Do I need a 50mm? Opportunity to buy new Black Chrome Summilux

[Joerg K.]

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I am sure this has been discussed time and again, but I would like some input.  I have a M10P with the following three lenses: 

Zeiss Biogon T* 2,8/21mm

35mm F1.4 Summilux Asph

Summicron 75mm F2 Apo Asph

I would like to buy the M10 Monochrome when it comes out (I like the size of the M10 vs. the M246). 

I like my Zeiss 21mm a lot and very rarely use my 75mm.  The 35mm is also very good, especially when I need a faster lens in low light.

I thought I would complement my range of lenses with the 50mm Summilux 1.4 Black Chrome ASPH (11688).  It seems to be a great lens.

Do I even need the 75mm? Do I keep it?

Is there too much overlap?

Does anyone have experience with the range of Leica lenses from 35mm to 50mm and 75mm?

NB:  I like photographing architecture, people (not portraits), indoor photography, and landscapes.  And, I like a strong bokeh effect when appropriate.

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[jaapv]

Personally I almost never use a 35 and 50 together (prefer 28 or 24)  and I will match a 50 with a 90 or 135. But it all depends on your personal preferences.

[lct]

Yes matter of tastes and depends on subjects matters. For portraits i could not do w/o a 75mm or a 90mm lens and for general photography i "see" in 50mm personally so i will always have one or two 50's in my bag but some photogs around me prefer 35mm for that. With a kit like yours i would certainly miss a 50/1.4 or 50/2 but it's just me. As for the 50/1.4 asph 11688 i have no experience with it but i seem to recall that it does some vignetting and that its stock hood (pic) does not allow the mount of Leica filters. Leica would offer a screw-in hood to fix the problem IIRC. You may wish to do a search on the forum if you're not aware of this issue already.

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Edited November 30, 2019 by lct

[evikne]

I use both a 35mm, a 75mm and three (!) 50mm lenses. It may seem superfluous, but I've just acquired all the lenses I wanted the most, and it happened to be these. They all have their peculiarities, so I love them for different reasons.

All of them are older Mandler designs, except the 50mm Summilux ASPH Black Chrome, which you also consider, to have one modern rendering lens.

But unlike you, I take a lot of portraits. My lens setup would probably be another if my shooting preferences were different.

[Joerg K.]

Put another way, if you could pick only ONE 50mm LENS for the Monochrome (and I am thinking of the new rumoured new release early next year) which one would it be?

[T25UFO]

APO.  Expensive, but worth it.  I bought mine to use with original Monochrom.  It will be amazing on the M10 Mono

[Joerg K.]

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That is exactly what i heard from another Monochrome owner. Unlike Ict above, I "see" more in 35mm (or wider).  That is why I never considered a 50mm.  But, with the Monochrome, it seems it is the goto lens.

[pedaes]

The 50mm APO-Summicron was launched to complement the monochrome sensor to ensure you get the full resolution  benefit of all pixels being in play. 

[albertknappmd]

44 minutes ago, Joerg K. said:

Put another way, if you could pick only ONE 50mm LENS for the Monochrome (and I am thinking of the new rumoured new release early next year) which one would it be?

50mm APO/ASPH

[Joerg K.]

WOW, I love the contract and detail on link from pedaes.

Thank you very much.  It looks like a unanimous decison There seems to be no way around the 50mm APO/ASPH if you have the Monochrome.

[AceVentura1986]

I’ve got a 15mm CV, 35mm CV, 50mm Summicron, and a 75mm CV. The 75 is strictly for portraits, but really does a great job. The 15 is strictly for specialty work, can’t recall when I used it last. I’ve shot for years with the 50 and occasionally with the 35. The last year I flipped their use and mounted the 35 for most occasions. The results were documentary but not artistic. I’ve since flipped back to the 50 and though tight in some aspects I find that I get better and more artistic results from it.
 

For me, I’ll take a 50 Summicron any day. Still, as with all things in photography YMMV. 

[Gobert]

In one word: yes!

[jakontil]

Black chrome summilux is the most beautiful lens leica ever produced!

 

aesthetically yes! 

[Ko.Fe.]

Of course you need to own it. Owning RF Leica lens is very pleasing experience. 

[luigi bertolotti]

35+50+75... ok they are an "addensated trio" but .
- A good 50 is a sort of "must have"...  : personally, as an owner of many  focals, I like to switch, depending on the "taste of the Day", between 21 + 35 and 28+50 (and I admit that probably a really good photographer does not do like this…  )

-  You could abandon the 75 and add a 90, which is a focal I have always liked a lot but.. a Golden rule of ours is  "never sell a good Leica lens"  … so… up to you (I have both 75 and 90... but, roughly, I go out with 90 80-90% of times… and I'd swear that 80% of my pics with 75 had some degree of cropping…)

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2019 by luigi bertolotti

[Herr Barnack]

6 hours ago, Joerg K. said:

I am sure this has been discussed time and again, but I would like some input.  I have a M10P with the following three lenses: 

Zeiss Biogon T* 2,8/21mm

35mm F1.4 Summilux Asph

Summicron 75mm F2 Apo Asph

I would like to buy the M10 Monochrome when it comes out (I like the size of the M10 vs. the M246). 

I like my Zeiss 21mm a lot and very rarely use my 75mm.  The 35mm is also very good, especially when I need a faster lens in low light.

I thought I would complement my range of lenses with the 50mm Summilux 1.4 Black Chrome ASPH (11688).  It seems to be a great lens.

Do I even need the 75mm? Do I keep it?

Is there too much overlap?

Does anyone have experience with the range of Leica lenses from 35mm to 50mm and 75mm?

NB:  I like photographing architecture, people (not portraits), indoor photography, and landscapes.  And, I like a strong bokeh effect when appropriate.

@Joerg K.,

After giving your comments some thought, my recommendations would be:  Get the 50 Summilux - and - keep the 75 Summicron (at least for the time being).

The 50 'lux sounds like a good fit for for the kinds of image making that you enjoy.  As for the 75 'cron, if you trade/sell it, there is a good chance that at some point, you will regret doing so.  Why not keep it for another year and see what happens?  When you get your M10 Monochrome, you may find that the 75 can be unexpectedly more useful than it has been up till now.

The 50/2 APO is truly a legendary lens, but at half its price the 50/1.4 ASPH more than delivers the goods - and has a more pronounced bokeh effect when shot wide open.  I had the 50 Summilux #11868 some years ago and ended up trading it away, reasoning that since I also had a 50/1.0 Noctilux, I didn't really need the 50 Summilux.  WROOOONG!!  About 8 months later, I was kicking myself for  making that supposedly "logical" trade. 

Personal experience is why I recommend hanging on to your 75 'cron.  Don't be "that guy" who ends up hating life over a lens trade that makes sense one day but makes you kick yourself down the road.  Better too many M lenses (if there even is such a thing) than too few. 

After all, you don't have to carry around all of your M glass all of the time...

Edited November 30, 2019 by Herr Barnack

[IkarusJohn]

Back in the day, when you bought a new SLR it came with a very ordinary “kit” 55mm lens. I don’t recall one ever making it out of the box ...

In Leica land, the 50 has become (for me, anyway) the centre of my system.  I started with a 35 Summicron ASPH on the recommendation of Meister Berlin, and added a silverchrome 50 Summilux ASPH when offered one by Ken Hansen.  I now have 4 Leica 50s, each a different flavour. The Summilux is a lovely lens, and the blackchrome version is beautiful.  It will go very nicely with the Monochrome - dreamy wide open, sharp stopped down, less complicated than the Noct and more character than the APO Summicron.

Can’t imagine selling mine.

I did sell my 75 Summicron, but only because I found a nice 75 Summilux and didn’t need two (I found focusing the Summicron problematic).  I love the 75 field of view.

Edited November 30, 2019 by IkarusJohn

[jdlaing]

Keep the 50 and shoot with it. There can never be enough 50mm lenses.

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[T25UFO]

2 hours ago, luigi bertolotti said:

Golden rule of ours is  "never sell a good Leica lens"  … 

 

 

1 hour ago, Herr Barnack said:

@Joerg K.,

Personal experience is why I recommend hanging on to your 75 'cron.  Don't be "that guy" who ends up hating life over a lens trade that makes sense one day but makes you kick yourself down the road.  Better too many M lenses (if there even is such a thing) than too few...

Can't disagree with any of this - I sold my 75mm APO to fund the 50mm APO and now wish I had kept it.  Of course, it all depends on finances.  I now have the 90mm APO as well, which might seem a good trio with 35mm and 50mm, but the 90mm is more difficult to focus, at least for my ageing eyes.

I would still choose the APO over the Summilux if finances permit, but in hindsight I wouldn't sell one to finance the other.  Otherwise the retro 50mm Summilux is very tempting and if you live in the UK then Red Dot cameras still has stock.  Just to be clear, I have no connection with Red Dot Cameras!

[microview]

You perhaps need to think about the weight of the black chrome vs the normal 50 Summilux with focus tab and slide-out locking hood. Overgaard has a film about this. Although the b.c is very seductive!