Must have Leica lenses for M8?

[hiphopopotamus]

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Hi all

A few months back I made my first leap into Leica M shooting with the purchase of an M8 and a 24mm 2.8 elmarit asph.

Until recently I have had many different systems on the go at once, regularly shooting with Canon, Fuji and Sony on digital, and also old Leica and Contax on film.

The simplicity of shooting with the Leica M system however really opened my eyes, and I'm finding I'm enjoying making pictures more than ever with the M8. I thus recently decided to simplify my shooting tremendously - only keeping a sony a7ii for use with the weird and wonderful lenses I've collected over the years (in all sorts of mounts) that I just can't bear to part with, but with the Leica M8 as my go-to staple for most of my serious shooting.

Selling off (most of) the rest of the kit gives me a bit of wiggle room to get more invested in lenses for my M8.

So a question - what would you say are the unmissable lenses for the M8? I have spent the past few weeks digging and digging - it's a steep learning curve with the quality of the leica (and quality 3rd party M mount) back catalogue.

I really like the effective "everyday" focal length of approx 32mm that the 24mm becomes on the M8 (have always felt 28mm slightly too wide and 35mm slightly too tight for street shooting, so this lens/camera combo filled a big hole for me). 

I am now thinking about a 50 (so effective M8 ~67) and 75 (so ~100) in particular to fill out "people" and "portrait" focal lengths respectively, but am open to other suggestions.

To help with budgeting, it looks like I'd have around £2k to play with - not too much in the Leica world for sure, but hopefully enough for one or two quality additions. Likely will be purchasing 2nd hand to cost-save.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

 

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[jaapv]

Take into account that you will probably upgrade to full frame Leica M cameras in the future - go for shorter rather than longer focal lengths. I would suggest to get a Summicron 35 asph.

[farnz]

If you have any interest in exploiting the M8's known potential for shooting infra-red handheld then I recommend the 21/2.8 Kobalux (also sold under the brand names "Avenon" and "Pasoptic") because it has no IR hotspot.  On the M8 it gives an equivalent field of view as a 28 mm lens, which you've mentioned is a little too wide for you, but the crop tool could be your friend.

Pete.

[adan]

6 hours ago, hiphopopotamus said:

I am now thinking about a 50 (so effective M8 ~67)

Given that the true focal length of Leica's 50mm Summicron is usually ~52.xmm, it works out as effective 70mm. Just in case one likes the warm fuzzy feeling of getting to that round number.

My carry with the M8 was: 15mm f/4.5 (Voigtlander v.1), 28mm f/2.8, 50mm f/2, 90mm f/2.8, which worked out as equivalent 20/38/70/120. I occasionally pulled out my 21mm (effective 28mm) and 135 (effective 180mm - but that was 50/50 as to focusing with the M8.

That basic quartet proved so effective that when I returned to 24 x 36 imaging with the M9, my first lens purchase for the new camera was a used 75 Summilux.

My second was a 35mm, and I combined those with my mothballed 21mm Elmarit and 135 Tele-Elmar. And that is still my primary lens set, 11 years later.

Here is how I used the 15/28/50/90 kit for a 2008 photo-essay about a small rural library (in that order):

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Technical note: getting the 15mm C/V to be "infrared-compliant" took a little work.

I used the compact v.1 in LTM mount, and got a hand-machined "6-bit" LTM-M adapter that a former forum member was making for us back then. Coded the 15mm as a WATE 16-18-21.

And then "press-fit" a 39mm Heliopan IR/UV filter, "fattened" with a few narrow strips of black photo tape around the rim, backwards into the 15mm's tulip-shaped lens hood. The compressed layer of tape held the filter in place very effectively.

Result: no magenta grays, no green corners.

Today one can get the 6-bit LTM adapters from China, I believe. Or use the updated C/V 15mm v.III

[wda]

Welcome!

I bought the then new 28mm Elmarit Asph plus the 75mm f/2.5 Summarit to add to my existing 50mm Summicron. I still have those lenses today and still get pleasure from using them. I later bought an old 135mm f/4 Elmar lens for landscape, animal and ground to air photography. (See my recent article here https://www.macfilos.com/2020/05/13/leica-135mm-f4-elmar-bargain-telephoto-for-the-m/ ) Your general interests will inform your choices, but you do not need to spend a fortune.

[luigi bertolotti]

15+35+75 or 28+50

 

[pgk]

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24/35/50 will cover a lot. On a budget I would look at the Summaries which are excellent little lenses and would be well within your budget and maybe a lot lower if you hunt around. Actually I have thought that the 24 SEM and 35 & 50 Summarits would provide a very nice, compact and highly versatile system myself on an M8 or FF M too.

[EUSe]

vor 14 Stunden schrieb hiphopopotamus:

Hi all

A few months back I made my first leap into Leica M shooting with the purchase of an M8 and a 24mm 2.8 elmarit asph.

Until recently I have had many different systems on the go at once, regularly shooting with Canon, Fuji and Sony on digital, and also old Leica and Contax on film.

The simplicity of shooting with the Leica M system however really opened my eyes, and I'm finding I'm enjoying making pictures more than ever with the M8. I thus recently decided to simplify my shooting tremendously - only keeping a sony a7ii for use with the weird and wonderful lenses I've collected over the years (in all sorts of mounts) that I just can't bear to part with, but with the Leica M8 as my go-to staple for most of my serious shooting.

Selling off (most of) the rest of the kit gives me a bit of wiggle room to get more invested in lenses for my M8.

So a question - what would you say are the unmissable lenses for the M8? I have spent the past few weeks digging and digging - it's a steep learning curve with the quality of the leica (and quality 3rd party M mount) back catalogue.

I really like the effective "everyday" focal length of approx 32mm that the 24mm becomes on the M8 (have always felt 28mm slightly too wide and 35mm slightly too tight for street shooting, so this lens/camera combo filled a big hole for me). 

I am now thinking about a 50 (so effective M8 ~67) and 75 (so ~100) in particular to fill out "people" and "portrait" focal lengths respectively, but am open to other suggestions.

To help with budgeting, it looks like I'd have around £2k to play with - not too much in the Leica world for sure, but hopefully enough for one or two quality additions. Likely will be purchasing 2nd hand to cost-save.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

 

My perfect setup used to be 24 mm f/3.8, 28 mm Elmarit, 35 and 75 mm Summarits.

[a.noctilux]

 

Hiphopopotamus,

I'd take one or two Summarit-M lens line while we can still buy them.

Two if f/2.5 second hand, within your budget or only one if new f/2.4.

Edited June 3, 2020 by a.noctilux

[pippy]

Hi. Welcome to the forum and congratulations on picking up an M8. Great cameras. I do miss mine...

Go looking in the 'used market' and you could buy a couple of great Leica lenses for the £2k budget you mention.

Like some others have already mentioned I'd very much recommend the 75mm Summarit for your "100mm". If you go for the marginally earlier f2.5 version (as opposed to the f2.4) it can be had for a good price (in Leica-World) as it is the less-fancied option having, as it does, a 0.9m near-focus instead of the 0.7m of the 2.4.

For your "70mm" I'd go for a series IV or series V Summicron. Again; in Leica terms these can be had for a reasonable price. The 50mm Summarit is also an excellent lens - possibly slightly better, on paper, than the Summicron (I haven't checked) - but IMX they usually cost a bit more than the Summicrons.

Good luck in the hunt and keep us informed!

Philip.

Edited June 3, 2020 by pippy

[hiphopopotamus]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and the very valuable insight - in particular to @adan for that photo essay that has helped me get a nice feel for the relative focal lengths on the M8, and which of them best reflect the type of shooting I most often do.

Taking into account what has been said above, and having done a bit of further research, I think I'm leaning towards adding a 35 and a 50 for the time being, with the 15CV or 21 Kobalux (for IR) and a 75 coming with funds in the future. Hopefully this setup should also fit well as and when I get the itch to upgrade from the M8 body.

Having done a bit of digging in used Leica M sections of online UK stores, I have found a 35 Summarit 2.5 for £800 that is in excellent condition and looks a reasonable price. If I were to pick this up, it leaves me a couple of options on the 50 front:

• Used Summicron f2 v3 @ £800 (few light marks on the glass, but nothing to affect pictures according to description - can always return if not happy with it)
• Used Summicron f2 v4 (light dust, nothing to affect picture, approx. £300 more expensive than the v3 above)
• New Summarit f2.4 (approx £550 more than the cron v3) - this very much pushing the budget...

Does anyone have a view as to whether the 35 I've mentioned is good value, and which of the three above you'd go for with the M8 in mind (I realise coatings may come into play given the digital nature of the camera and the non-digital nature of the v3/4 cron designs).

Thanks again!

 

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by hiphopopotamus

[pgk]

The 35 Summarit sounds about right - check what guarantee it has - 6 months to a  year would be reasonable. Its a very flare resistant lens too. You should pick up a 50 Summarit for about the same price too if you look around. A well-known north Scotland based dealer has both in stock (used) and also a 50mm Elmar (black) which many really like, and it is cheaper than the 35 too(I'd forgotten about the Elmar). I should have said that its worth bearing in mind that 6-bit lenses (such as the Summarits) can be good value because having a lens coded is not cheap.

[hiphopopotamus]

10 minutes ago, pgk said:

The 35 Summarit sounds about right - check what guarantee it has - 6 months to a  year would be reasonable. Its a very flare resistant lens too. You should pick up a 50 Summarit for about the same price too if you look around. A well-known north Scotland based dealer has both in stock (used) and also a 50mm Elmar (black) which many really like, and it is cheaper than the 35 too(I'd forgotten about the Elmar). I should have said that its worth bearing in mind that 6-bit lenses (such as the Summarits) can be good value because having a lens coded is not cheap.

I somehow missed that they had the 50mm summarit in stock 2nd hand! Thanks for the heads up.

I guess my question then becomes:

• cron v3 for 800 (light marks)
• cron v4 for 1100 (light dust)
• summarit for 1000 (nr mint)

What would you guys go for? I hear all of these are very similar in performance (I'm leaning toward the summarit for the 6bit coding, as you say @pgk)...?

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by hiphopopotamus

[farnz]

17 minutes ago, hiphopopotamus said:

Does anyone have a view as to whether the 35 I've mentioned is good value, and which of the three above you'd go for with the M8 in mind ...

Personally I use a 35/2 Summicron v4 and it's an excellent lens.  

I should add that some v4 35 Summicrons are constructed with a plastic piece that can fail and cause teh lens to fall into 2 parts after a lot of use.  There details on the forum but from memory the ones made in Germany have a metal part and do not suffer from this problem whereas some of the ones made in Canada do.

 

Pete.

[pippy]

6 minutes ago, hiphopopotamus said:

...What would you guys go for? I hear all of these are very similar in performance (I'm leaning toward the summarit for the 6bit coding, as you say @pgk)...?

 

Hmmm. Tricky!

Personally I'd actually go for one of the collapsible Elmars (at £700) but the Summarit might be the smarter choice of the lenses you list. The v3 'cron has lower powers of resolution than the v4 which would rule it out for me but some folks like its rendering so it really is a 'personal preference' thing.

Philip.

[pgk]

15 minutes ago, hiphopopotamus said:

(I'm leaning toward the summarit for the 6bit coding?

I have some coded and more uncoded lenses. Even after years of use I sometimes forget to adjust the menu on my M9 for an uncoded lens. So I would look at coded lenses because out of all three you mention, the cheapest is probably the Summarit if you intend to use coding in the future. Its a lovely small lens too. But then again I don't actually own any Summicrons although I'm not sure why.

[wda]

29 minutes ago, pgk said:

The 35 Summarit sounds about right - check what guarantee it has - 6 months to a  year would be reasonable. Its a very flare resistant lens too. You should pick up a 50 Summarit for about the same price too if you look around. A well-known north Scotland based dealer has both in stock (used) and also a 50mm Elmar (black) which many really like, and it is cheaper than the 35 too(I'd forgotten about the Elmar). I should have said that its worth bearing in mind that 6-bit lenses (such as the Summarits) can be good value because having a lens coded is not cheap.

The Elmar certainly is a good candidate. A wedding photographer suffering from a back injury, reduced his wedding kit to just that compact lens and produced stunning results in contemporary style.

[wda]

24 minutes ago, hiphopopotamus said:

I somehow missed that they had the 50mm summarit in stock 2nd hand! Thanks for the heads up.

I guess my question then becomes:

• cron v3 for 800 (light marks)
• cron v4 for 1100 (light dust)
• summarit for 1000 (nr mint)

What would you guys go for? I hear all of these are very similar in performance (I'm leaning toward the summarit for the 6bit coding, as you say @pgk)...?

 

Definitely the Summarit.

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[otto.f]

The title of your thread suggests that you’re looking for a lens with a special character. Well your 24 is one and it gives you a nice 32mm on the M8. In that case I wouldn’t go for a Summicron 28 asph v1, although I found it very special on my M8 but less so on my M9. I agree with jaapv that you should reckon with a FF later on. The 24 is still special on an M9. And I would go for a 35 too, the Summicron asph being quite neutral and the Summicron 35 iv being a bit more special.
50: My very personal experience is that I liked the 50 Summilux asph very much on M8, but less so on my M9.

Edited June 3, 2020 by otto.f

[pippy]

8 minutes ago, otto.f said:

I would go for a 35 too, the Summicron asph...My very personal experience is that I liked the 50 Summilux asph very much on M8, but less so on my M9...

The OP is hoping to spend roughly £2k for two lenses so that sort-of rules-out the 35mm Summicron ASPH or the 50 Summilux ASPH as being one of them.....

Philip.

Edited June 3, 2020 by pippy