Leica R lenses on M

[stevegaskin]

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I’ve just acquired an M-P 240 and looking to get a 28mm lens in the near future. Having ‘spent out’ on the body and a 50mm Summarit I need to find a good quality but ‘lower cost’ option. Type R lenses seem to go quite cheap (about £400), and with a non-Leica adapter such as Novoflex this seem quite tempting. My question is, how will an R lens perform on an M, has anyone experience of using this combination, or would I be better buying a Zeiss or Voigtlander.

[jdlaing]

R lenses being quite large you may be better off looking at a Voigtlander 28mm. 

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[stevegaskin]

10 minutes ago, jdlaing said:

R lenses being quite large you may be better off looking at a Voigtlander 28mm. 

Hi, the 28mm Elmarit R seems to be approx’ the same size as a Summilux 

[jdlaing]

The hood is where the viewfinder blockage matters. 
 

My preferences are for a more modern rendering as well.

[stevegaskin]

Ah, good point about the hood, still getting used to rangefinder operation; thanks for your feedback

[jdlaing]

1 minute ago, stevegaskin said:

Ah, good point about the hood, still getting used to rangefinder operation; thanks for your feedback

Also.... I don’t think the R is aspherical but I may be wrong.

[Decimusmaximus7]

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What about the Canon 28mm 2.8 LTM? Quite small and you keep your rangefinder.

[lct]

The Elmarit-R 28/2.8 v1 (code # 11204 or 11247) is not a large lens and its hood is not a problem when using the EVF given that R lenses are not coupled to the rangefinder. Now the pleasure to use the outdated EVF is limited and this lens performs poorly at edges and corners on my Canon 5D so i'm not sure it would do fine on the M240. The Elmarit-R 28/2.8 v2 (11259 or 11333) has not this problem but it is larger, more expensive, difficult to find and it is not coupled to the rangefinder either. All in all, i would forget the idea of using an R lens at this stage but YMMV. 

[UliWer]

vor einer Stunde schrieb stevegaskin:

Ah, good point about the hood, still getting used to rangefinder operation; thanks for your feedback

You should consider that you cannot use the rangefinder for focussing with an R-lens since they are not coupled. So the large hood is not such a big problem as you are forced to use the electronic viewfinder anyway. To make use of the M‘s „soul“, which is the rangefinder after all, you should concentrate on coupled lenses which were made for the M or the screw-mount Leica.

Only the excellent Macro R- lenses or some tele lenses longer than 135mm will be really useful with the EVF as they give you some opportunities you don‘t have with M-lenses.

[stevegaskin]

Ah, good point about the hood, still getting used to rangefinder operation; thanks for your feedback

[stevegaskin]

Thanks for your response and suggestions. I think I’ll wait to get an Elmarit or Summicron; need to start saving

[a.noctilux]

Hello Steve,

Elmarit-M 2.8/28mm asph. is (in my own view) good "companion" of Summarit-M 50mm.

This combo M+28+50 is light, not very expensive and very compact kit, but results are second to none.

Edited November 7, 2019 by a.noctilux

[stevegaskin]

1 minute ago, a.noctilux said:

Hello Steve,

Elmarit-M 2.8/28mm asph. is (in my own view) good "companion" of Summarit-M 50mm.

This combo M+28+50 is light, not very expensive and very compact kit, but results are second to none.

Hi, thank you. I have the 50mm Summarit (I have only just bought this along with an M-P 240 so funds are somewhat low at the moment : ).  I had an M9 with an Elmarit 28mm a few years ago; should have kept the lens!

[Musotographer]

When I got my M10, with its LiveView/EVF capability, I started buying some R lenses. I was intrigued by them and they were relatively cheap, but though their quality is very good indeed, in truth I used them very little and I have now sold most of them. I was just too attached to using the RF. The only one I used a lot was the glorious 80/1.4; a wonderful lens for portraits (for which I always used the EVF anyway), and it is a third of the price of its M twin, the 75/1.4. But even that I have now sold in favour of the 75, so that I can use it on my M9 Monochrom (no LV.)

I would recommend the last pre-Aspherical Elmarit-M 28 ('version IV'), which one can buy relatively cheaply depending on condition. It only blocks a very small corner of the RF; as it barely flares it doesn't need a hood; and I prefer its beautiful rendering to the Aspherical's which I find a touch aggressive. I also prefer its handling to the Asph's, which is really small. Hope that helps.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Musotographer