Your current kit

[KFo]

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This for now and the last few months.  Typically single lens setup no matter what.

M10P Safari, Canon 28 f/2.8 LTM (1956)

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[Smudgerer]

53 minutes ago, Kreeshp said:

 

I respect the opinions of both Steven and shirubadanieru and I wonder if they could enlighten the rest of us -- who haven't tried the reissued steel rim -- why they feel the lens is a "failure" and a "missed opportunity."On the face of it, it seems to be a worthy consideration for anyone wanting a somewhat vintage rendering without paying collector prices, while getting a brand new, warrantied build without having to deal with the usual problems/risks of getting a vintage lens.
With the lens hood + filter vignetting debacle now resolved with Leica's updated lens hood design, what now are your main criticisms of the steel rim reissue?

First the "vignetting problem with the vented hood isn't yet rectified, just identified. It needs a re-design and re-manufacturing of a new vented lens-hood that Leica says is underway, one that can accept a filter mounted without vignetting. These they say will be sent out to everyone who purchased and registered the 35 Summilux Classic re-issue SR but as yet there is no news as to when that will happen. The "OLLUX" styled hood that's also included with the lens does not accept filters and will not be replaced anyway, the problem with that lens-hood is it's size, viewfinder blockage and the fact that it obeys the pull of gravity too easily. It's nice looking but useless.

I don't have the problems with the lens that Steven and shirubadanieru seem to have but then I do not have the earlier versions of that Summilux to compare it with and I probably look for different things in a lens than they do, ( we are all different with our camera gear preferences ). However I do not like the small script/engraving on the lens body which can be  hard for me to read without trying to find where the hell I put my glasses.

The results from the lens I like a lot though and as far as Leica's new lenses go it is almost a bargain........More of a bargain is the new Voigtlander Nokton Classic 1.4 SC/MC, ( which I also own / use ), this lens gives you +90% of the look of the Leica Summilux Classic, perhaps more so on film, at around 20% of the price of the Leica, it doesn't vignette with a filter and lens-hood mounted, it's engravings are clear, and it's available in black, unlike the Summilux.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Smudgerer
grammar

[Kreeshp]

6 minutes ago, Smudgerer said:

First the "vignetting problem with the vented hood isn't yet rectified, just identified.

It's been resolved.  See thread here:  https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1779165/19
 

Leica has already begun shipping the redesigned hood to U.S. customers.

I'm aware of the Voigtlander version but thanks anyway.  I own a LLL 8 elements copy (that one is also a bargain) but for this lens, I'm either going to buy a genuine Leica version or pass.  Just personal preference for this particular design.

[Aryel]

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I am currently travelling and took one of my favourite combination:

m3

m2

35 Lux v2

50 summicron rigid

90 Thambar (currently giving the reissue a spin to compare against the ltm)

8 hours ago, grahamc said:

It was a tough call whether to bring 35:2 8e or 35:1.4v2

I had the same problem. Ended up with the 35 Lux cause I love it fully open and need a 1.4.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Aryel

[grahamc]

55 minutes ago, Aryel said:

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I am currently travelling and took one of my favourite combination:

m3

m2

35 Lux v2

50 summicron rigid

90 Thambar (currently giving the reissue a spin to compare against the ltm)

I had the same problem. Ended up with the 35 Lux cause I love it fully open and need a 1.4.

Very nice. If I had taken 2 film bodies I would've taken the 1.4 also 👍

[yanidel]

Stumbled into a "current kit" kind of thread last week from 10 years ago. Well, my current kit is still the same I had written then, except the M10 replaced the M9. My lenses are still:

-24mm Elmarit Asph

-35mm Lux Asph pre-FLE

-60mm 1.2 Konica Hexanon

I am so proud of how I resisted GAS all these years

I think this kit allows me to have different FOV's but with similar renderings, which is very important to me. I have not seen new lenses that are significantly better than any of these during that time span either, so will see when you ask again in 10 years

[graphlex]

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All are gems.

[shirubadanieru]

5 hours ago, Kreeshp said:

 

I respect the opinions of both Steven and shirubadanieru and I wonder if they could enlighten the rest of us -- who haven't tried the reissued steel rim -- why they feel the lens is a "failure" and a "missed opportunity."

 

On the face of it, it seems to be a worthy consideration for anyone wanting a somewhat vintage rendering without paying collector prices, while getting a brand new, warrantied build without having to deal with the usual problems/risks of getting a vintage lens.

With the lens hood + filter vignetting debacle now resolved with Leica's updated lens hood design, what now are your main criticisms of the steel rim reissue?

Not to derail the thread, but I’ll answer quickly : ) First, nothing wrong with people who love this lens, just different experiences / opinion. For me, the original steel rim, alongside the summicron 8 elements, are my favorite 35mm lenses. When I heard Leica was remaking it, and also seeing the great work they had done with their previous remakes (summaron 28, thambar, nocti), I was really excited! What killed it for me was:

- The lack of ‘care’ from Leica, and it just felt like something rushed or that they didn’t even want to do?! If you look at the other reissues, the amount of detail, from the box, to the exact reproduction of the lens, was amazing. If you put them side by side it’s almost impossible to tell them apart, and Leica even made some improvements (e.g. able to use filter on the nocti)…And when they announced those 3 lenses, they really highlighted the history / uniqueness of the lens, made videos with famous photographers, etc. The steel rim reissue announcement was more like ‘We relaunched the M6, our most iconic camera, oh and by the way here’s a reissued lens we are also launching, it’s the king of bokeh (first time hearing this?! Lol)’…and on top of that on the promotional pictures they even had the front of the camera with the screws visible, guessing it was a demo lens, but again it’s the kind of details that make it feel all a bit rushed.

- Then the lens itself, came in a regular box, just like any other leica lens, no special attention given to it…compare that to the other remakes and it’s totally different. The worst thing for me was actually how they turned one of their most beautiful lens design into a much uglier and less functional one, moving from e41 to e46 and changing the infinity lock design. The lens is just unnecessarily fat, the design looks disproportionate, and just feels less jewel like when compared to the original. On top of that, the original steel rim allowed you to use filters + hood together, the reissue did not. Some people may say that e46 filters are easier to find than e41, and yes it is true, but there are e41 filters out there…imagine if they had changed the size of the summaron 28mm remake to e39m, because e34 filters are hard to find, can you imagine how weird that lens would look like…that’s literally what they did here. Then the hoods included, one looked like the original, but was poorly built and would just fall off easily, plus again it was either the hood or the lens filter that you had to choose. The original hood is one of Leica’s most beautiful hoods, it even had a sapphire stone in them! This made the original lens even more beautiful. The new one? A plastic hood that looks like a Chinese eBay remake. Then the other hood, you could use it but you have to attach to the filter, which makes the lens look ugly / bigger…and also didn’t work because it made hard vignetting in all pictures (now solved, but still shows the lack of care / attention put into this release). 

Finally the rendering, while great, it just did not replicate the feeling I had with the original…but I guess by the time I was taking pictures with this lens, I was already too disappointed with the above, so I sold it after a month of using it. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by shirubadanieru

[Bronco McBeast]

I juggle with a dozen highly customized M film cameras.

Here is my M4BP with rare customisations. Who can spot them? With a Summicron Radioactive. 

The 35mm summicron V1 is the bees Knees, despite all the hype for the pre-asph lux: Once one is beyond the bokeh silly, one starts to understand what is real image quality.

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[shirubadanieru]

1 hour ago, Bronco McBeast said:

I juggle with a dozen highly customized M film cameras.

Here is my M4BP with rare customisations. Who can spot them? With a Summicron Radioactive. 

The 35mm summicron V1 is the bees Knees, despite all the hype for the pre-asph lux: Once one is beyond the bokeh silly, one starts to understand what is real image quality.

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Interesting、is it in the shutter speed? That would make it much easier to change for sure, as it can be a pain in some cameras where it’s a bit stiff. Cool set!

[shirubadanieru]

6 hours ago, Aryel said:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

I am currently travelling and took one of my favourite combination:

m3

m2

35 Lux v2

50 summicron rigid

90 Thambar (currently giving the reissue a spin to compare against the ltm)

I had the same problem. Ended up with the 35 Lux cause I love it fully open and need a 1.4.

Just out of curiosity, why do you use the lux 35 with an external viewfinder on the M3, and the 50 on the M2? 

[acalmplace]

M11 with:

21mm SEM;

35mm FLE or 2.5 color-skopar;

50mm APO or Elmar-m

90mm Summarit 2.4.

I enjoy having compact options for 35 and 50mm.

[KFo]

12 hours ago, Unknown said:

What adapter are you using?

Rayqual 28-90

[Ouroboros]

8 hours ago, shirubadanieru said:

Not to derail the thread, but I’ll answer quickly : ) First, nothing wrong with people who love this lens, just different experiences / opinion. For me, the original steel rim, alongside the summicron 8 elements, are my favorite 35mm lenses. When I heard Leica was remaking it, and also seeing the great work they had done with their previous remakes (summaron 28, thambar, nocti), I was really excited! What killed it for me was:

- The lack of ‘care’ from Leica, and it just felt like something rushed or that they didn’t even want to do?! If you look at the other reissues, the amount of detail, from the box, to the exact reproduction of the lens, was amazing. If you put them side by side it’s almost impossible to tell them apart, and Leica even made some improvements (e.g. able to use filter on the nocti)…And when they announced those 3 lenses, they really highlighted the history / uniqueness of the lens, made videos with famous photographers, etc. The steel rim reissue announcement was more like ‘We relaunched the M6, our most iconic camera, oh and by the way here’s a reissued lens we are also launching, it’s the king of bokeh (first time hearing this?! Lol)’…and on top of that on the promotional pictures they even had the front of the camera with the screws visible, guessing it was a demo lens, but again it’s the kind of details that make it feel all a bit rushed.

- Then the lens itself, came in a regular box, just like any other leica lens, no special attention given to it…compare that to the other remakes and it’s totally different. The worst thing for me was actually how they turned one of their most beautiful lens design into a much uglier and less functional one, moving from e41 to e46 and changing the infinity lock design. The lens is just unnecessarily fat, the design looks disproportionate, and just feels less jewel like when compared to the original. On top of that, the original steel rim allowed you to use filters + hood together, the reissue did not. Some people may say that e46 filters are easier to find than e41, and yes it is true, but there are e41 filters out there…imagine if they had changed the size of the summaron 28mm remake to e39m, because e34 filters are hard to find, can you imagine how weird that lens would look like…that’s literally what they did here. Then the hoods included, one looked like the original, but was poorly built and would just fall off easily, plus again it was either the hood or the lens filter that you had to choose. The original hood is one of Leica’s most beautiful hoods, it even had a sapphire stone in them! This made the original lens even more beautiful. The new one? A plastic hood that looks like a Chinese eBay remake. Then the other hood, you could use it but you have to attach to the filter, which makes the lens look ugly / bigger…and also didn’t work because it made hard vignetting in all pictures (now solved, but still shows the lack of care / attention put into this release). 

Finally the rendering, while great, it just did not replicate the feeling I had with the original…but I guess by the time I was taking pictures with this lens, I was already too disappointed with the above, so I sold it after a month of using it. 

Interesting. I don’t recall any of this being mentioned by the usual beta tester in his launch review but I only skim read such things unless I’m genuinely interested in buying something, so I may have missed something.

I’d be mighty pissed off if I’d spent upwards of £3500 on something that isn’t quite what it should be but then I’m not someone who particularly wants to see ‘lens character’ in all my images.

Most of my personal work is around landscape and travel photography and I have far cheaper non-Leica alternatives that give me all the lens effect I want to see in portraits.  

I’m sorry to read you chose to sell  the sr reissue so soon after buying it.  It must have been a big disappointment.

Anyway, this thread is about current kit people use. I’m sure the sr reissue has been discussed at length elsewhere.

[Bronco McBeast]

13 hours ago, shirubadanieru said:

Interesting、is it in the shutter speed? That would make it much easier to change for sure, as it can be a pain in some cameras where it’s a bit stiff. Cool set!

Yes, very welcome especially in cold weather. 

Also, the roundel around the shutter is black paint brass as opposed to silver chrome (which I dislike).

At last, the M4 has Leicavit capability, hence the one attached.  

[Guest]

On 7/21/2023 at 12:42 AM, Al Brown said:

Regardless how much money I spend on M lenses, my mother, sister, wife and daughters still cannot tell the difference between the original and the reissue steel rim when I show them the prints. Damn.

Blessed are the ones, who think they could.

[Olaf_ZG]

On 7/21/2023 at 12:56 PM, Ouroboros said:

Here goes.  From the back:

• my usual travel-with set of 28, 90 & 50 summicron safari edition lenses
•  

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Uf, the 90mm looks huge…

[edstock]

Here's my kit:

M2 KS-15 modified by Leica with M4 fast load and VF, military model, 1966 serial 116xxxx, near the end of the production run.

M4-P limited edition silver

M6 

M7 black 

28 f2 asph, 35 f2 asph, 50 f2, 50 f2.5, 75 f1.4, 90 f2.8

 

[Aryel]

 

21 hours ago, shirubadanieru said:

Just out of curiosity, why do you use the lux 35 with an external viewfinder on the M3, and the 50 on the M2? 

I just like it this way: easier to focus in difficult conditions for shooting wide open and I enjoy framing through the external viewfinder. I use all lenses on both bodies though (one for indoor one for outdoor).  

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Hallo,

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[Ouroboros]

4 hours ago, Olaf_ZG said:

Uf, the 90mm looks huge…

Compared to a 28mm summaron -m?  I like 28’s and 90’s, in the image I posted, the 90mm is standing on a raised base which exaggerates the size compared to the other lenses.  
I used a late version 90mm elmarit-m f2.8 for years until I bought the 90mm apo-summicron asph.  The elmarit-m is a great lens and  slightly smaller and lighter than the 90mm asa, but the apo-summicron asph feels better balanced in use on the camera.  It is my favourite M lens even though not my most used.

 I never used the 90mm elmarit-m again after I bought the apo-summicron and eventually sold it.  

The 90mm apo.-summicron asph is an amazing chunk of glass.  I don’t think about the size or weight, I travel with it. 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Ouroboros