M Photography: 35 mm or 50 mm?

[Viv]

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After an absence of some years, I am thinking of re-entering the world of Leica M, either with an M10 or an M11.

For a one-lens system, should I opt for 35 mm or 50 mm?

Edited October 10, 2021 by Viv

[a.noctilux]

The two of your choices,

then take time to use them a lot,

then choose one (or not ! or more who knows ?)

...

have a nice reading, here

 

side note...

So individual that no one can choose for you.

Edited October 10, 2021 by a.noctilux

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[evikne]

This is probably one of the most discussed topics on this forum. And sadly, there is no conclusion. The only answer is that you have to find out for yourself which focal length you prefer. Or maybe there is a lens you really like to use because of its tactile feel, its design or something else? If you love a lens really much, you can probably live with it as your only one, almost regardless of focal length.

I have two such lenses, one 35 and one 50 mm. But choosing only one of them is impossible! 😊

[grahamc]

I love them both (all my Leica lenses at this point are different 35mm and 50mm), however if I really only had to pick one it would be the 35mm, and add a 50mm as soon as possible after.  In fact that's what I did    

If I could only leave the house with one, then again 'most' times it would probably be the 35mm - if only for practical purposes really because I find I have more flexibility.  

I'm making it sound like the 35mm is far preferred but really I would hate to be without either 

 

[a.noctilux]

@Viv

My answer was a non-answer,

I'd be more positive, to begin (it's not easy I know) with the one 35 or 50 (if not possible to decide, flip a coin ! ).

 

Take the first one, then use it, maybe the second one can be ignored, or can be the prefered one.

Only you can DO this by yourself.

 

Make the journey (to 35/50) a pleasure, that would be my last words.

Edited October 10, 2021 by a.noctilux

[grahamc]

If it's any help at all I just completed a project shooting daily, sometimes going out twice a day, a few hours each time for a couple of months.  I started out in the project always carrying with 35mm and 50mm since I had previously felt that I use them fairly equally.   I always shoot often but nothing like this intensely.

What I found was (for me personally) was that when I had the 50mm on, although I found it perfect for whatever I'd specifically put it on for (in my case this would be environmental portraiture, or perhaps just not wanting to be quite so close to subjects on that particular day), I would quite soon find it just a little too narrow for 'something' I wanted to do.  Conversely whenever I mounted the 35mm I felt I could find a workaround and to do anything with it.

As I result I probably shot 80% - 85% of the time with the 35mm, which really surprised me.   I ended up leaving the 50mm at home often once I got really into the project, and was loving travelling light with the 35mm mounted and leaving the house with no other gear.   

Highly subjective of course but that was my experience and if I hadn't been doing something quite intensively over a period of weeks I don't think I would've learned this about my own preferences when it really matters.  

This will probably change now I'm back to very casual shooting, and the 50mm will get a lot of love again, but it was interesting to experience the confidence (in terms of flexibility) I felt with the 35mm.

Highly subjective I know but may help.  This was for general street / travel stuff  .  The downside was I had to learn to get closer, which probably wasn't a bad thing either. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by grahamc

[grahamc]

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1 hour ago, Viv said:

After an absence of some years, I am thinking of re-entering the world of Leica M, either with an M10 or an M11.

For a one-lens system, should I opt for 35 mm or 50 mm?

So I guess it leads to the question - what do you think you'll be shooting, generally ?   

[Viv]

Well,  I am quite happy with the 28 mm Q2.

The resolution is good enough to allow significant cropping when required.

[jankap]

Take the 35er and crop the picture if necessary. See the Leica Q. Personally I would even go for a 28er in your case.

[Viv]

3 minutes ago, jankap said:

Take the 35er and crop the picture if necessary. See the Leica Q. Personally I would even go for a 28er in your case.

Thank you for this very helpful comment.

I will reflect on it before deciding.

[jankap]

23 minutes ago, carlosmcse said:

I didn’t know you had 28mm. If you already have 28mm the perfect companion I’ve found is the 50mm. 
 

28 cropped is still 28. 

No, if you crop it in the viewfinder to 50mm, at that time you have a 50mmEQ lens giving a picture with a not so good resolution. You throw away a lot of the pixels in post.

See https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/286217-r-lens-image-thread/page/110/#comments

Post 2187 and 2188

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by jankap

[chris_tribble]

If I look back over a decade of digital M photography the 35 Summicron Asph is my most used lens. I have narrowed things down to 28, 35, 50 and 135 since moving mainly into an SL2 based system. One M and one lens. 35.

[jankap]

2 hours ago, carlosmcse said:

This is true that you can make a 28mm look exactly like a 75mm if you stand in the same place. And you’re also correct about throwing away pixels. The IQ suffers the more you crop. I think everyone knows that. 
 

Unfortunately this isn’t how real photography works. 

The first paragraph is ok. But the last one? What is real? There is no rule for that.

If I plan to print a picture at 360 ppi in format A3+ (483x320mm), I need 6600 x 4400 pixels, that is 29M pixels. It is the my task then to get these 29M: plain, PS, TOPAZ, etc.

[Yarosuav]

If you can really only have one (between 35mm and 50mm), then 35mm for sure. No contest. End of story. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Yarosuav

[Gobert]

I would choice for 50. For me, it is perfect. In the meantime I’ve collected three.

But for you: sorry you have to find out yourself.

[Narsuitus]

7 hours ago, Viv said:

For a one-lens system, should I opt for 35 mm or 50 mm?

Based on my previous experience using 24, 28, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55mm focal length lenses in one-lens 35mm SLR and rangefinder systems, I knew that the 35 would work best for me when I purchased my Leica M6.

What lenses were you using before your decision to re-enter the world of Leica M?

[Narsuitus]

5 hours ago, Viv said:

Well,  I am quite happy with the 28 mm Q2.

The resolution is good enough to allow significant cropping when required.

If you are happy with the 28mm on the Q2, why are you looking for another one-lens system?

[grahamc]

3 hours ago, carlosmcse said:

I shot 35mm only for 2 years. I had only 1 lens. 
 

i shot 50mm for 1 year. It was my only lens. 
 

50mm I shot first. I felt the same that it was too narrow sometimes. Then I got 50 and 24. 24 was way too wide so I took the 50 out because it was smaller and easier to shoot. 
 

then I got rid of both and only shot 35mm. This was my most used lens that I shot continuously because it’s so versatile. 
 

The 35 allowed me to learn what I wanted to see in the frame. So I learned actually that I wanted simpler compositions and I ended up cropping a lot of the 35mm shots. 
 

when I switched systems I had a long think about lenses and now I have 28mm and 50mm. They are the perfect pair. 
 

if I could only have 1 then I would choose 35, but the thing with 35 is that unless that’s your jam, it ends up being neither here nor there. Not wide enough and not narrow enough. It doesn’t give you the compression and separation and simple compositions of the 50 (also not having to throw away pixels), and then not wide enough for every day casual shooting. Sometimes I had my nice 35 and my expensive camera with me only to have to take out my phone to be able to take a photo of what was in front of me. Or just leave the camera at home altogether because 35 just wasn’t wide enough for where I was going. 
 

after all that time I learned the “if I could only have one lens” question is a dumb question. I don’t buy interchangeable lens cameras to only have 1 lens. And for years I did it not have 1 lens, so I have experience with “if I could only have one”  I did only have one  

now I have 2 very small lenses. I can take my camera with one lens and put the other one in my pocket if I don’t want to carry a bag. 
 

and the point of all this is that this is what works for ME. Everyone has to go through their own journey. 

Totally get it .  Funny thing is I have a 28mm also (a Minolta rokkor m mount) , which (previous to doing the shooting I was mentioning above) I didn't use much and took it out for specific reasons.   Anyway, when I used it on the project I was talking about , I found I just left it on or took the 28mm and 50mm .  Because I'd learned to get a lot closer with the 35mm, I did the same again with the 28mm and it was super versatile !  I was surprised that I just left it on a lot.  

Shooting a massive amount in a short space of time made me fast-track my learning of my own preferences, or maybe they'd always been there and it made me notice them.  What I learned, at this point and specific to me, was :

If had  to have a 2 lens set, it should be 28 + 50 

If I had to have just one, it should be 35. 

I say 'should' because I'm talking about decisions that, for me, maximise the practical advantages of getting the job done  ... and not just grabbing a favourite lens (in which case it would be 35 lol) 

I'd still be bummed to lose the 35mm in the 2 lens scenario tho  

Edited October 10, 2021 by grahamc

[grahamc]

7 minutes ago, carlosmcse said:

a lot of people dismiss 28 as “too wide” but it’s so perfect. I love it.

Yeah that's what I was thinking when I was using it .  I was really surprised I felt that way about the 28 and I got some of the best shots with it .    I think the step through from 35 >> 28 was crucial for my journey to get there though, due to having gotten used to being close , then the extra for 28mm was insignificant .     I also took some nice environmental portraits with it which I don't think 35mm would have improved on. 

Overall I agree, this all kinda comes back to the fact that they are all nice but 35mm is the sweet spot for me, if only one lens .  

Edited October 10, 2021 by grahamc

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[rramesh]

Choice of lens is all about your point of view.