Lens for mountain landscapes

[a.noctilux]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

As Adan said so well,

there is no such thing as "mountain landscape lens".

Every lens can DO, only one's imagination is the limiting factor 😉.

[Cobram]

My most used lens while mounteneering is Leica SEM 21. Second most used is Cron( and/or Nokton 40 due to low weight.

[Maxpina]

On 3/5/2022 at 17:50, pippy said:

Ciao e benvenuto nel forum.

Per darti una risposta più significativa alle tue esigenze particolari, potresti indicarci quali obiettivi f/l (e quale formato!) preferisci utilizzare in genere con il tuo sistema di grande formato? Dato che hai già un obiettivo "Standard", stai cercando un obiettivo grandangolare o lungo?

Filippo.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable advice ...., in the large format I mainly use the standard 150 mm, the 210 mm, the 300 mm, sometimes the 90 mm, I had thought of the 35 mm on the 135 format because sometimes using the 'OM4 I mount the zuiko 35 f 2 on it and it seems to me that it has a nice view, as anticipated I realize that in the mountains the large format is its best thing, wanting to photograph with a Leica is perhaps a gamble, what do you think?

Max

[Maxpina]

4 hours ago, a.noctilux said:

As Adan said so well,

there is no such thing as "mountain landscape lens".

Every lens can DO, only one's imagination is the limiting factor 😉.

You are absolutely right, I have repeated this concept to me many times in my head, but now that I have bought the IIIG I would like to revive it in my beautiful mountains, I thought that in this forum someone had my idea and could give me his impressions , that's all ....

[Maxpina]

I love the sharpness, what I find in the large format, I know that in the 135 format I will never be able to get there, but with a good lens mounted on the IIIG maybe I get close ....

[pippy]

1 hour ago, Maxpina said:

...in the large format I mainly use the standard 150 mm, the 210 mm, the 300 mm, sometimes the 90 mm......I realize that in the mountains the large format is its best thing, wanting to photograph with a Leica is perhaps a gamble, what do you think?...

In which case having a 35mm and a 90mm to go along with your 50 Elmar seems like an excellent plan.

As has already been mentioned there are quite a few options open to you; you could stay with Leitz/Leica lenses or go with any of the many different makes who built lenses with the LTM thread. At the longer end of the focal-length spectrum Leica's own lenses can be found in good condition for (in LeicaWorld terms) very little outlay. By comparison Leica's wide lenses tend to be more sought-after and are priced accordingly.

Other makes from the same era (if you care about that sort of thing) are, like-for-like, normally far less expensive and, for all intents and purposes, can be every bit as good if not better. Some LTM lenses have been made in recent times and these will usually be a safer bet with regards to haze, fungus etc. and would probably be my suggestion (were it to be requested).

Using the Leica in the mountains certainly isn't a gamble. The Leica was originally created - in part - to be able to do just such a thing.

Good luck in your choice(s)!

Philip.

[adan]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

1 hour ago, Maxpina said:

.... as anticipated I realize that in the mountains the large format is its best thing, wanting to photograph with a Leica is perhaps a gamble, what do you think?

Max

Life is full of gambles...just climbing into high places is a gamble....

Oskar Barnack invented the little Leica camera exactly because he also loved climbing in the mountains to take pictures, but got worn out carrying the large cameras in the first decades of the 20th century. He thought that Leitz's experience making precision scientific-grade lenses (microscopes and telescopes) would allow a much smaller camera to do the same job - "Little negatives, big pictures."

And your IIIG is the direct descendent and pinnacle of development of his prototype, the Ur-Leica.

Quote

 Though the Ur-Leica was produced in 1914, its conceptual origin harks back to 1905, when a very young 25 years old Oskar Barnack hiked the slopes of the Thuringian Forest (central Germany), getting pictures with a bulky 5 x 7 (13 x 18 cm) wooden large format camera which was rather cumbersome to transport and needed to be used on a tripod.

It was then when he started thinking about the possibility of creating a very small and lightweight photographic camera which could be comfortably taken anywhere, used tiny negatives (compared to the very big ones featured by the large format and medium format cameras of the time, which were rather slow to use) and was able to get high quality pictures shooting handheld.

https://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2018/04/ur-leica-most-influential-photographic.html

In my previous post I should have added that while I like the drama of extreme lenses, the 35mm and 50mm f/3.5s are quite capable equivalents to a "110mm" and "150mm" on 4x5.

Edited May 5, 2022 by adan

[Maxpina]

Thank you all the precious information you have given me, I will try with this choice, elmar 50 and 90 mm with the summaron 35, I think it is a winning trio, then I will post my photos of the mountains in the dedicated section of this forum, thanks again.

Max