28mm - Elmart-M v3, Biogon or Ultron?

[bcapphoto]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I'm trying to pick between 3 lenses to cover the 28mm FOV. Curious as to your thoughts: 

• Leica 28mm f/2.8 Elmart-M v3
• Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 Biogon ZM
• Voigtlander 28mm f/2.0 Ultron

I already have: 

• 35mm Summicron v3
• 50mm Summicron v3
• 90mm Tele-Elmarit-M

I shoot on the M6, M246 and M240.

Curious - of those 3 28mm variants, which would you go for? Prices are roughly: 

• Leica = $900
• Zeiss = $700
• Voigtlander = $500

[bcapphoto]

Adding into the mix the Voigtlander 28mm f/3.5 LTM (w/ M-mount adapter) - I hear it's a beauty of a lens. Comes in around $650, so middle of the road. 

[a.noctilux]

Having all other in Leitz/Leica lenses (35/50/90), in your place I'd take another Leitz/Leica 😉.

...

Another idea is the very nice, so tiny Elmarit-M 28mm asph. which would cost a bit more than the "III" ... but only me as I'm using my Monochrom with

colored filters E39 (in place of E49 on 28mm v "III").

Anyway each 28mm lens of your choice can be good for your purpose.

[lct]

Only time i used the Ultron it had too much focus shift for my taste and i have no experience with the other ones so i'm not sure i can help but you own three Leitz lenses from the seventies already so unless you're not after a matching lens i would be inclined to favor the Elmarit v3. The Elmarit asph is an excellent lens with a more modern rendition.

[tgray]

Be interesting to see how the new Voigtlander 28mm performs.

The CV 28/3.5 is awesome and would work well on your M6 and M246 - not sure how it does on color digital M cameras.  If you can find a good 28 Summicron V1 for a decent price, and can afford the extra budget, that's what I'd buy. 

But I'd probably wait a month or so and see how the new VM 28mm does.  It will probably be pretty good and will be the best bang for the buck. 

[Casey Jefferson]

Images coming out from the Biogon and the MD looking really good!

[adan]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I happen to have tried all three of the lenses in the original list in the past couple of years - just searching. My experience:

- Voigtlander Ultron f/2.0. Very strong curvature of field at f/2.0. I.E. full-length portrait, belt-buckle sharp, head and feet noticably soft and streaky. Or vice versa. Very sharp and contrasty at f/2.0 - if you can figure out which part of the picture will come out sharp.

- Zeiss Biogon - blue-ish corners on digital that I could not get rid of, no matter which Leica lens profile I tried.

- Elmarit-M v.3 has always been my favorite, since 2001. Only real drawback is that it is LARGE - but I put up with that for the gentler contrast in harsh lighting, and the Mandler/Canada color. My most recent copy is now at Leica to get 6-bit-coded.

_______

Just as a side note, if you really want the 1970s consistency, the 28 Elmarit (no "-M") v. 2 is an interesting lens, that is often $100-200 less than the v.3.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

To be frank, I tried one back in the early 1980s, with little Leica experience - and it put me off the M system for a couple of decades. It is quite - dreamy - away from the center at f/2.8. It was the version re-designed to make room for the M5/CL metering arms, and thus Leica's first attempt at a retrofocus M lens ( a long distance between the rear element and the shutter). And Dr. Mandler's, shall we say, inexperience with the genre really shows.

But I ran across one a couple of years ago, and gave it a whirl or two on the M10, and found that with just a little stopping down (to f/4.5 or so) the corners cleaned up really nicely. And it is pretty decent in the center of the picture even at f/2.8.

If you are already using the 35mm Summicron v.3, it will behave about like that.

It has a very gentle global contrast, a warm color cast (like a built-in 81A filter), and shows little sign of "Italian Flag" color-stains on digital, even with no coding (which is good, since it cannot be coded and no code exists for it).

I credit that last to the really strong retrofocus design - it was, in a way, accidentally designed to be reasonably digital-friendly. 30 years ahead of its time.

For my own purposes, I still prefer the v.3 (and a v.3 in the hand is worth two v.2s you have to hunt for) - but an awful lot of great 28mm pictures were made in the 1970s with the v.2.

You Figure It Out, M10 B&W conversion at about f/5.6, 28mm Elmarit v.2, 2018

 

[farnz]

13 hours ago, bcapphoto said:

I'm trying to pick between 3 lenses to cover the 28mm FOV. Curious as to your thoughts: 

• Leica 28mm f/2.8 Elmart-M v3
• Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 Biogon ZM
• Voigtlander 28mm f/2.0 Ultron

Instead of these I would recommend the Voigtlander 28 f/1.9 Ultron, which doesn't have the focus shift problem of the f/2.0 mentioned by LCT and I haven't noticed the degree of field curvature of the f/2.0 mentioned by Adan.  It has a very pleasant low-ish contrast rendering but also produces sufficiently crisp pictures and is small and light compared to the Elmarit v3.

Pete. 

[andym91]

Why would you want a fast 28mm lens ?

surely the 28 Summaron should be in the selection at a used price of +- 1000 Euro?

just a thought

andy 

[farnz]

14 minutes ago, andym91 said:

Why would you want a fast 28mm lens ?

For the opportunities offered for separation of subject from background or to reduce ISO in conditions where the ambient light is low.

Pete.

[rramesh]

Wait for this. https://leicarumors.com/2021/04/15/new-voigtlander-ultron-vintage-line-28mm-f-2-aspherical-vm-type-ii-lens-for-leica-m-mount-announced.aspx/

 

[Ray Vonn]

5 hours ago, rramesh said:

Wait for this. https://leicarumors.com/2021/04/15/new-voigtlander-ultron-vintage-line-28mm-f-2-aspherical-vm-type-ii-lens-for-leica-m-mount-announced.aspx/

 

Ooh er, a “Steel Rim” I see.

[Theory033]

I owned the Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 Biogon ZM for many years and since replaced it with the current version of the Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH, mainly because the Leica is smaller and has 6-bit coding (for my EXIF lens data).

Honestly, I don't use the 28mm often anymore since I purchased the (recently discontinued) Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH. I find that the 28mm and 35mm are too close for me to really care about the difference, whereas the 24mm is a more interesting field of view (for me) and pairs well with either a 35mm or 50mm lens. So, that would be my recommendation, a used Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH can be found for a pretty good price when they show up.

[Bart D]

I had the Zeiss Biogon in the first set of lenses I bought for the rangefinder.
Later, I bought the Summicron. I did not sell the Biogon.

[Ko.Fe.]

Wait for new ZM 28 f2 APSH Ultron. It is already announced. 

https://leicarumors.com/2021/04/15/new-voigtlander-ultron-vintage-line-28mm-f-2-aspherical-vm-type-ii-lens-for-leica-m-mount-announced.aspx/

Previos, 500 USD 28/2 Ultron is known for focus shifts, Elmarit-M 28 2.8 V3 is huge lens with VF blocking and crappy plastic focus tab with optics not always staying in good order. ZM handling is just awful, IMO. CV 28 3.5 doesn't seems to have enough sharpness on digital (if you plan to use it on digital).

The only good reason to get Canadian Percheron (28 2.8 III) is black and white dark room prints. Here is no any other 28 which renders like this biggie.  Brightlines finder is still better for it than blocked in camera VF framelines. IMO. But I sold this lens because I can't handle it in Winogrand's style. 

 

[Ko.Fe.]

On 4/16/2021 at 3:10 AM, Ray Vonn said:

Ooh er, a “Steel Rim” I see.

Don't know what exactly it is. But three different versions will be available. 

[m410]

You currently enjoy focal lengths of 35mm, 50mm, 90mm which are a classic Leica combination.  AND they are middle of the road visually.  My choice would be to skip the focal length of 28mm and go instead with the impact of 21mm.  I find an ultra-wide lens on a rangefinder Leica is a great combination.

Good luck with your selection.

Edited April 18, 2021 by m410

[m410]

Try:       https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/253730-your-ultra-wide-angle-uwa-pictures-10mm-to-21mm/page/42/?tab=comments#comment-3785799

ULTRA-WIDE lenses, rather than moderate wide-angle focal lengths, are fun and make possible very dramatic images.  I use mine with both live-view and a separate 21mm viewfinder (which I prefer).