3rd Lens to go with a 35mm APO and 50mm APO?

[johnson184]

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Been having a blast shooting with my 35mm APO Summicron for general street and the 50mm APO out for more portrait style photography of people while still maintaining some background. I'm pretty certain I will eventually acquire a 75mm Noctilux for its unique and detailed look, so I'm considering a wider lens now to go with the 35mm APO and 50mm APO I currently have for a travel bag setup. Shooting Sony cameras growing up, I'm used to 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm primes... but I'm surprised Leica doesn't offer anything of this sort. I'm concerned a 28mm wouldn't offer enough of a difference from 35mm to justify packing one... but I've never tried a 21mm either. Any specific lens recommendations that offer sharp image quality with minimal distortion? 

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[Elliot Harper]

Maybe instead of focusing on different focal length, think about different characters? Such as summilux 35 steel rim reissue ?

[rfunnell]

The 21 SEM would be my recommendation I find it has superb imaging performance and is nice and compact.

My travel kit includes the 21SEM , 35APO and 75APO. which I use for portrait style work.

[Elliot Harper]

1 hour ago, johnson184 said:

Been having a blast shooting with my 35mm APO Summicron for general street and the 50mm APO out for more portrait style photography of people while still maintaining some background. I'm pretty certain I will eventually acquire a 75mm Noctilux for its unique and detailed look, so I'm considering a wider lens now to go with the 35mm APO and 50mm APO I currently have for a travel bag setup. Shooting Sony cameras growing up, I'm used to 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm primes... but I'm surprised Leica doesn't offer anything of this sort. I'm concerned a 28mm wouldn't offer enough of a difference from 35mm to justify packing one... but I've never tried a 21mm either. Any specific lens recommendations that offer sharp image quality with minimal distortion? 

I also think the difference between 28mm and 35mm is actually more profound than the one of 35 and 50.

I often travel with my 28mm summicron and 50 1.2 noctilux and leave bunch of 35mm home.

I wouldn’t go anything wider than 28mm. You can’t see any frameline on 21mm

[_leicaguru]

2 hours ago, johnson184 said:

Been having a blast shooting with my 35mm APO Summicron for general street and the 50mm APO out for more portrait style photography of people while still maintaining some background. I'm pretty certain I will eventually acquire a 75mm Noctilux for its unique and detailed look, so I'm considering a wider lens now to go with the 35mm APO and 50mm APO I currently have for a travel bag setup. Shooting Sony cameras growing up, I'm used to 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm primes... but I'm surprised Leica doesn't offer anything of this sort. I'm concerned a 28mm wouldn't offer enough of a difference from 35mm to justify packing one... but I've never tried a 21mm either. Any specific lens recommendations that offer sharp image quality with minimal distortion? 

In my opinion the difference between 28 and 35 is remarkable enough that I stopped using 28mm and decided my companion to 50mm would be 35mm and I'm so much happier. I was always uncomfortable with 28mm. 

I have the 50 and 35 summicrons so if I wanted to add one I would go for the 28 Summicron but my heart says 28 Summaron. 

If you think 21mm is for you then check this 

https://www.overgaard.dk/Leica-21mm-Super-Elmar-M-ASPH-f-3-4.html

Edited February 2 by _leicaguru

[_leicaguru]

44 minutes ago, Elliot Harper said:

I also think the difference between 28mm and 35mm is actually more profound than the one of 35 and 50.

I often travel with my 28mm summicron and 50 1.2 noctilux and leave bunch of 35mm home.

I wouldn’t go anything wider than 28mm. You can’t see any frameline on 21mm

I'm going to have to agree with this as a 50mm shooter primarily. Which is the reason why I pick 35mm as a companion. I basically shoot it like I shoot my 50mm. The difference really is just I don't have to back up as much and I have enough room when I'm in a tight space. But when you look at my photos is hard to tell which is 50 and which is 35. 

However, when I was shooting the 28 Ultron the difference was obvious. You could tell from a mile away which was the 28 and which were the 50 even if I was taking the same type of shots. 

That's why I stopped shooting 28mm. I'm just not comfortable there. I'm comfortable at 50mm so when I switch to 35mm I don't feel any difference other than the frame is wider so I don't need to back up much. The results are very similar though at least with my style. 

[MarkP]

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Sounds to me like you really want a 24 (28 too long, 21 too short) although the 21 SEM and 28 Summicron/Summilux are fabulous lenses that work wit the APOs. 

The 3.8/24 Elmar-M ASPH is now unfortunately discontinued but readily available and relatively affordable second hand. It is not too slow for a wide, especially with the newer digital M cameras.  Don't be put off by it having been discontinued. It has a very modern rendering that is very compatible with the APOs.  You're already comfortable with 24 so it may suit you (and there is quite a big difference between 24 and 21).  

 

[MarkP]

I forgot to add that the advantage of the 28 is of course that you don't need an external EVF or OVF. My usual two-lens kit is 28 & 50.

[RexGig0]

10 hours ago, johnson184 said:

Been having a blast shooting with my 35mm APO Summicron for general street and the 50mm APO out for more portrait style photography of people while still maintaining some background. I'm pretty certain I will eventually acquire a 75mm Noctilux for its unique and detailed look, so I'm considering a wider lens now to go with the 35mm APO and 50mm APO I currently have for a travel bag setup. Shooting Sony cameras growing up, I'm used to 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm primes... but I'm surprised Leica doesn't offer anything of this sort. I'm concerned a 28mm wouldn't offer enough of a difference from 35mm to justify packing one... but I've never tried a 21mm either. Any specific lens recommendations that offer sharp image quality with minimal distortion? 

If you have liked 24mm lenses, with Sony cameras, well, it is not all that difficult to find 24mm Elmar-M ASPH lenses, on the pre-owned market. This one was introduced during the digital era, so, is a modern design. I really like it. Some shooters really like the Zeiss Biogon 25mm f/2.8 ZM. I bought one of these, but seem to be taking forever to seriously test it. Framing 24mm or 25mm precisely will require a added viewfinder, or Live View, but, consider the example of Alan Schaller, knows the 24mm angle-of-view so well that he does not need to add a viewfinder or Visoflex to shoot with a 24mm lens. (He is known for using the Summilux-M 24mm.)

21mm is an acquired taste. I liked the 20mm to 21mm angle-of-view before I started using the M system. The lowest-distortion 21mm M-mount lens is probably the Zeiss f/4,5 C Biogon ZM, a personal favorite, but, which will show considerable color shift when used on pre-M11 digital Leica M cameras. The Voigtlander Nokton 21mm f/1,4 ZM has relatively low distortion, does not have color shift problems, but is a relatively large lens. Its size does not bother me.

As my eyes see it, a 28mm lens has a quite different angle-of-view than a 35mm lens, but, 28mm seems relatively less interesting and less inspiring than 35mm.

 

[rsolomon]

11 hours ago, rfunnell said:

The 21 SEM would be my recommendation I find it has superb imaging performance and is nice and compact.

My travel kit includes the 21SEM , 35APO and 75APO. which I use for portrait style work.

 

11 hours ago, rfunnell said:

……My travel kit includes the 21SEM , 35APO and 75APO. which I use for portrait style work.

Same!   Added a 135/3.4 APO recently…. I think about adding a 50, not sure why ….. if so I’d get a V5 (non APO)

 

[M Street Photographer]

As a supplement to the two Apo's, I thought long and hard about how much use other lenses would have and therefore decided on two Vogtlanders.

VC Ultron 21 1.8 and the new 90 2.0 Apo

Since I mainly use 35 and 50 mm, the degree of use and the associated investment was a major reason to reduce costs and still have very good quality. I used to feel the same way, I thought the angle of 35 to 28 was too small. Since I got the Q3 I have a completely different opinion, but I wouldn't buy a 28 mm for an M, but at least a 24 mm (which I also know from my Sony days). For occasional use in confined spaces, I opted for the 21 Ultron. However, I always need the electronic viewfinder for the 21mm.

I used to own the 75 2.4 summarit, which was actually too sharp and too "clinical" for me, or I just didn't warm to it. I searched for a long time and then by chance came across the 90 2.0 subscription from Vogtländer, which I really like and fully meets my requirements.

Edited February 2 by M Street Photographer

[HeavyEd]

On 2/2/2025 at 7:46 AM, M Street Photographer said:

As a supplement to the two Apo's, I thought long and hard about how much use other lenses would have and therefore decided on two Vogtlanders.

VC Ultron 21 1.8 and the new 90 2.0 Apo

Since I mainly use 35 and 50 mm, the degree of use and the associated investment was a major reason to reduce costs and still have very good quality. I used to feel the same way, I thought the angle of 35 to 28 was too small. Since I got the Q3 I have a completely different opinion, but I wouldn't buy a 28 mm for an M, but at least a 24 mm (which I also know from my Sony days). For occasional use in confined spaces, I opted for the 21 Ultron. However, I always need the electronic viewfinder for the 21mm.

I used to own the 75 2.4 summarit, which was actually too sharp and too "clinical" for me, or I just didn't warm to it. I searched for a long time and then by chance came across the 90 2.0 subscription from Vogtländer, which I really like and fully meets my requirements.

Any thoughts so far on Voights new 90 APO?

I've been eyeing it.......