New to Leica! Purchasing an M10M but need help with lens decisions.

[fotografr]

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9 hours ago, Jeff S said:

Brent, a few questions regarding the 35 Ultron II.  Do you use a hood (if so, which....if not, flaring?).  And is 6 bit coding available (and if not, how do you accommodate lens on M10M?).  I've always stuck to Leica lenses, so I'm not familiar with M recognition.  I've read good reviews on this lens and had been considering a 'cheap' addition for a compact 35.  I have the 35 Summaron f2.8, but I'm not a big fan of the focus lock. Any idea how the Ultron compares in rendering?  Oh, and I have the smallish Summicron ASPH v.1.

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Jeff--I use the LH-4N hood, acquired from Camera Quest where I also bought the lens. There's only a small portion of the viewfinder blocked. Probably less than 10 percent. For the lens detection, I just manually set the camera menu to "35/2 ASPH. 11879/11882" which I think is the closest Leica equivalent. Since this is my only non-Leica lens, I set the lens detection to "auto" so that my Leica lenses are correctly detected and when I put the VC 35 on, it goes directly to the manual setting and I don't have to do a thing.

I don't have the 35 Summaron  f2.8 to do a comparison, but I've just shot some very quick wide open frames with the Ultron to give a sense of the OOF rendering, which I really like. Stopped down, the lens is razor sharp across the entire frame. Since I've only used the lens with the shade, I can't give any info on flare, but I've not experienced any at all when using the hood. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Brent

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Edited January 20, 2022 by fotografr

[Jeff S]

Thanks so much, Brent.  I appreciate the generous and helpful feedback, including the pics.  It seems a very nice little lens, for a bargain price by Leica standards.  I’m trying to consolidate/reduce gear these days, not add to my options, but this might provide a replacement  for my Summaron and/or Summicron (the latter does have a tendency to flare a bit… with hood… and exhibits some mild focus shift at f2.8/4).  Maybe my first attempt at a third party M lens in over 30 years… will consider.

Do you like it on both your color and Monochrom bodies? 

Jeff

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[fotografr]

6 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

Thanks so much, Brent.  I appreciate the generous and helpful feedback, including the pics.  It seems a very nice little lens, for a bargain price by Leica standards.  I’m trying to consolidate/reduce gear these days, not add to my options, but this might provide a replacement  for my Summaron and/or Summicron (the latter does have a tendency to flare a bit… with hood… and exhibits some mild focus shift at f2.8/4).  Maybe my first attempt at a third party M lens in over 30 years… will consider.

Do you like it on both your color and Monochrom bodies? 

Jeff

Yes, it's a great performer on both bodies. I had been purchasing a variety of Voigtlander lenses but have gone back to the Leica versions with the exception of this little beauty. The build quality, black paint on brass, is exceptional. Smooth focus, solid aperture clicks. If there's any focus shift, I haven't found it. I'm doing the same as you in terms of reducing my gear to what I really need. This lens is a definite keeper.

Brent

[Jeff S]

1 minute ago, fotografr said:

Yes, it's a great performer on both bodies. I had been purchasing a variety of Voigtlander lenses but have gone back to the Leica versions with the exception of this little beauty. The build quality, black paint on brass, is exceptional. Smooth focus, solid aperture clicks. If there's any focus shift, I haven't found it. I'm doing the same as you in terms of reducing my gear to what I really need. This lens is a definite keeper.

Brent

Excellent, thanks much!

Jeff

[augustwest100]

On 1/14/2022 at 9:51 PM, Jbraun66 said:

So the APO isn't a requirement? 😆  I am used to higher megapixel cams and I like detail in my images.  I have the Sony a7rII and Sony a1and a wide range of lenses.  I live on the wider side and the 200 + long side with those cams 70 -80% of the time.  I want this for a different experience.  I really want to explore this angle of photography and I agree that this is a lifetime investment.  I don't part with my gear typically.

Initially, I would have recommended that you try some vintage lenses, because that’s where the fun is  However, since you mentioned Sony A7RII and detail, you might want to try the 35 LUX FLE. I find it almost too sharp on the M10M, if that’s possible. You can crop till you drop if you like that sort of thing. I haven’t tried the APO 35, but would be interested in some comparisons of those two on the M10M. Also the 21 SEM is great on M10M. Just got the Voigtlander 28 2.0 latest version so I can report back on that once I hit the streets again.

Or you could wait for the M11M (gasp) or the SL3 (gasp) or the Q3 (ok enough gasping).

[ZoomP]

20 hours ago, Jeff S said:

Brent, a few questions regarding the 35 Ultron II.  Do you use a hood (if so, which....if not, flaring?).  And is 6 bit coding available (and if not, how do you accommodate lens on M10M?).  I've always stuck to Leica lenses, so I'm not familiar with M recognition.  I've read good reviews on this lens and had been considering a 'cheap' addition for a compact 35.  I have the 35 Summaron f2.8, but I'm not a big fan of the focus lock. Any idea how the Ultron compares in rendering?  Oh, and I have the smallish Summicron ASPH v.1.

Thanks,

Jeff

I use the hood, but I suspect without it, the flare control pretty good too! That hood is just pure sexy!  As for lens profile, I use 35 ASPH.

[sergiomarried]

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On 1/21/2022 at 1:33 AM, augustwest100 said:

Initially, I would have recommended that you try some vintage lenses, because that’s where the fun is  However, since you mentioned Sony A7RII and detail, you might want to try the 35 LUX FLE. I find it almost too sharp on the M10M, if that’s possible. You can crop till you drop if you like that sort of thing. I haven’t tried the APO 35, but would be interested in some comparisons of those two on the M10M. Also the 21 SEM is great on M10M. Just got the Voigtlander 28 2.0 latest version so I can report back on that once I hit the streets again.

Or you could wait for the M11M (gasp) or the SL3 (gasp) or the Q3 (ok enough gasping).

Let us know about that 28mm f2 Voigtlander on M10M please. Been very interested about it and can’t find many users on the Monochrom 

[Erato]

On 1/18/2022 at 10:03 AM, relms said:

I checked out the images for which you provided a link - very impressive work.

Thank you so much for your kind comments. Your gallery on Flickr is very inspiring, already followed.

[stefanusj]

On 1/15/2022 at 8:18 AM, Jbraun66 said:

I have lusted after the M10M for the past year or so and am ready to bite the bullet.  I can't seem to get taking B&W photos out of my head andI just can't seem to wrap my head around the lenses.  I tend to think starting out with a 28mm for wider shots and a 50mm for the rest should get me started.  Question is do I dip my toe in with Leica glass or try Zeiss or Voigtlander?  I am considering the 28 f2.8 Elmarit to cover the wider side but I really don't know what 50 to look at.  With the ISO capability of the M10M I won't need the fastest glass out there but There are so many 50's out there I am left scratching my head.   Or.....am I going about this the wrong way?  Shelling out this kind of money I would like to get it right.  Thanks for your help.

just go with 28 summaron. they always lived happily ever after...

[kevinjoe]

I have the M10M and keep a 50mm lens glued to it.  I had the 50mm Summicron (V5) on it initially.  I basically would be happy shooting anything with that focal length.  I bought the 50mm APO Summicron and kept the V5 too (use it on an SL2 along with other lenses for my real estate work).  So now the 50mm APO stays on the M10M full time. . . Still, I don't think you can see a difference in sharpness enough for any real practical application though . . . both are amazing lenses.  The only reason I bought the APO is I thought the V5 bokeh looked busy if you had something like a hedge or other repeating pattern in the out of focus areas, it didn't look as good as if I'd shot with a 35mm summilux FLE.  The APO looks better I think for that . . .sort of like a workhorse small summicron with summilux bokeh.  

The other benefit of the APO I discovered is that there seems to be a more dramatic drop in contrast from in-focus to out-of-focus so it feels a little more 3D.  Having said that, if I was doing it all over, I'd just have kept the 50mm Summicron V5 as my main lens.  It's so cheap compared to almost all other Leica glass and the performance is amazing.  AND it's tiny so you want to have the camera with you more.

All of this is to say, the 50mm Summicron V5 is what I'd always start with and then buy other stuff when you find that the focal length is holding your back or if you know for sure that you use it so much that you could justify the cost of the APO with a very small bump in performance that no one except those into cameras would notice. . . but never sell the V5 cause it's always great to have around and continues to increase in price!

Almost everything here: https://www.instagram.com/kevinjoefields/ that's in b&w was shot with one of these 50s, and, if it's the APO, it's marked in the hashtags. 

[mediumformula]

I'm a devout believer of the 50mm lens.  I own the 50mm Summilux Asph and the 50mm 2.4 Summarit.  The Summarit is a very good lens on the M10M.  Compact and lightweight and sharp.  In my opinion the 50mm Summarit 2.4 is the best modern 50mm Leica-made lens for contemporary digital Leicas, unless you fetishize super wide apertures and bokeh. It is recently discontinued but you can still get them for under $2k in like-new condition.  

[augustwest100]

On 1/22/2022 at 2:37 AM, sergiomarried said:

Let us know about that 28mm f2 Voigtlander on M10M please. Been very interested about it and can’t find many users on the Monochrom 

I thought of your comment today when the snow hit. So I trudged out there for you! Will post some 28mm Voigtlander shots in the M10M image forum now...obviously, the images are pretty high contrast, but nothing like a white scene in an overcast sky to test the limits of digital! 🙂

 

[geoffreyg]

For me its a balance between image quality, size/weight, and cost (only somewhat). So the stable here is largely Summicrons - 35, 50, with the 21 SEM (fantastic for architecture, no distortion, absolutely clean rendering), and a few CV lenses for lesser use - the 75 f2.5 (small nice lens) and a 15mm for the occasional use.

The 'Crons are the workhorses. For years shot with the 35, but somehow have moved to the 50 as lens of choice. While there may be more special magic with a 'lux, there is something a bit more relaxed (?) with the 'crons. Shooting wide open gets you close to the same look, and I'm not sure I could nail the focus with f1.4 - so prefer the lattitude of f2. Image below with 50 at f2.8. And the smaller size. Tho miss the 28 Elmarit, which went in a fit of frustration after the M8. 

Apos? Likely wonderful, but that's a big price to pay. Would rather go to medium format.

Just one person's 2¢.

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