Lens suggestions for 50mm on CL

[justbananas]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I've been considering buying a manual focus lens in the 50mm range for my CL.

I'm considering the Voigt's, 7 Art, Contax Zeiss... and I was just wanting some opinion on the the various third party or used lenses that some of you may have used on the CL with adapter.

[Advertisement]

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

[ramarren]

Size-wise, the Voigtländer Color Skopar 50mm f/2.5 is great on the CL, and a fine performer. But I tend to use a Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 much more of the time, as well as the Pentax-L 43mm f/1.9 Limited and Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8 lenses. I tend to prefer the R lenses overall because of their ergonomics (never mind their excellent imaging qualities!).

[wda]

I enjoy using my 50mm Summicron which is highly rated. An alternative is the 50mm Summarit lens.

[ropo54]

Check out the Zeiss 50mm f2 planar.  A very reasonably priced option. Rob

[justbananas]

I think I forgot to add that I'm penny pinching a little bit on this lens because I have no idea if I'm moving into an M camera next or a Fuji Xpro3 whenever that comes along.   So I'm hunting for an economically priced lens that's also fast for low light situations and not too large.  To me, $699 for the Voigtlander is what I would consider economically priced, vs the TL 60mm at $3000. I am also not opposed to used lenses from a reputable source.  For instance, BH has a used a Contax Zeiss for $299..

[justbananas]

1 minute ago, ropo54 said:

Check out the Zeiss 50mm f2 planar.  A very reasonably priced option. Rob

It appears currently the Novoflex adapters are backordered.  At least at BH and Adormara they are.  I haven't checked Novoflex direct yet.

[ramarren]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I think I paid less than $600 each (a lot less in at least two cases) for all four of the lenses I mentioned. The 60mm was the most expensive, I'm sure. 

The Leica M Adapter L and R Adapter M lens mount adapters are not cheap but are amongst the best made and most useful for me due to their integration with the camera/lenses/lens profiles/etc. With the M Adapter L in place, there are many, many adapters to fit other lenses onto Leica M bayonet that are available at very reasonable prices, and they'd work fine with an M10 or any other Leica M-mount capable camera that has Live View facility too. 

 

[justbananas]

3 minutes ago, ramarren said:

I think I paid less than $600 each (a lot less in at least two cases) for all four of the lenses I mentioned. The 60mm was the most expensive, I'm sure. 

The Leica M Adapter L and R Adapter M lens mount adapters are not cheap but are amongst the best made and most useful for me due to their integration with the camera/lenses/lens profiles/etc. With the M Adapter L in place, there are many, many adapters to fit other lenses onto Leica M bayonet that are available at very reasonable prices, and they'd work fine with an M10 or any other Leica M-mount capable camera that has Live View facility too. 

 

interesting.  So with the R lens, one would need two adapters?  M to L and R to M?  OH I see there is a R to L adapter from Leica.  

[ramarren]

2 minutes ago, justbananas said:

interesting.  So with the R lens, one would need two adapters?  M to L and R to M?  OH I see there is a R to L adapter from Leica.  

With an R lens, you can either use the R Adapter M stacked onto the M Adapter L, or you can use the R Adapter L. For the full frame SL, the R Adapter L is a better solution because the M mount diameter will vignette with certain long telephoto and high-magnification extension setups, but this is not the case with the APS-C format CL camera. The smaller format avoids all those issues nicely.

You can also use third party R adapters to M-mount stacked onto the M Adapter L, but you lose the ability to access the R lens profiles (I think, I haven't tried it out). 

[ramarren]

Just verified: I stacked a Rayqual Nikon F to M mount adapter onto the M Adapter L. The CL provides only M-mount lens profiles in this configuration, or none. 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

I have the 7 Artisan 55 f1.4 in general shooting it is fine, if photographing fine detail it has some chromatic aberrations. It doesn't show on small images but if you push the magnification.... But for $149 it is a keeper. For classic 50's I had 2 DR Summicrons on my M cameras, they were both fantastic lenses even an ugly I bought at KEH. I hardly ever used 50mm on full frame, so I sold both. But consider one now running from $600 - $1000. The picture is done with the 7 Artisan around f5.6.

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!

[bags27]

enjoying the Zeiss Sonnar 50 f/1.5 on my CL. A terrific portrait lens with lots of character. They pop up used and in good condition on ebay.

Edited May 16, 2019 by bags27

[Ecaton]

The ZM Sonnar is my preferred fast 50 on the CL. It has lots of character (in other words optical imperfections) and is like two lenses in one with pleasing lower contrast rendering wide open (portraits) and the typical Zeiss pop stopped down. And its compact size and light weight are a great match for the CL body.

[lct]

Another vote for the ZM Sonnar 50/1.5. My favorite 50 in low light on the CL irrespective of price. In good light my favorite 50 on the CL is the late Elmar-M 50/2.8 irrespective of price as well. Another candidates are Summiluxes, Summicrons and Apo Summicron but they are more expensive (except the very good Summicron-R) and i find them too big and heavy on the CL. YMMV.

[lct]

I forgot the Summarit 50 which is very compact, at least my f/2.5 version is so, and optically excellent. I prefer the character of the Elmar but it is a matter of tastes and the Summarit is optically superior. Beware of flare when strong light sources are outside the frame though.

Edited May 16, 2019 by lct

[Ravi]

I have an old Zeiss T-star lens from my Dad's old Contax and use this with the Novoflex adapter and the image quality is fantastic. Just bear in mind that is a 50mm on the Contax but on the CL its more like a 75mm lens and so I am using it for portraits. it opens up to 1.2 which means you can get some lovely bokeh we well.

I got the Novoflex adapter from the Novoflex website.

Good Luck in your hunting!

 

[huwm]

i've a Cannon 50mm ltm f1.4 which is rather lovely

[huwm]

1 hour ago, huwm said:

i've a Cannon 50mm ltm f1.4 which is rather lovely

which i'm currently having difficulty using as the CL keeps interrupting me to tell me I'm using an unknown lens!

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[ramarren]

11 minutes ago, huwm said:

which i'm currently having difficulty using as the CL keeps interrupting me to tell me I'm using an unknown lens!

Set the lens profiles to OFF.

[tommonego@gmail.com]

I have had the problem that it won't let me turn it off if it is jumping around from lens to lens. I have a Canon FD to leica screw  mt then a screw to M adapter and finally the Leica M to L adapter. Some times it is fine others the lens is trying to associate itself and literally is jumping from lens to lens, when I try to turn off the lens association it won't let me, because it is trying to find the lens. My two solutions are to turn it off before I place the FD lens on, or to get a dedicated Canon FD to L adapter.