75 or 90 mm

[Xavi]

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32 minutes ago, DickieT said:

Hi Xavi - the weight and bulkiness difference between the 75Lux (540gr), 75Summarit (325gr) en 90/2Cron (500gr) in my opinion is rather limited.

I love my 75Lux on a M body for portraits and have never used my 90/2 for a portrait. Reading the comments here - maybe I should! But I do use 35 and 50mm

It all depends on what kind of portrait you want to make, what kind of image rendering you are looking forward and what handling / size your are comfortable with shooting.

Have you considered going into a (classic) Leica store and try some of these lenses on your body ?

Good luck with your choice ! Dick

I'm from Barcelona and here in the Leica store there is very little material. And I don't know anyone who has a 75 to try it out...

I don't know what I'll do.

[lct]

Just found those shops on Google if it is of any help:
Casanovafoto.com
Fotoboom.com

[paulleica]

I can only recommend that you also consider the Voigtländer Nokton 75mm 1.5. It has a wonderful sharpness for portraits open and up to aperture 2.8. Further stopped down, it becomes very rich in contrast. A great lens that is very versatile.

[hansvons]

On 11/11/2024 at 4:36 PM, Xavi said:

I would like to comment that I have the 18-35 and 50 mm

I photograph 98% of my subjects with a 35mm Summicron ASPH or 35mm Summarit on film. Besides landscapes, these are primarily people at events–from assignments (conferences, study tours) to parties, family and friends, etc... I also shoot travel series when I'm somewhere new to understand what the place is about (I'm often after windows, but this is another story). I mention this because people tend to think that more lenses in their arsenal will improve their photography. I beg to differ. As long as one isn't a photojournalist who must deliver any time at any place dealing with any subject, there's no reason to fill one's shelf with a vast collection of lenses, notably zooms. However, as long as you are not after a particular look or subject, that could be the compression of 90mm or the reach that only a telephoto lens provides because the subject is small or far away (think of birds or football players), staying within the human field of view makes most sense for most subjects, which is the 35mm-50mm range.

That said, not all 35m lenses are created equally in terms of their rendering. Leica's 35mm M lenses tend to render faces relatively flat, while zooms do the opposite. This has a lot of influence on how a face will appear. I prefer the flatness of my 35mm Summicron over the wide-angle pop other 35mm lenses provide (eg the excellent 24-90 Elmarit zoom). The same can be said about 50mm lenses. Some 50mm lenses render flat, while others offer a high dimensional pop. I want to point out that flat rendering lenses can create plastic images at medium distances, which Leica lenses are famous for (other manufacturers can do that, too).

The 50mm Summicron in its latest design (V4 and V5) renders faces as flat as a 24-90 Elmarit at 75mm but offers more context, which makes a portrait look more cinematic when in the proper context. The Summicron's  f/2 is fast enough for a very shallow depth of field. Below is a portrait I recently shot with the 50mm Summciron at f/2. 

Long story short: As you already own a fifty, I'd leverage that until I know my path.

 

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Edited November 13, 2024 by hansvons

[odoomi]

well... since you already have a 50mm maybe a 75mm feels to be too close to the 50. Are you shooting with a M rangefinder? I am asking since this is formerly due to set up of the rangefinder itself rather than the lenses. 

Problem is, that by having both frame lines (50 AND 75mm) right next to each other in the viewer, and 90 together with 28 separate one has the "feeling" that the 75 is almost a 50, and a 90 is a true telephoto lens. But from my point of view one should be careful judging only by the available frame lines. In reality, 90 is a lot closer to 75 than to the 50, hence, the difference between 75 and 90 is not as big as one thinks it is. 

I have a 75 Apo Summicron and I love it. Had the Summarits before and never became lucky with it. But I also have a 90mm Elmarit-M 2.8 and I love it as well. The 75 Apo is sharper however. 

Also be aware that a 75 will always be easier to focus than the 90 - AND: a 75 will always be less prone to shake and movement in general - all in all making it easier to in tendency get a sharper image. 

So good luck from my side as well! 

Andreas 

[Robert Blanko]

vor 16 Stunden schrieb lct:

Just found those shops on Google if it is of any help:
Casanovafoto.com
Fotoboom.com

There is also FotoK.es in the same street as Casanovafoto, just maybe 200m apart. I have bought foto equipment in both stores and I would be surprised if Casanovafoto would not have a 75mm and a 90mm M-mount lens.