My first Leica lens, some suggestions are welcome!

[spydrxx]

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I don't blame you for wanting to get a Leica lens on your M4...BUT...which one, budget considerations aside for the moment, best meets the focal length you will use most, your preferred ergonomics, and will give you the greatest bang for the buck. I wouldn't be swayed to fill a gap, since you already have pretty good fl coverage, unless you really anticipate a gnawing NEED for either a shorter or longer fl lens (perhaps to use with a Visoflex for macros, etc). IMHO a major consideration is also what type of rendering do you want, more classic or intensely sharp and contrasty modern. I made the mistake with the M$ I had for over 40 years, of thinking the classic rendition could be well improved with modern glass, and made the switch, to my dismay...everything was TOO razor sharp, TOO contrasty, and to my eye lacked character. The same shotc could have been duplicated with my SLRs wearing their best lenses. I began to back off, sold most of my modern look gear and gravitated, in most cases back to earlier lenses...and in about half of the cases chose non-Leica lenses to achieve the looks I wanted...CV, Nikon, and Canon coming into play as well as older Summicrons (I miss my 35/2.8 Summaron). If I was in your shoes, I'd give the lenses you have a year to weed the answers to all the above questions out and arrive at a very fully informed decision moving forward. You have a good present collection to work with, I'd get to know them all, warts and strong points, before going for the Leica designation, Have fun and good luck in your quest.

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[solamnus]

12 minutes ago, spydrxx said:

I don't blame you for wanting to get a Leica lens on your M4...BUT...which one, budget considerations aside for the moment, best meets the focal length you will use most, your preferred ergonomics, and will give you the greatest bang for the buck. I wouldn't be swayed to fill a gap, since you already have pretty good fl coverage, unless you really anticipate a gnawing NEED for either a shorter or longer fl lens (perhaps to use with a Visoflex for macros, etc). IMHO a major consideration is also what type of rendering do you want, more classic or intensely sharp and contrasty modern. I made the mistake with the M$ I had for over 40 years, of thinking the classic rendition could be well improved with modern glass, and made the switch, to my dismay...everything was TOO razor sharp, TOO contrasty, and to my eye lacked character. The same shotc could have been duplicated with my SLRs wearing their best lenses. I began to back off, sold most of my modern look gear and gravitated, in most cases back to earlier lenses...and in about half of the cases chose non-Leica lenses to achieve the looks I wanted...CV, Nikon, and Canon coming into play as well as older Summicrons (I miss my 35/2.8 Summaron). If I was in your shoes, I'd give the lenses you have a year to weed the answers to all the above questions out and arrive at a very fully informed decision moving forward. You have a good present collection to work with, I'd get to know them all, warts and strong points, before going for the Leica designation, Have fun and good luck in your quest.

Thank you for a very sore respons  As you say the lenses i have are most likely great each in their own right. I know from reading reviews that they should be great lenses.

To fill in some of the blanks of what my motivation and preference usually is when it comes to FL and IQ in general.

Im a Nikon shooter at base, and always shot with it both manual and analogue. And the body and lenses i tend to gravitate there are usually feeling and character more than sharpness and technically amazing. Lenses like the Noct which i have owned, or the imitation in 58 G or the 105 f1,4 G are all lenses with character rather than the perfect optical formula for sharpness etc. Also i favor the Nikon DF forts feeling and character rather than the newest and greatest.

Have a score of nice manual Nikkors and even there i favor the lenses bringing more character. As far as FL go i think my favorite has been 24 or 28 and then either a weird fl like a 58 or 55 rather than 50 to be honest, at least on my Nikons. otherwise 105 has been a favorite on the longer side.

However shooting street i have veered towards more Leica like FLs like the 50 and 28-35 mostly. Or even 40. I love shooting my Rollei 35s both with their character and FLs.

I have looked around and actually been looking for a summicron V4 but also on the rigid one( version 2-3?) Not many out there but most are from V5 from what i have seen.

Maybe il just get another M body while thinking about any other lens

 

[solamnus]

3 hours ago, Narsuitus said:

If I had been using the four lenses you listed, I would have an idea of which focal lengths I liked and/or used the most. In my case, the 35mm f/1.7 would be my personal favorite. I would replace it with a 35mm Leitz lens that was within my budgetary constraints.

On the other hand, if I were not satisfied with the optical performance and/or the physical construction of one of the lenses, that is the one I would replace with a Leitz lens that fit within my budgetary constraints.

However, I would probably be happy with the four lenses you listed. Therefore, I would keep the four lenses and buy a Leitz lens that was different from what I already had. In my case, I would look for a 21mm or a 135mm Leitz lens that I could add to my inventory.

The maybe i just have to use the 4 i have for a while before i spend that amount of money on a new one, as you say id know what to replace if any,

Thanks

[solamnus]

2 hours ago, lct said:

A Summicron 50/2 v3 or v4 would match well your tiny Rokkor 28/2.8 that i own as well together with a v4 and a v5 Summicron. V5 would suit well too but would be more expensive probably. V4 would be my favorite for its smaller size and its focus tab but i would choose a late copy with concave focus tab preferably. Matter of taste though,  some people prefer earlier models with convex aka "tiger claw" focus tab. Here a late copy with concave focus tab:

 

 

 

Thanks a lot  The the version 4 is the one i have tried to locate with no success thus far but wanted to find most. It seems like the best and most "logical " choice thinking budget and what seems to be "best". 

[padam]

https://www.edouardschneiders.com/review/leica-50mm-f-2-summicron-m-v4

https://www.edouardschneiders.com/review/leica-50mm-f-2-5-summarit-m

[Ernstk]

You should also seriously consider a 35/2.8 Summaron. It's a beautiful lens with amazing build quality. It will also work very well with film or digital.

The prices have been increasing recently but you should be able to find one within your budget.

Ernst

[ianman]

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On 6/2/2021 at 11:15 AM, Ernstk said:

You should also seriously consider a 35/2.8 Summaron. It's a beautiful lens with amazing build quality. It will also work very well with film or digital.

+1

[logan2z]

On 6/1/2021 at 9:10 AM, Herr Barnack said:

 I wish I'd been fast enough to get a copy of the 75mm f/2.4 before the Summarit line was retired.

I bought one before the line was killed and it is a really good lens.  I've seen a couple come up for sale on the secondary market so I'm sure you can track one down. 

[solamnus]

On 6/1/2021 at 7:31 PM, Stein K S said:

It is something about that 50 cron (v4/v5) that deserves some attention...  must be one of the more iconic Leica lenses all in all and as such ¨fun¨ to bring along in a life with Leica 😉

and should be within reach of budget

 In the end this is the first lens i added, the version 4 one  very happy with it. Now looking from time to time to maybe replace the Voigtländer 35 for a summicron in the future or something else  but so far very happy with both the 35 voigtländer and the Summi 50. Have tried the 28 minolta some and its a decent lens too to be honest. the 50 LTM nikon i have not tried out much, just used it once on my Leica M4 and it looked kind of cool with the sort of vintage look it added to the shots.