Possible new Leica T owner needs some advice

[Keith1974]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I am interested I purchasing my first Leica and have my

 eye on a T body which I can get for a reasonable price. 

The lenses are rather expensive and currently out of my budget. 

Would you be able to recommend alternative lenses or ways to use lenses on the T for someone on a budget?

Thanks 

Edited November 4, 2018 by Keith1974
Typo

[microview]

Suggest L to M adapter and s/h M lenses, eg Zeiss 35 2.8 ZM (renders as 50mm approx). The 35 Summarit  is excellent on the APSC range and 24 3.8 (one of Leica's best lenses) gives 35mm fov. Have a look at Aperture listings (Rathbone Place London).

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Keith1974]

22 minutes ago, microview said:

Suggest L to M adapter and s/h M lenses, eg Zeiss 35 2.8 ZM (renders as 50mm approx). The 35 Summarit  is excellent on the APSC range and 24 3.8 (one of Leica's best lenses) gives 35mm fov. Have a look at Aperture listings (Rathbone Place London).

This is really helpful thank you

[ropo54]

4 hours ago, Keith1974 said:

I am interested I purchasing my first Leica and have my

 eye on a T body which I can get for a reasonable price. 

The lenses are rather expensive and currently out of my budget. 

Would you be able to recommend alternative lenses or ways to use lenses on the T for someone on a budget?

Thanks 

There are many excellent choices. 

First, you will need the adapter as micro view pointed out.

I have used the Zeiss ZM 50mm planar (second-hand for $550-650 use), the Zeiss ZM 35 f2 (a tad higher in price than the Zeiss 50mm),  Zeiss 35 2.8, the Voigtlander 15mm version III (a tad less than the Zeiss planar).  There are many excellent voigtlander choices in the 35mm, 50mm, 75mm ranges which should all cost somewhere between $400-800 usd on the 2nd hand market.  I've also heard that the newly released Voigtlander 50mm f1.2 is a very nice lens.

You might also consider some of the less expensive Leica R lenses (2nd adapter needed).  The R 60 2.8 macro can be found in the $500 price range.  I also have used a 135 f4 Leica elmar, made in 1961, which I was able to purchase for $250! 

Many great options and the original T is a wonderful camera. 

Rob

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by ropo54

[Louis]

You will not be disappointed with Leica T that I am still using the first version together with my CL.  If you check the T/TL image thread, you can see some samples of T and old Nikkor lenses that I kept from my film period. You can find the old  manual Nikkor lenses very cheap and they are excellent.

As my friend Rob mentioned, to use any non-native lens,  you need and adapter. For my Nikkor lenses, I am using Novoflex. It is not very cheap, but very reliable.

Looking forward to see you posting soon,

good luck,

Louis

[Keith1974]

Thanks for all the advice.

I have an OM lens on my Olympus OM 10 35mm camera.

I wonder if the 50mm lens from that using this would be a good start?

https://www.novoflexus.com/products/lens-adapters/for-other-brands/novoflex-let-om.htm

[FrozenInTime]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

12 minutes ago, Keith1974 said:

Thanks for all the advice.

I have an OM lens on my Olympus OM 10 35mm camera.

I wonder if the 50mm lens from that using this would be a good start?

https://www.novoflexus.com/products/lens-adapters/for-other-brands/novoflex-let-om.htm

Remember the crop factor, which will make full frame 50mm view like a 75mm on the T.

A 28mm or 35mm will be a lot easier place to start.

[Brian C in Az]

You can sell or trade your old lenses and buy a used R lens, many are quite cheap relative to their IQ

I would stick to the R lenses until or if you decide you want native L lenses. The R lenses will have better resale if you decide to trade or sell them later. I should rather have one R prime than 2 or 3 inferior lenses/ zooms. Once you use R lenses, you won't want to go back to the other brands. There is good reason why so many become Leica lens snobs, the glass really is better.

[LocalHero1953]

These are personal choices, and depend on your photographic practices, but I wouldn't choose R lenses, as their size negates the benefits of the small T body. 

With any manual lens, I would also want to buy the add-on EVF to help with focusing. 

[Marac]

I have the CL (same mount), and I normally shoot native AF lenses with it, however, I recently acquired a Contax/Yashica to L adapter (Novoflex) and use my Wife's Contax zeiss lenses 18mm 28mm 35mm 50mm and beyond. 

Contax Zeiss lenses are excellent quality, light enough and cheap enough to build a whole kit for under £1000

I also have the Novoflex M42 to L adapter to enable me to access all the older Screw mount M42 stuff, that is an even cheaper route maintaining decent IQ.

 

Definitely get the EVF if using MF lenses

Edited November 28, 2018 by Marac
ETA- EVF info

[ramarren]

On 11/26/2018 at 10:06 PM, LocalHero1953 said:

These are personal choices, and depend on your photographic practices, but I wouldn't choose R lenses, as their size negates the benefits of the small T body. 

With any manual lens, I would also want to buy the add-on EVF to help with focusing. 

The nice thing about using R lenses is that Leica supplies lens profiles for them. The lens profiles address two things: correct information in the out-of-camera EXIF data and some corrections intended to produce the same look with these lenses that they were originally designed to present.

The lens plus adapter required is somewhat bulky on the T or CL bodies, but not overly so in most cases, at least in the range of focal lengths that one normally uses on an APS-C body (say 24mm to 135mm). Some lenses are quite bulky, for sure: my Super-Elmar-R 15mm f/3.5 and Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 v1 are quite large, but these are the exceptions of the lenses I have from 15mm to 180mm f/4. The nice thing about using R lenses is that they are very regular in size and location with respect to where the controls are (aperture and focus) making for a nice, consistent feel to the system. 

For instance, while bulky, I don't find the Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 to be all that out-sized on the CL body—it fits my hands well. The addition of the EVF on the T/TL bodies does a lot more to make the body bulky: 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Of course, if you're looking to save more money, Olympus OM system or Pentax M generation lenses with K mount are more compact. Leica M lenses are more compact still, but much more expensive. 

[jaapv]

The point of the T is of course the advanced user interface. Using manual lenses on this type of camera is a bit contradictory, although of course perfectly possible. Personally I would be looking at a CL -basically the same camera as the TL, but more conventionally set up-, or even an M240, if finances allow.

Or. alternately, go for one or two used TL lenses.

[IkarusJohn]

I found the T worked very well with M lenses.  Initially, I used my T with the 50 Summilux-m and 28 Summicron-m. It was a useful and effective combination.