What is the longest time you pondered a lens, and which one?

[setuporg]

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With the 35 steel rim Lux reissue, I've read a bunch of threads and saw a bunch pf photos and am unconvinced I should get it after getting the 35 APO.  However the compactness and character make it a very interesting one.  Then again I got the Noctilux 1.2 that has somewhat similar character and also works better for portraits.  Another important consideration is the QC issues.  Used one might not have the new hood; new ones might have been made too long ago and still have the old hood.  That's just an example of some pros and cons that delay getting a lens.

What was your longest process deciding on whether you want to get a lens, which one was it, what were the pros and cons, and how did it work out in the end -- did you get it?  And if you did, did you keep it?  And if not, what did you get/use instead?

[Al Brown]

75 APO. Long long time. Too long. Had I known...

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[setuporg]

29 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

75 APO. Long long time. Too long. Had I known...

Did you have another 75mm, like the Mandler Lux?

[Al Brown]

2 minutes ago, setuporg said:

Did you have another 75mm, like the Mandler Lux?

Yes, Mandler Lux and Summarit 75/2.5... The former was much better for focusing on a M10 and up than it was on M240, but was still randomly off. The latter came brand new old stock but decentered.
The Summilux 75 II was sharper at comparable f-stop (f/2.5) than Summarit but too soft wide open (I know, it is a Mandler feature) plus too heavy. They both had to go. Also, relevant to your pondering, 35 steel rim summilux re-edition went to a new owner as well, in a trade-in for 75 apo. I can make my 35 FLE as glowy as the steel rim with filters and if I want coma + astigmatism in the corners I just take my summicron 40 (which is based on summicron 35 II/III anyway). Owning too many lenses suffocates me.

[spydrxx]

Different take. Several lenses (Leica and other mfrs.). I generally buy used lenses, so if one of interest shows up on that big auction site, or elsewhere, I check seller's details of the lens, prices and seller's credibility, whether there is a liberal return policy, whether the buyer will negotiate on a stated price, or it is an auction item, what recent sales prices for the item (or similar ones) has been. I then go back and research the users' comments and reviews on a lens. Finally, I check my bank or credit balances and make a go or nogo decision. Usual timeframe can range from an hour to 2-3 days. If I think an item is overpriced I just wait for another to show up or search for alternatives if there is a pressing need. Over the years I've only bought 1 new Leica lens and lots of used ones, and 3-4 new lenses of other mfrs.

[evikne]

I've pondered many lenses for a long time, such as the 50mm Summilux pre-ASPH Black Paint. It's the same reason why I haven't bought any of them: I can't afford them. 😄

[Olaf_ZG]

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That is the good thing about the f.e. GFX. Not so much choice, so it is easy to take a pick. With m-mount there is simply too much choice.

 I am thinking though to collect the complete zeiss zm range. Always loved Zeiss, and it is sth I can afford. Can’t afford the complete Leica set.

[KFo]

I tend not to ponder particular lenses long at all.  I do think alot about what type of lens I'm looking for (hi/lo contrast, vignetting, transition focus to OOF, etc).  Then I find the lens that does that.

When I first started with Leica I thought alot about whether one particular lens or another would do this or that.  Once I flipped that around lenses became really simple for me.

I'm more interested in the drawing  than the pen.😉

[Al Brown]

9 minutes ago, Olaf_ZG said:

That is the good thing about the f.e. GFX. Not so much choice, so it is easy to take a pick. With m-mount there is simply too much choice.

 I am thinking though to collect the complete zeiss zm range. Always loved Zeiss, and it is sth I can afford. Can’t afford the complete Leica set.

More lenses fit on my gfx than do on Leica M, just saying... with all the adapted choices the possibilities are almost limitless...

Edited November 10, 2023 by Al Brown

[Olaf_ZG]

5 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

More lenses fit on my gfx than do on Leica M, just saying... with all the adapted choices the possibilities are almost limitless...

I was talking native lenses. But you are right, the photographic world is great due to its limitless.

[fil-m]

Both the Thambar reissue and the Summilux 24 (from an old stock "on sale"). Point is, I was never comfortable with very wide angle or telephoto lenses, way more comfortable with a 50mm or even 35mm.

It took my a lot of time (maybe one month) to decide but then I told myself that a Leica lens can always be sold back with little losses so it was worth the effort trying new "perspectives". Didn't look back and did not regret since, both lenses turned out to be revelations in terms of experience and new kind of photos even if I mostly use my 35mm and 50mm when I want to stay in my typical comfort zone.

I learned since then to develop a bias when I think about buying a new lens: it should force me to exit my comfort zone by encouraging me to learn and experience something new & quite different through either a different focal length, a faster aperture, a very specific rendering, a shorter minimal focus distance etc.  

[Franka373]

The 75 M noctilux.  I have been thinking about it since it was issued.  And I will continue to do so.  

[JoshuaRothman]

I pondered the 35mm FLE for like a year, then used it for around that long while pondering the Steel Rim reissue. Finally sold the FLE and got the Steel Rim. I rented it first to be sure. I couldn’t be happier. It wasn’t the QC issues that worried me—that stuff is always scarier online than IRL—but the lens character. It turns out to be exactly what I want in my main lens.

Now I’m repeating the same process with 50s. I’ve got a Summicron v5 and am about to try out an Elmar-M. But I’m actually pondering a 50 Summilux of one kind or another. I’ll look and look forever and eventually leap into something. 

Basically, if a lens is under around $1,000, I just try it. Anything more than that and I agonize…..

[RexGig0]

54 minutes ago, setuporg said:

With the 35 steel rim Lux reissue, I've read a bunch of threads and saw a bunch pf photos and am unconvinced I should get it after getting the 35 APO.  However the compactness and character make it a very interesting one.  Then again I got the Noctilux 1.2 that has somewhat similar character and also works better for portraits.  Another important consideration is the QC issues.  Used one might not have the new hood; new ones might have been made too long ago and still have the old hood.  That's just an example of some pros and cons that delay getting a lens.

What was your longest process deciding on whether you want to get a lens, which one was it, what were the pros and cons, and how did it work out in the end -- did you get it?  And if you did, did you keep it?  And if not, what did you get/use instead?

There is a third-party threaded hood for the Re-Issued Steel Rim Summilux-M 35mm, that is reported to show no vignette. If I can find where I put mine, I will test this. (For now, I am not using a filter on my Re-Issue Steel Rim, and am satisfied with the OLLUX-like hood that twists into position with a quarter-turn.)

I ordered my Re-Issue Steel Rim at the end of June 2023, when a new batch had just become available from Leica Camera USA in NJ. The aperture ring is not too wobbly, the focusing ring is well-damped, and the threaded hood is of the original pattern, not the newer one designed to mitigate vignetting. I am optimistic that Leica has sorted-out the growing pains of the early Re-Issued Steel Rims. (I had bought the third-party threaded hood months earlier, perhaps in 2022.)

My longest “process,” in deciding upon an M-mount lens, would be deciding which 50mm M lens would be my first M lens. I was researching this as early as 2010 or 2011. Summicron, Summilux ASPH, Noctilux f/0.95, or a predecessor of any of these. The Summilux and Noctilux had the more-desirable “character,” and though I did not yet know it, the Noctilux was BIG, and heavy. (To this day, I have not yet seen a Noctilux f/0.95.) The limiting factor was funding my start with the M system. A post-retirement financial windfall enabled adding the lens, with the temptation of a pre-owned Summilux-M 50mm ASPH, at Houston Camera Exchange, a.k.a. HCE, in early 2018, being the next step. I tried this lens on pre-owned and demonstrator M9 and M Type 240 cameras, during several visits, over a period of perhaps several weeks. In April 2018, I finally decided to buy the Summilux, with no firm idea which camera would be its partner. (The M10 had been unobtainable, until that point in time.)

As the HCE employee prepared to complete the sale, she told me that it might be possible to buy a new M10, so, she asked the employee who was familiar with the Leica inventory, and, yes, the waiting queue had recently ended, so, two newly-delivered M10 cameras were available, for sale. To make a long story short, I used my iPhone as a calculator, and made a bold move, scuttling plans to add a “grail-quest” Nikon super-telephoto lens, which enable funding the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH and the M10. Done! (The leading contender among the Nikon super-telephoto lenses, the 600mm f/4, would have cost more than I paid, combined, for the Summilux and the M10.)

Five and one-half years later, the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH remains my favored M lens for photographing people. I later added a Summicron, with Version V-era coatings, and a more-vintage 50mm Summicron-R converted to range-finder-coupled M mount by Skyllaney. I determined that the size and weight specs of the f/0.95 Noctilux are more than I would want to be hanging on the front of an M camera. I shoot more total images, with M cameras, using 35mm lenses, but nothing threatens the role of role of my Summilux 50mm ASPH, when I want to photograph one or two cooperative people.

No regrets, regarding my lack of a 600mm lens, for photographing birds, especially the smaller birds. My wife shifted her interest, in nature/wildlife/bird photography, from birds, to  the insects and other wee beasties, and plants/fungi. Her favorite birds, today, are the big ones, such as Brown Pelicans, which we have learned to approach quite closely, making heavy, long lenses unnecessary. 

There are no Leica M lenses currently in the “pondering” stage, in my mind. I have the 50mm and 35mm lenses I desire. If I were wealthier, I would probably add a few, but would probably not use them more than occasionally. If I earned money, photographing people, I might want to keep a spare Summilux-M 50mm ASPH. If I were to have a “signature” M lens, I believe this Summilux would be the one.

 

 

[RexGig0]

Now that I think about it, I pondered the Summilux-M 35mm ASPH FLE, several times, which might, cumulatively, be quite significant. Having test-shot with a demonstrator FLE, side-by-side with my excellent Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/1.4 ZM, however, I could not find quite enough difference in character or background blur to justify adding the FLE. I had also test-shot with the demonstrator FLE and a Version II 1960s-vintage Summilux-M 35mm lens. When I leapt at the chance to acquire the Steel Rim Re-issue Summilux-M 35mm, the resulting images provided the amount of character I wanted, in 35mm images, to complement the Zeiss Distagon. I did not actually ponder the Re-Issued Steel Rim, itself, all that much. I bought it when I had the chance, knowing that I could probably re-sell it, after trying it for while, and recover most of what I had spent, if I did not like it.

[Fedro]

i am quite an impulse buyer when it comes to cameras, sometimes I wish I pondered more

Does buying and selling te same lens count for pondering? In that case the 50 Lux ASPH is a lens that I bought 4 times and sold 2 times between 2007 and 2023

[jaeger]

2 hours ago, fil-m said:

 the Summilux 24 (from an old stock "on sale").

Does it have NOS?  I don't see it available in new anywhere, plenty of used ones.

[jgeenen]

The 35mm was the most difficult choice. I always desired a Lux 35 asph and tried many alternatives for the past 20 years or so - Biogon 35mm (on Zeiss ZM film) - Nokton 35mm I (only “just ok”) - Distagon 35mm (good but heavy)- Cron 35mm Asph (good, but not sexy) - Nokton 35mm II S.C. (Better than v1, but too much “character”). Finally I ended up buying a brand new new generation 35mm Lux FLE this year … and it seems to me that I am finally happy.

 

[setuporg]

2 hours ago, Franka373 said:

The 75 M noctilux.  I have been thinking about it since it was issued.  And I will continue to do so.  

Some folks here complain about the weight when reaching seniority, so the wait can obviate the weight!

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[jankap]

The Canon Dreamlens of 1961: 50mm f0.95. I use it on the fp. 

On the opposite, I pondered less for the Lytro Illum camera. A comparison of the two at f/1.0 is pending.

Edited November 10, 2023 by jankap