which needs to go? 28 or 24 Lux

[dkmoore]

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51 minutes ago, BradS said:

I'd get rid of the 35mm and the 28mm. That leaves you with a very nice 24mm, 50mm, 90mm set...leaving a factor of approximately two between each successive focal length. That said, I do have both a 24mm and 28mm but only ever carry one or the other. I do not own even a single 35mm focal length lens at all for any of my many small format camera systems (Leica, Nikon, Pentax, etc...). Its just not a focal length that works for me .

Considering my post did not consider breaking up with the 35 I don’t think your advice will work for me. 😘

I am a 24/28, 35, 50, 90 shooter. I use the 35 prob 35% of the time. 
 

Why do you keep both with them being so close to each other in FL? Is there a practical reason besides not needing to?

[FrozenInTime]

With digital and wide vistas, often a stitch will work.

I sold my 21mm lenses, 21/4,5 ZM and 21/1.4 Summilux and am happy running 28/1.4 Summilux, 40/1.2 CV and 75/2 Summicron.

With the 35mm and 50mm lenses sitting more or less unused since I got the 40/1.2. The 12mm and 90/2 gone long ago.

The 21mm Summilux was very difficult to frame up juxtapositions at close focus , so the narrow depth of field seldom a benefit.

[raizans]

I would not make the decision now, since you've only used the 24mm inside the house during the pandemic. If it can be delayed, I'd wait until you have more experience with the 24mm focal length and can make a personally-informed decision.

[dkmoore]

1 hour ago, raizans said:

I would not make the decision now, since you've only used the 24mm inside the house during the pandemic. If it can be delayed, I'd wait until you have more experience with the 24mm focal length and can make a personally-informed decision.

I can tell very quickly that 24 is very close to 28 and the DOF and rendering are quite similar between the 1.4 lenses. While not identical twins, these siblings are very much alike. 

[Ouroboros]

On 11/3/2020 at 12:06 AM, dkmoore said:

Hi folks,

I'm thinking about selling one of the Summilux lenses because it doesn't make sense to me to keep two lenses that are so close in FL.

Which would you keep? 

If you'd keep both, why?

Impossible to give advice on what you should keep as I have no idea what your photography is like so I can only refer to my own lens angle of view preferences which will probably be meaningless to you, but here goes:

Rangefinder photography, specifically Leica M photography for my purposes,  is about agility and simplicity.  Carrying more than three lenses is largely unnecessary and I'm not a fan of the 24mm aov anyway.  It's neither here nor there to me, either too wide or not wide enough and always shows the dilemma up in prints.  Some would say you could crop the image, but that is not my approach, it's a lazy way of creating images imo, so on that basis alone I'd ditch the 24mm in favour of the 28mm. 

I'm primarily a landscape and travel photographer and use 28mm (equivalent) more than any other aov in both my 6x9 and 35mm film photography.  I have always found that 28mm is more versatile than 24mm for my purposes and definitely means less time spent faffing around changing lenses.  A simple set-up of 28, 50 & 90 usually covers most of my needs.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[dkmoore]

4 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

Impossible to give advice on what you should keep as I have no idea what your photography is like so I can only refer to my own lens angle of view preferences which will probably be meaningless to you, but here goes:

Rangefinder photography, specifically Leica M photography for my purposes,  is about agility and simplicity.  Carrying more than three lenses is largely unnecessary and I'm not a fan of the 24mm aov anyway.  It's neither here nor there to me, either too wide or not wide enough and always shows the dilemma up in prints.  Some would say you could crop the image, but that is not my approach, it's a lazy way of creating images imo, so on that basis alone I'd ditch the 24mm in favour of the 28mm. 

I'm primarily a landscape and travel photographer and use 28mm (equivalent) more than any other aov in both my 6x9 and 35mm film photography.  I have always found that 28mm is more versatile than 24mm for my purposes and definitely means less time spent faffing around changing lenses.  A simple set-up of 28, 50 & 90 usually covers most of my needs.

Good luck with your decision.

 

Thanks for the response. I post a lot of pictures on here if you click on my profile. Not great images but at least you can get a sense of what I take pictures of. I tend to agree that 28 is like better well rounded for my shooting type. 
 

I did spend some time while watching election coverage doing some (mostly) worthless testing around my house. I did notice a couple of things that benefit the 24 Lux even though I’m likely going to keep the 28. 
 

The 28 seems to have more color fringing then the does the 24 Lux. The 28 triggers green and blue fringing fairly easily in the OOF areas. 

Also, I was quite surprised to find both lenses about the same sharpness on center. I expected the 28 to be noticeably sharper. That was interesting. 
 

I did confirm that up close the lenses are super close in focal length and truly one step forward or back. This is likely a bigger difference outdoors in vast space. 

[dkmoore]

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24 Lux - collecting leaves yesterday with daughter.

Pretty impressed with this lens. I am surprised by the focus falloff or shallow DOF considering it is 24. I'm not showcasing that in this image but wanted to comment on it. Not as big a difference between the 28 Lux as I expected after reading a lot about this lens. Still think that I am keeping the 28 Lux but thought some of this info may help others that stumble across this dilemma. 

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[BradS]

15 hours ago, dkmoore said:

.... Why do you keep both with them being so close to each other in FL? Is there a practical reason besides not needing to?

 

It is a good question and made me re-think my answer. Given that none of my Leica (M6, M4-P, M2)  have frame 24mm lines, I'd sell the 24mm and keep the 28mm. Besides, the 28mm & 50mm have been completely sufficient for my (small format camera) needs for over twenty five years. When traveling, the 28mm makes probably 90% of the photos - big city or small village, if I'm not specifically making a portrait, I'm using the 28mm. However, when hiking in the back country, I carry only one body and one 50mm lens.  My Leica lens kit contains only 50mm and 28mm lenses.

To address your question, why do I keep both the 24mm and the 28mm?

The 24mm is a fairly recent addition to my Nikon F2 kit. I only bought it because I found a very nice single coated (ca. 1971) specimen for a very good price and thought I'd try it out...turns out I really like it.  It may displace the 28mm someday but its not likely in my case...and again, this is Nikon SLR...for Leica...I don't think I would ever even consider a 24mm since there are no frame lines and external, add-on view finders kinda defeats the whole point of using a Leica.

 

Edited November 4, 2020 by BradS

[sebben]

Leica discontinued the 24mm so to me that says it all.

[jaapv]

What does it say then?  Leica has discontinued so many lenses over the years, for many reasons. In this case the sales were quite low, probably because it is a very expensive lens. 24 mm is a bit of a connoisseur niche focal length. The discontinuation may well drive the price up.

[Narsuitus]

On 11/2/2020 at 6:33 PM, dkmoore said:

I have 24 Lux, 28 Lux, 35 Lux, 50 APO, 90 Cron. 

 

On 11/2/2020 at 6:06 PM, dkmoore said:

I'm thinking about selling one of the Summilux lenses because it doesn't make sense to me to keep two lenses that are so close in FL.

Which would you keep? 

If you'd keep both, why?

For my 35mm SLR, I have 24/28/35/50/85 mm focal length lenses.

For my 35mm rangefinders, I have 21/28/35/45/90 mm focal length lenses.

If forced to get rid of either my 24 or 28, I would keep the 28 and replace the 24 with a 21.

I need the wider 21mm for tight interior architectural and vehicular shots.

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21mm Lenses by Narsuitus, on Flickr

[Harpomatic]

On 11/4/2020 at 3:28 PM, BradS said:

I don't think I would ever even consider a 24mm since there are no frame lines and external, add-on view finders kinda defeats the whole point of using a Leica.

I totally agree: I have 28/35/50 and if I had to go wider and need an external viewfinder I would skip to 21mm at least.

Having said that I almost never used my 21mm, so I sold it. I certainly don’t feel I’m missing any shots for my photography with these lenses.

To answer the OP, I would keep the 28. If you have to test and retest to see the difference in rendering between the 2 lenses there is no practical, real world difference in my opinion. If a lens is good enough (which is an understatement given what lenses we are talking about) just use it and create images, not test shots.

[wda]

22 minutes ago, Harpomatic said:

I totally agree: I have 28/35/50 and if I had to go wider and need an external viewfinder I would skip to 21mm at least.

...

I agree with this suggestion.

[jcatral14]

If you don't need the money, just keep the lenses. Use one and then switch after a while. You'll see the differences more. Sometimes I fall into a rut and I find that when I switch lenses I find inspiration and have a different POV and reignite the passion. Just my 0.02 🙂

[Narsuitus]

For me, the 35mm and 50mm are too close together in focal length for me to use at the same time.

When I carry the 50mm on the SLR, I usually carry the 28 for something wider.

When I carry the 35mm on the SLR, I usually carry the 24mm for something wider.

When I carry the 35mm on the rangefinder, I usually carry the 21mm for something wider because the 28 is too close in focal length to the 35 for my taste; plus, I do not have a 24 for my rangefinder.

[rscheffler]

I've owned 4 M-mount 21s and love 21: ZM21/2.8, 21 Lux, CV21/1.8, 21 SEM. Purchased in that order. I kept the two Leicas. At the time the Lux was unique and the SEM is very small and a 'super' performer. The Lux was for indoor/low light use and the SEM for daytime, walk around, travel and where higher technical performance was desired (no wavy field curvature, less CA, no purple fringing). I used these quite a lot even when I had the 28 Cron, but after swapping it for the 28 Lux, I've found I use 21 a lot less now. Maybe my shooting style/eye and what I photograph has changed over the years, but I find the 28 Lux an excellent multipurpose lens. Great for low light or shallow DoF (much better technical performance than the 21 Lux, though the 21 does have pleasing rendering) and also perfectly suitable for more demanding stopped down applications. It really lives up to Peter Karbe's philosophy of stopping down recent Leica lenses only for depth of field purposes. 

I suppose my point here is that I haven't found 24 a compelling addition considering I now use the 21s a lot less. My typical M set is 21SEM/28/35/50/90. Like you, I don't consider the 28 and 35 spacing too close. I use both a fair amount. It really depends on the situation. The 24 and 21 Luxes IMO just cross a size/weight threshold, combined with oddball filter sizes (lately I've used polarizers a lot) to consider them all-purpose. If you're curious about 21, I would suggest the SEM. As stated, it's fantastic, but of course not a bokeh lens. The 21 Lux can provide a very nice shallow DoF look, but you pretty much have to be at MFD and can then run into compositional challenges to mitigate the perspective distortion (unless you want it). For me the 21 Lux was really a low light solution during the M9 era and found I cropped those images a lot. So it makes sense to me that I find I use the 28 Lux a lot more than it now.

Over the years the second hand prices of the 24 Lux, and to some degree the 21 Lux, have not been as strong as other Leica M lenses. If you bought it new and don't need the money, maybe just hold onto it, since IMO it has not held it's value that well. As already mentioned, now that it's discontinued, it might see a slight uptick. For me, I bought the 21 Lux in 2011 at below MSRP (kind of surprised at the time given how hard it was to find many M lenses, let alone discounted ones). Since then, with Leica's consistent price increases, it has appreciated nearly 50% in MSRP, which to a degree has pulled its second hand value upwards as well. Though I'm not determined to sell it since there's little chance I'll be in a position to rebuy it if I ever wanted to (would probably end up with the excellent Voigtlander 21/1.4 instead).

Not sure that answered anything, but maybe it has...

Edited November 7, 2020 by rscheffler

[Herr Barnack]

On 11/2/2020 at 7:06 PM, dkmoore said:

Hi folks,

I'm thinking about selling one of the Summilux lenses because it doesn't make sense to me to keep two lenses that are so close in FL.

Which would you keep? 

If you'd keep both, why?

Many people use both a 28mm and a 35mm lens and they are fairly close in focal length.  Why not keep both 24mm and 28mm Summiluxes?

If you sell one orr the other, in six months you will be kicking yourself.  Been there, done that.

Quote

...If you'd keep both, why?...

Three reasons:  (1.) They are paid for, (2.) so I won't be kicking myself six months down the road, and (3.) we live once so why the "fork" not keep both?? 😎

Disclaimer:  Selling one or the other (preferably the 24mm) and spending the proceeds on a month long photographic expedition to Thailand, Nepal, Mongolia or Tibet is permitted.

[dkmoore]

35 minutes ago, Herr Barnack said:

Many people use both a 28mm and a 35mm lens and they are fairly close in focal length.  Why not keep both 24mm and 28mm Summiluxes?

If you sell one orr the other, in six months you will be kicking yourself.  Been there, done that.

Three reasons:  (1.) They are paid for, (2.) so I won't be kicking myself six months down the road, and (3.) we live once so why the "fork" not keep both?? 😎

Disclaimer:  Selling one or the other (preferably the 24mm) and spending the proceeds on a month long photographic expedition to Thailand, Nepal, Mongolia or Tibet is permitted.

I'm looking forward to travel again..

24 is officially gone. No remorse because they were really too close together. Way closer than 28/35 in my view.

I have definitely regretting selling lenses in the past. For instance, the 35 Lux and 50 APO and I bought them for a second time. Those are my two lenses that I plan on keeping forever. The rest come and go.