but can blur the background a little bit, and can be actually much cheaper (if used)

35mm is bigger and expensive and probably not a focal length you're looking for (you mentioned thinking about 18mm)

Zooms are bigger and won't blur the background as 23mm will (maybe 18-56 at far end)

 

I prefer 35mm equivalent over 28mm, and also I prefer bokeh to relatively small size differences (23mm is probably twice as big, but "twice as big as a pancake" is still pretty small :) )

But if size matters / you prefer 28mm equiv / you can live without bokeh - sure go for 18mm! I've heard nothing but great opinions about this little lens!

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All (old) T + 23mm shots, all wide open ;)

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By catching some keywords from your message like "street shooting" and "bokeh" and also presuming you're looking for something small - I think you should think about 23mm. They can be found relatively cheap used.

 

18mm is small

23mm is still kind of small, but can blur the background a little bit, and can be actually much cheaper (if used)

35mm is bigger and expensive and probably not a focal length you're looking for (you mentioned thinking about 18mm)

Zooms are bigger and won't blur the background as 23mm will (maybe 18-56 at far end)

 

I prefer 35mm equivalent over 28mm, and also I prefer bokeh to relatively small size differences (23mm is probably twice as big, but "twice as big as a pancake" is still pretty small :) )

But if size matters / you prefer 28mm equiv / you can live without bokeh - sure go for 18mm! I've heard nothing but great opinions about this little lens!

 

 

Thank you for the detailed replies from all. I highly appreciate it.

 

I actually currently shoot with a Canon SL1 + 40mm f2.8 pancake. I moved down to that because of the size of the camera & lens...and I'm just trying to keep the Leica setup small as well. So, with that said, I'm very much used to shooting with a 40mm on a crop, so the 18mm seemed like a very wide focal length but I was attracted to it because of the physical height of the pancake. I suppose the reality is the T + 18mm pancake is still not a "pocket camera" so I should go for the more reasonable 23mm focal length.

 

I looked it up and it appears that the 23mm is 16mm in length taller than the 18mm lens, so that's definitely not a big deal.

 

By 23mm I assume you're referring to the Summicron-TL 23 that retails for around $1,850?  You mentioned I can find it relatively cheap, what would you consider a good price for that lens pre-owned?

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Yes, in my experience with the TL2 the EVF is a necessity for sharp focusing, rather than trying to hold up the camera and use the rear screen.

 

Sorry for small off-topic, but could you say a bit more? How and why does it help? Focusing via LCD didn't work well for me recently (or I didn't focus well recently), I'm interested in knowing more :)  

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I think with the EVF fitted your grip on the camera is more steady when you put your eye to it (and as you know LCD screen rapidly shuts off in favour of the EVF). Then with magnification on, a good manual focus can be achieved … stop turning the lens and the full image can be seen. I should add that I only have the adapter and M lenses – no idea how manual focus with T lenses works! Jono Slack says that, using just the rear LCD you see a sort of 'shimmer' when lens focus is correct: but that eludes me with my TL2. I have to add that, with my Q in manual focus, the rear screen and +3 magnification is very clear: hardly less than using the eyepiece (notwithstanding its diopter facility). 

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In addition to the Summicron 23 T I bought for the T, I also picked up one of the cheap M / T Fotasy adapters to get started playing around with other lenses. What are some go to lenses I should start playing with for the adapter? Looking for cheaper lenses at this point since I just put quite a bit of cash into everything. Since I have a 23 at this point, I'm thinking something 50 or more? 

 

Is it as easy as getting any lens that says it's a Leica M mount lens? Was looking at the old Russian lenses such as Jupiter, so I should just look for a Jupiter that says M39 mount?

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Looks like I'll need an M39 adapter to Leica M, and then Leica M to T (which I bought). My next question is, I see two types of M39 to M adapters: 28-90 and 50-75. Do I just buy both so I have the widest coverage for different focal lengths? I'm interested in picking up a Jupiter 8, 9, and 11.

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Looks like I'll need an M39 adapter to Leica M, and then Leica M to T (which I bought). My next question is, I see two types of M39 to M adapters: 28-90 and 50-75. Do I just buy both so I have the widest coverage for different focal lengths? I'm interested in picking up a Jupiter 8, 9, and 11.

 

There is also a 35/135 adapter by the way.

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