45mm or thereabouts options

[geetee1972]

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Other than the Lecia 45mm S lens, what 45mm or thereabouts alternative lenses are people using with their S? I don't mind manual focus adapted lenses but I can't afford another S lens now and don't shoot this focal length often enough to justify the cost of one in the future.

 

I just bought a Pentax 67 45mm and adapter but the lens appears to be broken and the shop confirmed that the other copies of the lens seem to have something like the same problem (which is that the stop down function is very temperamental - in the copy I received it's just not working at all which makes the lens more or less useless).

 

So the Pentax is out but what altneratives exist? I'm guessing I'll have to aim for something around 50mm or 40mm?

[Jeff S]

Apparently 45 Zeiss for Contax...

 

http://jipvankuijk.nl/leica-s-with-contax-645-lenses/

 

Jeff

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[ynp]

Another Contax 645 lens I appreciate is the Zeiss Contax 645 Vario-Sonnar T* 4.5/45-90 mm. It’s not too fast and heavy, but it’s sharp and contrasty.

[John McMaster]

Cheapest would be Mamiya 645 lens, dumb adapter and manual focus.  I have the 50mm shift, it is OK but certainly not a Leica lens.  Also the 35mm S is available at a lower used price than the 45mm...

 

john

[alan.y]

The Mamiya 45mm is very cheap light and small. The Contax is smaller, cheaper, but not a lot lighter than the S45 or even cheaper if you factor in the ~$1600 S-C adapter. I’ve had all three and found the two non-Leica lenses never matched the Leica in sharpness even stopped down. Moreover manual focusing on the S is hit or miss, and the Contax autofocuses a bit slowly and has more barrel distortion than the S.

 

The S is really superb, superb optically. Jip’s good results with the Contax 45 makes me wonder if I had a lemon Contax, but even so I’m still not sure if I want to invest $1600 or so on in an adapter that’s hard to resell, when I already own several S lenses.

 

Like others have said what would be really great is a non-CS compact Summicron-S 50mm.

[BernardC]

Your 6x7 lens should be easily fixable with a CLA. Those lenses are getting old, it's not unusual for the aperture mechanism to get gummed-up.

 

I haven't had much luck with non-Leica wides on the S. They just don't compare optically. That can work for individual shots, but not for a project that mixes shots from different lenses.

Longer lenses from other brands can work quite well, as long as you use proper lens hoods.

[peterv]

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The most satisfying road to a '45mm or thereabouts' on the S may very well be a second hand S 45mm   
By the time you get an adapter to go with, say a nice Contax, you're just about there in price.

Agree about the need for matching glass.

[Arif]

The most satisfying road to a '45mm or thereabouts' on the S may very well be a second hand S 45mm   

By the time you get an adapter to go with, say a nice Contax, you're just about there in price.

Agree about the need for matching glass

The 45 S is a really good lens so encourage you to see if you can find one.

[peterv]

The 45 S is a really good lens so encourage you to see if you can find one.

 

 

Me? Or the OP?

Anyway, there's one at Leica Berlin now for €3.900 and that's a CS, so I guess non-CS would be in the neighbourhood of 3K 3,5K.

A Contax 45mm with adapter may cost 2,5 to 3K. That was my point.

[Arif]

Me? Or the OP?

Anyway, there's one at Leica Berlin now for €3.900 and that's a CS, so I guess non-CS would be in the neighbourhood of 3K 3,5K.

A Contax 45mm with adapter may cost 2,5 to 3K. That was my point.

 

Apologies for my unclear statement, directed at the OP.  

[peterv]

No problem, Arif. It gave me the chance to add some extra info

[jip]

The Contax lenses are indeed great, and can be had for little money. The Adapter is pricey but if you contact dealers you can haggle the price down... most of these adapters are laying on the shelf for 5 years now, dealers eager to get rid of them

[ynp]

The Contax lenses are indeed great, and can be had for little money. The Adapter is pricey but if you contact dealers you can haggle the price down... most of these adapters are laying on the shelf for 5 years now, dealers eager to get rid of them

Very true. I have two of them, one bought in Italy for Euro 615.00.