Which single Leica lens?

[Ssssnake529]

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For a M mount camera system, I'm looking at using mostly non-Leica lenses.  Between Minolta, Zeiss, and Voigtlander, I can cover pretty much all the focal lengths I need.  

However, I would like to add at least one Leica lens to the quiver.   Is there one Leica lens that stands out above all the others?    35mm Summicron?   21mm Summilux?  75mm Noctilux?  Something else?  

What is the essential, quintessential Leica lens?  

 

 

[farnz]

As a 'trophy' lens or for a specific purpose?

Pete.

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[david strachan]

Hi

You won't go wrong with any Summicron 50mm...classic. I'm still enjoying  first made Summicron 50mm f2 ltm.

 

Avoiding the expensive wide-angles, and fast lenses...the 90mm- f4  C class is a beaut lens...sharp edge to edge...and good to use.

Have fun going down the rabbit hole...

...

 

 

 

 

 

[wdshuck]

Is there a particular focal length you like the best? I tend to use a 50 most so went with a 50 Summicron.

[GFW2-SCUSA]

I think the lens for me would be the Summiux 35mm, f1.4. I use it the most and seems to cover the waterfront well. But I will say there is no one perfect lens. Each has flaws and strengths. But this lens is a workhorse at lest in my stable. I don't have the newest version with the close focus and I don't plan of getting it. 

[Ssssnake529]

2 hours ago, wdshuck said:

Is there a particular focal length you like the best? I tend to use a 50 most so went with a 50 Summicron.

I tend toward a three lens set up:   A wide angle lens around 21mm;   a "normal" lens like a 40mm or 50mm; and a portrait lens in the 75mm to 90mm range.  

I could see trying a 35mm as well.  

[28framelines]

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You can probably tell by my username I might say… 35mm Summilux, and you’d be right. I love the 28mm focal length, but realistically, the 35 is the perfect single Leica lens focal length unless you’re Joe Greer, Paulie B, Trent Parke, Garry Winogrand, or a nobody like me. You can do everything with a 35: landscape, street, portrait, and even food photography. A 28 causes too much distortion for portraits most of the time, and a 50 is realistically too tight for some applications. The 40mm is probably my second fav focal length, but no 40mm framelines on M.

look up Peter Turnley on Instagram if you need a single source of inspiration for one camera one lens: he shoots everything on the Summilux FLE I and an M10; his photos are wonderful documentary photographs of people and life.

[Casey Jefferson]

I tried 28 summicron V1, and have 35 summicron asph v1 since I started with Leica 3 years ago. Got rid of the 28, and had been very happy with 35 summicron asph, didn't see the need to upgrade. I've seen amazing shots with the 50 summicron V5 as well.

The summilux asph family are arguably more complex, more decisions need to be made. At 1.4 lenses are bigger, and maxing out shutter speed easily in broad daylight, too thin dof, ninja star stopping down to f2, and more prone to purple fringing.

Too many times I wanted to upgrade to a lux but end up sticking with 35 cron asph. They're more readily available in used market, more affordable, smaller footprint, and with just the right contrast/rendering I preferred.

[jpto]

What's your favoured focal length and budget? 

[KFo]

I lean towards 28 but understand that many are not comfortable with that view of the world.

Even so, my first lens for the M10P and my first Leica lens was the latest Summilux 35 ASPH.  I still find it as a go to lens when when I want some standoff between me and the subject. Modern digital has reduced the need for f1.4 from a taking pictures standpoint, however it has an interesting look straight out of the camera.  

[FilmSpiel]

35mm 1.4 LUX FLE

[Tomas Eriksson]

My vote goes for 35mm Summilux, super versatile.

[Chris W]

7 hours ago, Ssssnake529 said:

 Is there one Leica lens that stands out above all the others?   

 

 

The short answer is no. 50 different Leica owners will give you 50 different suggestions. Is there one cuisine that stands above all others, French, Japanese, Italian?

First base would be to decide which focal length you prefer. Leicas traditionally offered three frame guide lines, 28, 35 and 50. Most of the famous Leica photographers concentrated on one of those lenses, and most of the 'best' most iconic Leica lenses are 28, 35 or 50.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Chris W

[pgk]

7 hours ago, Ssssnake529 said:

What is the essential, quintessential Leica lens?  

Can you define what you mean by this? If not then any lens made by Leica will be fine.

[dpitt]

2 hours ago, jpto said:

What's your favoured focal length and budget? 

Exactly the right question to ask. Your set is probably built around one favorite focal length. I would personally prefer this one to be a Leica lens. Try a Summicron or Summilux if it fits your budget. If not I would rather look for a used one i.s.o. compromising on FL or max aperture. Even vintage Summicron and Summilux lenses can compete with todays lenses on digital M's.

[evikne]

8 hours ago, Ssssnake529 said:

What is the essential, quintessential Leica lens? 

To me, the 35mm Summilux pre-ASPH is the most quintessential Leica lens, in terms of appearance. Perhaps followed by a 50mm Summicron or Summilux pre-ASPH.

[jimmielx]

Per all the other comments, more context is probably needed to answer the whole question fully. But I'll have a crack at the following bit...

7 hours ago, Ssssnake529 said:

What is the essential, quintessential Leica lens?  

I think it would be a 50mm. Reasons: the built in viewfinders of the earlier screw mount cameras only covering 50mm, the whole HCB 50mm mythology, the 50mm feels like a natural fit with the M rangefinder viewfinder (plenty of space around the framelines, but not too small), Leica make/have made more 50mm lenses than any other focal length.

But then which 50mm. So I think I'll say a Summicron: size, speed, performance.

But then which 50mm Summicron???? Ok, I'm starting to struggle, a bit now. However, I think you need 0.7m MFD. So v.3 or later. To qualify, I think in must be made in Germany, so some v.3s are out. I'm going to ignore the rest of the v.3s because the build quality is allegedly not quite the same. I'm going to ignore the APO, too recent, too modern to fit the quintessential bill, so I'm left with the v.4 or the v.5 - same optics. I will go for v.5 for the integrated hood.

Therefore the one entirely correct, objective answer to your question is the Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2.

[pippy]

5 hours ago, Ssssnake529 said:

I tend toward a three lens set up:   A wide angle lens around 21mm;   a "normal" lens like a 40mm or 50mm; and a portrait lens in the 75mm to 90mm range...

As others have written we cannot answer this meaningfully without knowing far more about your shooting preferences.

Of the five focal lengths mentioned in your post (quoted above) have you any clear idea of what percentages of your photographs have been taken with which lens? If so then letting us know would be of great help. It is interesting that you mention neither the 28mm nor 35mm f/lengths as these, along with the 50, are by far the most popular lenses chosen by members here in a poll which was taken a while back. If you are not a fan of these lenses your shooting preferences are, as you might understand, somewhat atypical hereabouts.

FWIW (not much) of the f/lengths you posted my own breakdown - bundling-in a 35 with the 40/50 - would be roughly 2%; 65%; 2%; 1% (the other 30% would be taken with a 28) so if I was to choose just one lens from your five the 21, 75 and 90,  obviously, would all be non-starters therefore from your list the choice would be down to a 40 or 50 and in which case I'd say that a 40 would be the more versatile of the two.

I'm a big fan of the 40mm f/l and for a great many years used a 40mm for the vast majority of my shots. My own choice was the Voigtlander f1.4 Nokton. Nowadays if I was asked to advise / suggest a 40mm the choice would be to either go with Voigtlander and acquire their f1.2 Nokton or else, if 'Vintage Rendering' was the look one was after, pick up a copy of the 40mm f2.0 Summicron introduced in the early 1970s for the Leica CL. These lenses are Chalk and Cheese in many respects but, in essence, Nokton has great sharpness and a one-stop advantage over the Summicron. The latter has the advantage of being a tiny thing with beautiful (IMO) rendering.

OTOH and FWIW (part 2); if I was to choose only one Leica offering for me it would be any of the 1960-1995 era 35mm Summilux lenses.

Good luck.

P.

Edited March 14, 2023 by pippy

[grahamc]

1 hour ago, jimmielx said:

Per all the other comments, more context is probably needed to answer the whole question fully. But I'll have a crack at the following bit...

I think it would be a 50mm. Reasons: the built in viewfinders of the earlier screw mount cameras only covering 50mm, the whole HCB 50mm mythology, the 50mm feels like a natural fit with the M rangefinder viewfinder (plenty of space around the framelines, but not too small), Leica make/have made more 50mm lenses than any other focal length.

But then which 50mm. So I think I'll say a Summicron: size, speed, performance.

But then which 50mm Summicron???? Ok, I'm starting to struggle, a bit now. However, I think you need 0.7m MFD. So v.3 or later. To qualify, I think in must be made in Germany, so some v.3s are out. I'm going to ignore the rest of the v.3s because the build quality is allegedly not quite the same. I'm going to ignore the APO, too recent, too modern to fit the quintessential bill, so I'm left with the v.4 or the v.5 - same optics. I will go for v.5 for the integrated hood.

Therefore the one entirely correct, objective answer to your question is the Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2.

Valid 

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[TomB_tx]

My photographic history goes back into the 1950s, and for most of the time since the 50 Summicron has been held up as the standard for comparison of other lenses. They used to say every Leica owner should have one, that you can't go wrong with a Summicron. These days I use 35mm more on digital, but I still keep the 50 Summicron in my main kit. This century there are a lot of lenses that may out perform the Summicron in some ways, and I tend to use other lenses more - but I'll always have one.