which lens with which body and GAS and rambling and...

[Jodad]

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Hi guys

This is a bit of a first world problems post and considering the world's troubles at the moment, is quite (i cant think of the word,) trivial/squanderous/frivolous...

Anyway: 

I have an MP with a 35/2 asph (she started everything years ago and was my dream for 10 years)

I'm thinking of getting an M3 for the 50 but i would also love an M5. I don't know why, i just saw a guy walking around with an m5 and thought it looked awesome (see, frivilous since i should not care how it looks and just how it works - NOT JUDGING ANYONE,just myself as little)

I used to be into gear for the sake of it - super GASSY. I have all these cameras now and realise that i don't use most of them much. I just ended up collecting. Nothing wrong with collecting but anyway.

You can see i'm somewhat conflicted here.

Anyway, the MP is for the 35. I thought, an M3 for 50 because of the high VF magnification. But at the same time, i thought maybe an SLR would be better for a 50 and longer (thinking portraits). Do you think the M5 would have any place with me other than just to add to the collection? Is the M5 particularly good for a particular focal length (i think they are all .72 right)?

 

So are SLR's really much better for 50 (and maybe a little bit longer) and portraits?

M5, is she particularly suited to any focal length? Can i be convinced that i need her?

I just don't want to have cameras just for the sake of it any more...

If you have any thoughts around my ramblings as well, please, feel free to let me hear them

 

 

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[gabrielaszalos]

Are you going to shoot with two cameras at the same time? No need to answer this, just ask yourself.

You are going to get all the possible answers here, but speaking “out loud” will help you figure things out. For me, I have a 50 on my MP and I find the magnification perfect because I don’t have to poke my eye into the VF hole. 

FWIW I was also super GASSY with my Canon digital gear and once I had everything I shortly after stopped photographing. I was more about gear than about photos, think about this. I have similar problems to yours. Now I have only my MP and my favorite focal, the 50. I occasionally suffer thinking about buying a 35, but I don’t. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by gabrielaszalos

[TomB_tx]

M5 has the .72 finder magnification and usual finder frames. I bought one after decades with M4 & M6 (also adding M2 & 3 after GAS attack) and really like the M5. Ergonomics are very good, film speed dial very easy. Best feature is the light meter: measuring a small central spot (designated in the finder) making it easy to select an appropriate area to meter. The meter is match-needle at the bottom of the finder, which also shows shutter speed. I always liked the LeicaflexSL "large spot" meter, and I like the M5 small spot better.

In some ways I prefer a simpler and cleaner finder (I like the M6 - MP LED arrow meter readout), but I love the spot meter and feel of the M5.

I have a couple M3s (single and double stroke), and while the finder has an advantage for focusing 135mm lenses, I really prefer a .72 finder for 50mm. That may be because I wear glasses, and also habit - I passed on a new M3 in 1968 in favor of an M4 at the same price. I also got a 90 TE with the M4 back then, and find that combination works well.

On an M3 the 50mm frame lines are always present, with 90 or 135 just adding inside the 50. I find that distracting.

Even after CLAs my M3 finders seem a bit dim compared to later models. I use 35mm quite a bit, and have an 8-element with goggles for M3, but much prefer a plain 35 on a .72 finder. The M3 is a well made legendary icon - but not my favorite. 

 

[earleygallery]

Ah another lockdown GAS victim!!

As above, will you carry 2 cameras? Or, you can use the little button that sits on the camera body near the lens, press it in and turn the lens and you'll find it comes off! You can then fit your other lens/es without need for a separate body for each. Clever isn't it. 

The M3 will give you a 'bigger' viewfinder for 50mm lenses but unless you find a very nice one it might seem a bit of a step back from a newer MP finder. I don't see what the M5 will offer you apart from just having one. The meter could need adjustment to work properly with today's batteries as well. 

Another option coud be a Voigtlander Bessa R3A which has an M mount and a 1:1 finder. But it won't feel the same as your Leica. 

As for SLR's they are obviously better for the longer focal lengths, 135mm and over. It depends if you need a camera/lens for that range I guess.

Decisions decisions.......

Edited April 7, 2020 by earleygallery

[OR120]

I could go on and on about this but in the end it's just my opinion. I started out in the Leica world with a Leica IIIF red dial w/50 Summitar - a gift from my father. As years went by (kept and still have my IIIF) moved on to M2, M3, M4 and finally M5. I loved the M5. The perfect film Leica for me. I ended up with two M5, three-lug models. Perfect for hanging vertically - one over each shoulder - with a long lensed slr over my head (had to have these for the longer glass). Through several news jobs in DC - working for one newspaper at the time - I ran into another photographer who worked at the other paper in town - he had three M5's. We both had long roads with Leica M's - and had settled on the M5. That was at least 40 years ago. To this day my M5's were the best film Leica's I every used - on a daily basis for work. But hey ---- it's just my opinion.

[Mute-on]

Do you have a 50, and if so have you tried it on your MP?

This alone ought to tell you whether you would use a 50 enough to make use of a second body, and whether you would prefer more VF magnification. 

I don’t use my Leica Ms for anything longer than 50mm, and don’t have a VF magnification greater than 0.72.  A 50mm on a 0.72 VF is a real treat, so I wouldn’t be looking at a higher magnification unless a longer focal length is your main lens. 

[shirubadanieru]

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I also agree that the ideal world is one camera + one lens (maybe two tops), but I’m sure most people here are not able to achieve that nirvana for too long ahah 
I now have 2 cameras (M4 for color / MM for B&W) and 4 lenses (2 35mm + 2 50s). Ideally I’d like to reduce it to one 35, one 50 but I think 4 is the best I can do given that the 4 lenses I have are my favorite of all lenses out there and I don’t want to part with them (this is after having tried all 35/50mm offerings for M mount in the last 7 years since getting my first leica (M-E)). 

M3 + 50mm is pretty much unbeatable, such an amazing finder, the smoothest operation and most silent shutter out of all Leica film cameras. The reason I didn’t keep it was because I just wanted to have one film camera that I carry with me at all times, and the M4 offered me better balance between 35/50mm. But damn, do I love the M3! Also, for 50mm I’d suggest either the M3 (if you only shoot 50), M2 or M4 if you also shoot 35 or 90mm. From my POV, the worst frameline pair is the 50/75mm and unfortunately that’s present in all digital cameras, M6 and MP too...M5 I’m not sure actually how are the framelines because I never used it.

[spydrxx]

I've never had nor used an M5, although I've periodically thought about it. I've owned several Barnacks, an M2, M4 and M6, and used an M3 which belonged to a friend. GAS can only be relieved by dissolving or passing it...so if the M5 is your craving, find one and go for it, you can always sell it if you fall out of love. I do occasionally use a 135 on my Leica bodies, but really prefer a SLR at this focal length. For a 50 though, any Leica body will do fine!

[250swb]

I think you do need an M3, if only because it will end the debate that's going on in your head. And when you have it you will realise the MP is the more versatile camera and what is ten seconds in the scheme of things to change a lens anyway?

Working with two different cameras is never as fast as people think, you won't have a meter in your M3 to start with, film loading will seem like a pain. But it can be a good idea to have another body but not for the dubious convenience of not having to change lenses, but because you can shoot two different types of film and change lenses between bodies as needed and use a body cap on the body you aren't using. But one camera for a 35mm and one for a 50mm is just a waste of a camera.

[mediumformula]

I agree with others that you should first try putting a 50mm on your MP and shoot with that for a bit.  Invest in a lens.  You already have a great camera. 

[Stealth3kpl]

M5 users often say it's the best M. It certainly looks very ergonomic with that shutter dial. I feel it is an ugly camera so if you like the look of it, you should definitely get one. Why not try something a little different? You might agree with typical owners.

Pete

[Stealth3kpl]

6 hours ago, OR120 said:

I could go on and on about this but in the end it's just my opinion. I started out in the Leica world with a Leica IIIF red dial w/50 Summitar - a gift from my father. As years went by (kept and still have my IIIF) moved on to M2, M3, M4 and finally M5. I loved the M5. The perfect film Leica for me. I ended up with two M5, three-lug models. Perfect for hanging vertically - one over each shoulder - with a long lensed slr over my head (had to have these for the longer glass). Through several news jobs in DC - working for one newspaper at the time - I ran into another photographer who worked at the other paper in town - he had three M5's. We both had long roads with Leica M's - and had settled on the M5. That was at least 40 years ago. To this day my M5's were the best film Leica's I every used - on a daily basis for work. But hey ---- it's just my opinion.

This is typical of M5 users. They love them!

Pete

[Ko.Fe.]

I had three film M but sold down to one. Just don't need this many film M, since I have other film cameras.

M3 would balance well with 50 Lux Pre-Asph v1 and collapsible Cron. Both lenses gives awesome pictures.

M5 should be fine for bigger 50. 

Personally, I'm not finding SLRs to be better for portraits. Manual focus SLRS doesn't have simplicity of RF focusing. AF SLRs have limited focus points areas.

You could get goggled Leica M tele lens to have more in VF for framing. 

Most interest portraits I have seen are in HCB "inner silence". I think he used Leica RF.

Jane Bown portraits are also interesting, but...  

[TomB_tx]

10 hours ago, Ko.Fe. said:

M5 should be fine for bigger 50.   

Exactly. I use a VC Nokton 1.5 - first ltm version with adapter. It's a bit larger than the Summilux v1 and styled similarly. Feels just right on the M5.

[Jodad]

I love this forum. Thank you all for your feedback. I will have a read and comment and reply back.

You guys really are great.

[Topsy]

On 4/7/2020 at 5:01 PM, 250swb said:

I think you do need an M3, if only because it will end the debate that's going on in your head. And when you have it you will realise the MP is the more versatile camera and what is ten seconds in the scheme of things to change a lens anyway?

Working with two different cameras is never as fast as people think, you won't have a meter in your M3 to start with, film loading will seem like a pain. But it can be a good idea to have another body but not for the dubious convenience of not having to change lenses, but because you can shoot two different types of film and change lenses between bodies as needed and use a body cap on the body you aren't using. But one camera for a 35mm and one for a 50mm is just a waste of a camera.

Whilst I respect this view I don't wholly agree with it. For many years now I have used 3 bodies currently M9s one with a wide (28 or 21) one with a standard (35 occasionally 50) and the third with a short tele (75 normally) and am happy shooting general stuff with this combination. Granted I have not gone for 3 film bodies (I did have 3 but recently sold my M6) I have my MP as the main 35mm camera and keep an M2 for either different lens or film depending how I am shooting. I find I don't need 3 bodies with film because I normally am being specific rather than general when I shoot film.

[250swb]

10 minutes ago, Topsy said:

Whilst I respect this view I don't wholly agree with it. For many years now I have used 3 bodies currently M9s one with a wide (28 or 21) one with a standard (35 occasionally 50) and the third with a short tele (75 normally) and am happy shooting general stuff with this combination. Granted I have not gone for 3 film bodies (I did have 3 but recently sold my M6) I have my MP as the main 35mm camera and keep an M2 for either different lens or film depending how I am shooting. I find I don't need 3 bodies with film because I normally am being specific rather than general when I shoot film.

I'm an ex-photojournalist and theatre photographer, and yes I'll contradict myself in saying I did use more than one body at a time, even at times mixing Leica and Nikon in the classic way, Leica for wide angle, Nikon for tele. The thing is an amateur isn't generally speaking trying to photograph a Prime Minister coming out of a door and into a taxi, neither do they photograph a play and need to react to broad gestures and intimate asides within seconds.

I wouldn't dream of encumbering myself anymore by carrying two M body's, unless for using two types of film, although after all these years I can usually decide before I leave the house what lenses and what film I want to use, some people can't. You can actually drop a lens into the camera bag without faffing around putting caps on each end, so changing lenses is always easy with a film camera. But I accept many people like the whole over reaction nerdy performance of being seen to do things.

[Topsy]

1 hour ago, 250swb said:

But I accept many people like the whole over reaction nerdy performance of being seen to do things.

Not sure I understand your meaning here.

I don't see 2 or even 3 bodies as overburdening myself and it works for me. I don't see swapping bodies for shots any more over reaction or nerdy than swapping lenses.

Each to their own.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[james.liam]

On 4/7/2020 at 7:41 AM, Jodad said:

Hi guys

This is a bit of a first world problems post and considering the world's troubles at the moment, is quite (i cant think of the word,) trivial/squanderous/frivolous...

 

Why all the guilt? Confinement is the path to madness. Back in quarantined Wuhan, they're back at mercilessly slaughtering dogs and cats for food and burning the under-reported corpses.

Contemplating gear is a far more decent thing to do.

[250swb]

2 hours ago, Topsy said:

Not sure I understand your meaning here.

I don't see 2 or even 3 bodies as overburdening myself and it works for me. I don't see swapping bodies for shots any more over reaction or nerdy than swapping lenses.

Each to their own.

I don't know, I guess I'm just against the ethos of unnecessarily appearing to look like a Christmas tree, it's much the same thing as the feelings I have about photo-vests. I buy into the Leica ethic on the basis of the M being light, small, and using the range of lenses that fit the way I see the world. Add extra lard on top of that and I may as well resign from having an opinion about what's in front of me, just photograph the same thing at three focal lengths on three cameras and hope one of them works. Of course I wouldn't actually do that, I'd just use a Nikon and a zoom lens and save the world from witnessing the Leica performance art ritual.

Edited April 8, 2020 by 250swb