Get a Q or grab a 28mm Elmarit (or Summicron) for my M240/246?

[bcapphoto]

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Hey everyone!

Curious for input on this. I shoot with an M240/246 (mostly 246) as well as an M6. I have the 35mm Summicron v3 and 50mm Summicron v3 as well as a 90mm Tele-Elmarit. 

I've been thinking about going wider and possibly getting rid of the 35mm for a 28mm (Elmarit ASPH or Summicron ASPH). But I also love the lens on the Q - though I've never shot one. I have a Fuji X100V so I'm familiar enough with the small-and-pocketable (ish) camera system. 

Just curious - if you were in my position, would you grab a 28mm Elmarit or Summicron for your M240/246/M6 or jump right in with the Q? 

[RoySmith]

Hard to answer not knowing how you like to shoot. Since I got the Q2 I haven’t used the 28mm Summicron M on my M9. I have however used the 28mm Summilux M on my SL.

I’m not really helping you - sorry.You could rent a Q or Q2 and try it for a couple of days to see how you like it. It is very different than a rangefinder.

[MarkP]

Fully understand and agree with getting a a 28. However I'd go with neither of these options.

I'd seriously consider a 2.8/28 Elmarit-M III which will render much more sympathetically with your current 50mm and 90mm lenses.  I have sets of both older and current lenses, including 2.8/28 Elmarit-M III, 2.8/28 Elmarit-M ASPH and 2.0/28 Summicron ASPH v2.  There are significant differences between all of these fabulous lenses.

28, 50 and 90 is a great range of focal lengths. I much prefer a 28/50 combo as I usually find 35 either too short or too long.

Having said, that I still find 35mm very useful as my jack-of-all-trades, single-lens-outing-but-not-quite-sure-what-I may-want-to-photograph-lens.  For that reason, is it really worth selling the 35? 

 

Regards,

Mark

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by MarkP

[MFT-Lehrling]

In my opinion the Q (1 or 2) paired with M-Body& 50mm Lense is perfect if you want all from Leica.  You don't have to switch lenses , it's much faster + you have a good close-up camera. 
Q Type 116 (1) is most of the time enough, going from 28(26mm the Lense states 28mm, but actually the field of view is a bit wider) to 35mm with crop mode. If you tend to crop your images quite a lot (more than 35mm crop) and use JPEGs, go for the Q2. 

28mm Summicron-M has a real bad price& perfomance ratio, if you compare it to the 28(26)mm Summilux-Q. 

The M240/246 is bad at high ISO, in comparison with the Q. If you don't use the Lense& Camera with wide open apertures& high ISO, you might prefer the M with a 28mm lense. 

Cheap combo: M246 with 50mm Apo-Voigtländer + Q Typ 116
all Leica cheap combo: M246 with 50mm Summicron (V4/V5) + Q Typ 116

Like stated above, rent a Q, if you are not sure aboute only using EVF.
 

[bcapphoto]

10 hours ago, RoySmith said:

Hard to answer not knowing how you like to shoot. Since I got the Q2 I haven’t used the 28mm Summicron M on my M9. I have however used the 28mm Summilux M on my SL.

I’m not really helping you - sorry.You could rent a Q or Q2 and try it for a couple of days to see how you like it. It is very different than a rangefinder.

Good call re: better understanding me and my style of photography! Let me explain (and dump some images) to give some context. 

I've been a full-time wedding and portrait photographer for 15 years. Then, 6-7 years ago, I founded a software company for photographers called Sprout Studio. So these days, I keep my schedule full more with running Sprout, leading my team and teaching photographers than I do shooting weddings professionally. Though I still do 8-10 per year and a dozen or so portraits per year. 

Most of my photography with my Leica M (digital and film) cameras are of our 3 kids - 8, 5 and 3. 

Here are a handful of digital M246 shots 👇

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[bcapphoto]

Further to my last comment, here are some (personal, family) film M shots on my M6 👇

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[bcapphoto]

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Whereas here is some of my portrait work on my film M 👇

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[bcapphoto]

I also enjoy shooting the odd (sunrise) landscape shot on slide film too - here are a few examples 👇

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[bcapphoto]

10 hours ago, RoySmith said:

I’m not really helping you - sorry.You could rent a Q or Q2 and try it for a couple of days to see how you like it. It is very different than a rangefinder.

Re: renting - I love that idea! I'm in Canada and can't seem to find ANYWHERE that rents 🤦‍♂️ - I found LensRentals.com in the US but they don't ship to Canada. 

[bcapphoto]

9 hours ago, MarkP said:

Fully understand and agree with getting a a 28. However I'd go with neither of these options.

I'd seriously consider a 2.8/28 Elmarit-M III which will render much more sympathetically with your current 50mm and 90mm lenses.  I have sets of both older and current lenses, including 2.8/28 Elmarit-M III, 2.8/28 Elmarit-M ASPH and 2.0/28 Summicron ASPH v2.  There are significant differences between all of these fabulous lenses.

28, 50 and 90 is a great range of focal lengths. I much prefer a 28/50 combo as I usually find 35 either too short or too long.

Having said, that I still find 35mm very useful as my jack-of-all-trades, single-lens-outing-but-not-quite-sure-what-I may-want-to-photograph-lens.  For that reason, is it really worth selling the 35? 

 

Regards,

Mark

 

Really good point! 

Grabbing the v3 28mm Elmarit was one of my choices, too. I found a decent one in one of the FB buy/sell groups, too. Hmm ... 🤔

[bcapphoto]

3 hours ago, MFT-Lehrling said:

In my opinion the Q (1 or 2) paired with M-Body& 50mm Lense is perfect if you want all from Leica.  You don't have to switch lenses , it's much faster + you have a good close-up camera. 
Q Type 116 (1) is most of the time enough, going from 28(26mm the Lense states 28mm, but actually the field of view is a bit wider) to 35mm with crop mode. If you tend to crop your images quite a lot (more than 35mm crop) and use JPEGs, go for the Q2. 
 

Can you clarify what you mean by "if I use JPEGs go for the Q2" please? When I shoot my personal work (i.e. my kids - see above) I love to just shoot JPG and use the JPGs straight out of the camera. I've always done that with my X100V and love the results. Are you suggesting that the Q2 produces better OOC JPG files over the Q? 

3 hours ago, MFT-Lehrling said:

The M240/246 is bad at high ISO, in comparison with the Q. If you don't use the Lense& Camera with wide open apertures& high ISO, you might prefer the M with a 28mm lense. 
 

I'd argue that the M246 is STELLAR in low-light. Here's a shot from my M246 @ ISO 8000 - that's just insane! Ha

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[MFT-Lehrling]

vor 2 Minuten schrieb bcapphoto:

I'd argue that the M246 is STELLAR in low-light. Here's a shot from my M246 @ ISO 8000 - that's just insane! Ha

My bad here, i was mistaken the m246 with the m262... the Mono is fine with high ISO, but only BW. The advantage of the Q is the stabilisation, i allways struggle shooting slower than 1/60 with my M240. With the Q 1/30 goes easy, sometimes 1/15. 

[bcapphoto]

Just now, MFT-Lehrling said:

My bad here, i was mistaken the m246 with the m262... the Mono is fine with high ISO, but only BW. The advantage of the Q is the stabilisation, i allways struggle shooting slower than 1/60 with my M240. With the Q 1/30 goes easy, sometimes 1/15. 

Got it - yea - no problem! 

See I find for what I shoot (people) - whenever I'd need OIS (aka below 1/60th), I'll get a blurry shot anyway (moving kids) haha. 

[MFT-Lehrling]

vor 6 Minuten schrieb bcapphoto:

Can you clarify what you mean by "if I use JPEGs go for the Q2" please? When I shoot my personal work (i.e. my kids - see above) I love to just shoot JPG and use the JPGs straight out of the camera. I've always done that with my X100V and love the results. Are you suggesting that the Q2 produces better OOC JPG files over the Q? 

I used the Q 116 for over a year, and since a few weeks i switched to the Q2.
You have more freedom when shooting JPEG, cause you have more JPEG Settings to choose, e.g. you have 2 different BW Modes. (I love the BW (HC) mode of the Q2)

The Q2 got a major firmware update in 2020.

--> Yes, i would suggest that the OOC JPG from the Q2 are better. 

 

[T25UFO]

7 hours ago, bcapphoto said:

Good call re: better understanding me and my style of photography! Let me explain (and dump some images) to give some context. 

I've been a full-time wedding and portrait photographer for 15 years. Then, 6-7 years ago, I founded a software company for photographers called Sprout Studio. So these days, I keep my schedule full more with running Sprout, leading my team and teaching photographers than I do shooting weddings professionally. Though I still do 8-10 per year and a dozen or so portraits per year. 

Most of my photography with my Leica M (digital and film) cameras are of our 3 kids - 8, 5 and 3. 

Here are a handful of digital M246 shots 👇

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!

Lovely set of photos

Edited April 21, 2021 by T25UFO

[T25UFO]

I think you would love a Q2M.

[bcapphoto]

3 hours ago, T25UFO said:

Lovely set of photos

Thank you! 🙏

[bcapphoto]

3 hours ago, T25UFO said:

I think you would love a Q2M.

Heh - been thinking about it ... 

[MarkP]

Can you afford the 2.8/28 Elmarit-M III (which is relatively cheap by Leicaland standards) and keep the 35 Summicron to complete your current kit with a set of similarly rendering lenses, and get a Q2? 

It would be a shame having a 28 that produces very different looking lenses. I try not to mix my Karbe and Mandler lenses as the photos look so different.

You do know you'll regret selling a Leica lens 🙂

This would give you the best of both worlds.

Edited April 22, 2021 by MarkP

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[bcapphoto]

6 minutes ago, MarkP said:

Can you afford the 2.8/28 Elmarit-M III (which is relatively cheap by Leicaland standards) and keep the 35 Summicron to complete your current kit with a set of similarly rendering lenses, and get a Q2? 

It would be a shame having a 28 that produces very different looking lenses. I try not to mix my Karbe and Mandler lenses as the photos look so different.

You do know you'll regret selling a Leica lens 🙂

This would give you the best of both worlds.

I don’t know if I’d want/use/need a Q2 if I had the Elmarit. I’m thinking the v3 Elmarit may be the way to go eh? Consistency with my other lenses! I love the look out of my v3 35mm Summicron so you’re right - I’d hate to sell it!