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“Budget” 50mm lens for M262


Loomis77

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Afternoon all 

I currently have an M262 with a Voigtlander Ultron 35mm on it but am looking for a 50mm lens. I am unable to financially stretch to the Summicron or Summilux and am, therefore, seeking views on what would be a good,  cheaper option. I have read very good reviews of the Zeiss C Sonar T* 1.5/50 ZM but would appreciate any views that any of you may have.

Many thanks in advance.

All the best

Ben

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Hello Ben,

"Budget" can have so many meanings.

I'll try to answer as I have (had used some "budget lenses" in 50mm).

- in Leica I'd take Summarit-M 2.4/50 or cheaper 2.5/50

- other good choice would be M-Hexanon 2/50 as nice as Summicron of same period

- I like the Canon LTM 1.4/50 and 1.2/50 (maybe this last one increased in price these last years)

- so many choices, but each would be compromises anyway (even on expensive lenses ! )

- good thing that I've not seen bad 50mm that many over year

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5 minutes ago, Jean-Michel said:

You could scroll down a bit and open up Harpomatic’s post titled 10 different 50 mm lenses. Interesting read about how he thoroughly tested his collection of lenses. 

Many thanks @Jean-Michel. Apologies: I had had a brief look at the topics but must have missed that!

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What sort of a look are you interested in achieving? Although I've owned both a modern 50 Summicron and Summilux, I sold both and much prefer switching between a Voigtlander 50/1.5 for low light and an Elmar 50/3.5 for daylight classic rendering on both film (M2) and digital (Sony A7rii)..

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3 hours ago, Loomis77 said:

Afternoon all 

I currently have an M262 with a Voigtlander Ultron 35mm on it but am looking for a 50mm lens. I am unable to financially stretch to the Summicron or Summilux and am, therefore, seeking views on what would be a good,  cheaper option. I have read very good reviews of the Zeiss C Sonar T* 1.5/50 ZM but would appreciate any views that any of you may have.

Many thanks in advance.

All the best

Ben

I have the "cheap" 50 Summicron v5, bought used last year. It's a beautiful glass. If you want to buy a brand new, but cheaper lens, with all the options we have, tomorrow, if I were you I would buy:

- Voigtlander 35/1.2 III (around $1,050)

or

- Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5 II MC ($950)

Both are incredible lenses. The first one, if you don't care about weight and size. But 1/2 extra stop. If you want a smaller but amazing lens, the 1.5II is just perfect. Super small, light and great performer.

Read the 10 lens comparison of Harpomatic, it's very exhaustive. 

 

 

 

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There are some excellent used Cosina Voigtlander 50mm lenses on the CameraQuest website. I saw prices ranging from $499 to $949 depending on your choice. I have dealt with Stephen Gandy of CameraQuest many times over many years and find him to be top notch.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Loomis77 said:

I have read very good reviews of the Zeiss C Sonar T* 1.5/50 ZM

Great lens with Visoflex but too much focus shift with rangefinders so i would say a no-no on your M262 but i have no experience with this camera. At same price tag, or a bit less, the latest Nokton 50/1.5 asph v2 looks tempting but i have no experience with it either sorry. At slower apertures, i would vote for a Planar 50/2 or a Summarit 50/2.5.

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Where are so many 50. And from 50 and content POV it is next to irrelevant which 50 it is. As long as lens is clean optically and matched with RF... Voigtlander are all just fine or better.

Personally I sold Viogt/Zeiss/Leitz 50ies and keeping Canon 50 1.8 LTM and Jupiter-3 after I did CLA including re-shimming for M mount.

I even have next to nothing Jupiter-8 and currently enjoying it on M-E 220.  

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5 hours ago, colonel said:

Good budget choices:

1. Zeiss 50mm f2

2. TTArtisan 50mm f1.4

3. Voigtlander 50mm f1.5 Version 1 - still some new ones available and good used

rgds

3. V1 is older LTM lens. V2 is odd recent M mount lens, copy of original lens from decades ago, which was replaced by normal VM II v3 of modern Viogtlander Nokton 50 1.5 lens.

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I do have a C Sonnar and quite like it, but if I were getting a ‘cheap’ lens now I’d look at one of the newer Voigtlanders: 1.5 II, 1.2, or APO.  Fast and compact or faster, a bit larger and a bit less sharp, or a bit larger and really sharp and even. All appear to be good lenses.  The 1.5 II is probably the easiest suggestion. 
 

The C Sonnar is a definitely less perfect and has focus shift (which isn’t too hard to deal with), and is probably not a good recommendation for a general purpose lens unless you know what you are getting into. 

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I would try and stretch to buy a used black summicrom V5 if at all possible.

Its beautiful.

Mine is silver because of my weird habit of putting silver lenses on a black body!!

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I have a Sonnar as my only 50mm and I love it. There’s a certain magical quality that makes me happy. When I import into Lightroom, I’m often surprised to find that I don’t want to do any color adjustment.

It’s not for everything or everyone. Certainly if you’re looking for perfect, clinical, precise, etc., it’s may not be the right choice. But if you’re after a more expressionistic feeling, or doing portraits, I highly recommend the Sonnar.

It does have a reputation of focus problems on rangefinders if shot wide open. I tend to shoot it at f/2 or f/2.8, because of the focus thing and also because the bokeh is a little busy at f/1.5.

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