Looking to transition to the Leica M system

[LanceR]

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Just want to reiterate my appreciation for everyone taking the time to relay their experiences, thoughts, and links.  It was definitely helpful!

 

[a.noctilux]

@LanceR

Take the body of your choice film or digital, then why not the lens of your choice,

most important is experience of the M system, you are allowed to like/not like the experience.

Only way to know is experience by yourself.

 

In my practice, having a kit (more than one lens) can be done later, so

in the first step, I advice with only one lens (of your choice).

Practice a lot with the one lens M kit to find out which lens(es) you need then complete, but not from start.

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[LanceR]

@a.noctilux Thank you for your thoughts and I completely agree.  I was looking to take the the best educated first step I could.  I looked extensively at my own portfolio, reviewed a lot of sample photos, read a lot about the system, read some M camera manuals, went to my local Leica shop to experiment with various lenses, read a lot of the threads on this forum, and read some reviews.  (I am always cautious about online reviews). I thought I would ask the specific question to the group here.

The kits I proposed were not kits I would go buy on day one, rather, more of an educated guess as to what I would build towards.

The big decision for me was whether I should to start with the 35mm or 50mm.   Based on the discussion here, I am happy to start with the 35mm.  Admitting confirmation bias, I will say that is the way I was leaning based on the research I did prior to asking the question here.

I know that 35mm will not be enough for all of my needs, but it is a fine place to start as I gain experience with the system.  I will see where it goes from there.

I am planning to be in Italy for almost a month this summer, so I intend to get a decent number of shutter activations before I go.  I want to have some practice with an M camera and lens by then.

Thank you!

[Erikvw]

Congratulations with your choice of the 35mm to start with. My first experience with the Leica was on a trip to New York a few years ago. The 35mm summilux was glued to my camera and shot the whole trip with just that lens. Never felt the need to take an other lens with me. And as Jaapv already mentioned above, you will probably end with a brunch of lenses anyway.

[a.noctilux]

@LanceR

As someone wrote many weeks back :

read less, take more pictures (I mean here, practice more).

...

Before summer, you would be fixed, don't hesitate to practice M philosophy "one lens" for a while before going to the lovely country (maybe with a kit, why not).

As side note and lover of Italy and everywhere I go people are so friendly * and the variety of townscape/landscape,

I'd go for 50mm on an M,

😔 but that is just me with only 35mm this would be a bit "too wide" in most cases.

another kit if possible is the well know classic trio 35/50/90 ideal kit (a bit forgotten!) since decades, as mentioned so many times already.

 

* why 50mm over 35mm, for people at good italian distance, 35mm would be too wide (for me)

50mm lens is more universal for portrait, if we can not use the trio kit,

** or why not Summarit-M 35/75 without 50,

75mm would be nice close portrait lens, and 35mm for other uses

Edited January 13, 2022 by a.noctilux

[Winedemonium]

Many people will say 24-35-75 is a classic kit, and others will say 28-50-90. Both make sense because they efficiently cover a good range of angles of view, and start with the question - which do you prefer, 35mm or 50mm for 'normal'? 

In practice however, the key strength of the M system is viewing/framing and focusing through the OVF, and as such I find the lenses I use the most on M cameras are 28-35-50, and this is a viable 3-lens kit for this camera. And in fact if I was to start with a two lens kit it would actually be 35-50. I think these two are further apart than we sometime give credit.