Must have Leica lenses for M8?

[GLAUMAX]

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I am big fan of the 40mm C-Summicron on the Leica M8

[Shameetman]

I had amazing results with the m8 and Zeiss ZM biogon 28. I really miss that combination 

[tom.w.bn]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb GLAUMAX:

I am big fan of the 40mm C-Summicron on the Leica M8

Which framelines are shown with this lens on the M8?

[thomas_schertel]

I mostly am using the old Tri Elmar 28-50-35. Sometimes the 75 mm Summarit or the 24 mm Elmar Asph, all with UV -IR filters.

yours sincerely
Thomas

[lct]

On 6/2/2020 at 8:08 PM, hiphopopotamus said:

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.

1. Summarit-M 50/2.5 or Elmar-M 50/2.8

2. Summarit-M 75/2.5 or ... the same

[GLAUMAX]

On 6/12/2020 at 8:46 PM, tom.w.bn said:

Which framelines are shown with this lens on the M8?

My Summicron shows the 35mm frame line on the M8 but some of them (not milled) show the 50mm.

It is really easy to mille the flange to show the 35mm frame line which is almost perfect on the M8.

Edited June 17, 2020 by GLAUMAX

[lct]

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2 hours ago, GLAUMAX said:

It is really easy to mille the flange to show the 35mm frame line which is almost perfect on the M8

Or totally inaccurate for me sorry . Works fine on film and on the R-D1 though. YMMV.

[tommonego@gmail.com]

Here is one from the M8 with 50 Summicron, very unlike me shot at f2

 

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Edited June 17, 2020 by tommonego@gmail.com

[tom.w.bn]

vor 13 Stunden schrieb GLAUMAX:

My Summicron shows the 35mm frame line on the M8 but some of them (not milled) show the 50mm.

It is really easy to mille the flange to show the 35mm frame line which is almost perfect on the M8.

I could not live with framelines showing more than whats on the image later.....   I can crop away a bit but I can't add a few milimeters later.

[Ko.Fe.]

Because of 1.33 crop factor this lens worked on M8. i still couldn't believe this $15 lens was taking nice and sharp images on my M8. Even without filter. 

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For 75 here is Viogtlander 75 2.5 lens. Not Leica priced, but delivers.

Edited June 19, 2020 by Ko.Fe.

[84bravo]

I like the 40mm f2 Rokkor (same as the Leica lens) and I filed the mount flange down to bring up the 35mm lines. The 35mm frame lines are a perfect fit for the 40, I can't tell a discernible difference between the frame lines and the actual image. The Rokkor is an easier lens to use because of the common filter size.

If you're on a budget the 7Artisans 35mm f2 can't be beat for less than $300 new. Mine came already 6 bit coded as well (although I think they're not doing that anymore).

Both of these lenses will be close to 50mm given the crop factor. If you are a diehard 35mm user, then get a Leica 28mm instead. The 28mm f2.8 version III or IV are great lenses and also affordable by Leica standards at around $1000 used.

[hiphopopotamus]

On 6/3/2020 at 8:16 PM, otto.f said:

The 75 is probably the most special. But it’s not that you cannot find this quality in Zeiss for instance.

I reflected on this for a little while. I also reflected that I do not see much point in shooting Zeiss M mount lenses when I know how wonderful the Contax Zeiss lenses are, and I have a perfectly good camera set up for those lenses in the A7ii (I think this is the subconscious collector in me talking too).

With the 24 f2.8 elmarit, 50 f2 summar and 75 f2.4 summarit in hand on the Leica lens front, and the M8 on the Leica camera front, I really started questioning whether a 35mm M mount Leica lens would be the right option for me at present, given that I can't yet reach for (given budget contraints) a Leica 35 that would give me the character I was looking for.

Looking around a lot on these threads, the killer 35 I see (for the style of photograph I most like at this focal length) is the Summilux FLE - its rendering is exceptional...

...but just way out of my budget at the moment, so I decided on a different course of action. After much digging, I found an online store in Milan that had a Contax Distagon 35mm 1.4 in stock for a good price. From what I have seen from photos online, it has a similar character to the FLE (wonderful subject isolation, 3D pop, and smooth bokeh), and it's a lens that I'd always wanted to try but had never set aside funds, or the research time necessary to pick up a fairly priced one. So it just seemed like the right time to pull the trigger.

That lens finally arrived today, and will be paired with my A7ii. It is a big old lump of glass though, so the FLE will still be the pinnacle for me to hit one day, hopefully that will be before my neck breaks lugging the Zeiss around... but perhaps that FLE will come sometime after I move on from the M8.

Thanks again for all of the input, will start uploading photos to threads when I start getting out and about again as lockdown continues (hopefully) to ease.

[jaques]

I found that my Voigtlander 28mm f2 ULTRON lens was very good match on the M8

 

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Edited June 21, 2020 by jaques

[otto.f]

13 hours ago, hiphopopotamus said:

I reflected on this for a little while. I also reflected that I do not see much point in shooting Zeiss M mount lenses when I know how wonderful the Contax Zeiss lenses are, and I have a perfectly good camera set up for those lenses in the A7ii (I think this is the subconscious collector in me talking too).

With the 24 f2.8 elmarit, 50 f2 summar and 75 f2.4 summarit in hand on the Leica lens front, and the M8 on the Leica camera front, I really started questioning whether a 35mm M mount Leica lens would be the right option for me at present, given that I can't yet reach for (given budget contraints) a Leica 35 that would give me the character I was looking for.

Looking around a lot on these threads, the killer 35 I see (for the style of photograph I most like at this focal length) is the Summilux FLE - its rendering is exceptional...

...but just way out of my budget at the moment, so I decided on a different course of action. After much digging, I found an online store in Milan that had a Contax Distagon 35mm 1.4 in stock for a good price. From what I have seen from photos online, it has a similar character to the FLE (wonderful subject isolation, 3D pop, and smooth bokeh), and it's a lens that I'd always wanted to try but had never set aside funds, or the research time necessary to pick up a fairly priced one. So it just seemed like the right time to pull the trigger.

That lens finally arrived today, and will be paired with my A7ii. It is a big old lump of glass though, so the FLE will still be the pinnacle for me to hit one day, hopefully that will be before my neck breaks lugging the Zeiss around... but perhaps that FLE will come sometime after I move on from the M8.

Thanks again for all of the input, will start uploading photos to threads when I start getting out and about again as lockdown continues (hopefully) to ease.

Thanks for telling the outcome. Seems a great solution to me, the Contax lenses are very good in general. In your line of lenses and with the M8 format I indeed doubt whether a the FLE would be worth the investment. I preferred the 28cron on the M8 and the FLE on my M9.

[carbon_dragon]

I mostly used the Leica 35/2 ASPH (as a normal lens) and it worked very well. I used the 50/2 as well (not the APO) and it worked fine, though it was effectively a 65mm lens. I had a Voigtlander 25 that I would sometimes use. I took a fair amount of IR photographs with Leica Red (basically Kodak 25A filters) and the old old Leica 39mm chrome IR filter (black or very deep red) and never noticed a hot spot in any of these lenses. 

It's a good camera, but it's kind of a gateway drug. You are going to want to upgrade to the M9 at least to get full frame (and beware the lens corrosion issue with M9s) or maybe the M240 or even the M10 now that people will be selling them to buy the M10R and M10Ms. I really wanted to get back to using my 35 as a 35 and my 50 as a 50. Still have the M8 though for IR use.

[mmx_2]

The 40mm FL is perfect on the M8.  I found the 35mm framelines better for 40mm than for 35mm. I can also highly recommend the Minolta Rokkor 40mm, multicoated and standard filter size. The summicron 40mm is equal, but has funky series 5.5 filters and an odd front thread. Otherwise the Voigtländer 40 f1.2 is very good, but a bit heavy.