are you a 35mm or a 50mm photographer ?

[Topsy]

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9 minutes ago, Kiwimac said:

That’s the most Lenny Kravitz editions I’ve ever seen in one place. 🤣🤣🤣

I had to google that but I see now what you mean. 

The one on the left was like that when I bought it (at a good price) and has very recently had its shutter mechanism replaced,  the rest were in VGC until they started to meet each other in my bag/pockets. I was devastated when I dropped my tripod on to the top of the top one as it hadn't got a mark until then now it has a large dent in the top plate and I had to re-adjust the vertical alignment. All the Thumbs Ups are second hand and were brassed when I got them. I'm not overly bothered now when they get another ding I'm over the first scratch as long as they keep working. They all have certified 2nd Gen replacement sensors so I hope to get many more years from them yet.

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[Kiwimac]

17 minutes ago, Topsy said:

I had to google that but I see now what you mean. 

The one on the left was like that when I bought it (at a good price) and has very recently had its shutter mechanism replaced,  the rest were in VGC until they started to meet each other in my bag/pockets. I was devastated when I dropped my tripod on to the top of the top one as it hadn't got a mark until then now it has a large dent in the top plate and I had to re-adjust the vertical alignment. All the Thumbs Ups are second hand and were brassed when I got them. I'm not overly bothered now when they get another ding I'm over the first scratch as long as they keep working. They all have certified 2nd Gen replacement sensors so I hope to get many more years from them yet.

My M11-P Safari is en route. It’s the only version of the M11-P that will brass. The glossy black paint will but it lacks the insides of the P. 
 

In not sure how tough the green finish is but fingers crossed both the camera and I last long enough to find out! 👍🏻

[Stein K S]

When buying my first SLR, a Canon Ftb, back in 1976, for reasons rather unknown I did not ¨follow the crowds¨ buying in on the rather obvious set at the time including a 50 with a discount. Instead I paid substantially more for replacing the 50 with a 35 (!?). Almost 50 years later I am still a 35mm guy 😉

[Tux4711]

vor 34 Minuten schrieb Stein K S:

When buying my first SLR, a Canon Ftb, back in 1976, for reasons rather unknown I did not ¨follow the crowds¨ buying in on the rather obvious set at the time including a 50 with a discount. Instead I paid substantially more for replacing the 50 with a 35 (!?). Almost 50 years later I am still a 35mm guy 😉

It's really fascinating how our photographic habits are shaped by very early (sometimes random) decisions. I always enjoy coming back to 50mm because it feels so familiar to me — it's the focal length I started with on an SLR many years ago.

[lct]

2 hours ago, Stein K S said:

When buying my first SLR, a Canon Ftb, back in 1976, for reasons rather unknown I did not ¨follow the crowds¨ buying in on the rather obvious set at the time including a 50 with a discount. Instead I paid substantially more for replacing the 50 with a 35 (!?). Almost 50 years later I am still a 35mm guy 😉

Haha same experience here, except that my Ftb QL had a 50mm lens and i'm still a 50mm guy 😄

[evikne]

50mm is still closest to my heart. But today I'm using more and more 35mm. Choosing just one of them would be almost impossible.

[3D-Kraft.com]

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vor einer Stunde schrieb evikne:

50mm is still closest to my heart. But today I'm using more and more 35mm. Choosing just one of them would be almost impossible.

Then you should give 40mm a try.

[evikne]

1 hour ago, 3D-Kraft.com said:

Then you should give 40mm a try.

There is no 40mm that tempts me. So I suppose I have to live with this eternal dilemma.

[3D-Kraft.com]

vor 32 Minuten schrieb evikne:

There is no 40mm that tempts me. So I suppose I have to live with this eternal dilemma.

Not even the Nokton 40mm f/1.2 II?

[evikne]

5 minutes ago, 3D-Kraft.com said:

Not even the Nokton 40mm f/1.2 II?

They look great, but I'm loyal to Leica. 😄

[Ko.Fe.]

I was 50 from begining. It was default lens for VF without any framelines, just entire VF for 50.

It was matching emptiness of times.

I got my first 35 as widest framelines in RF camera decades later and switched to 35.

By still trying Leitz and else 50. 35 for images with street containt, 50 mostly for informal portraits.  

After I studied thousands of photos from GW, I was able to see the difference between 50, 35 and 28.

28 was something attractive, but I can't frame intuitively with it. I have tried several 28, no cigar.

Winograd also liked 21. I got one. And it is most used lens on my M-E 220. 

So, I have two 50 which are rarely in use,  bunch of 35, one 28 not in use and one 21.

Main reason for 21 is been in Europe for now. Anything narrower just doesn't cut for me on Belgium, Germany and Netherlands streets. 

Forgot to add. For quality of handling and image quality I like Summarit-M 35 2.5. 

But wider it gets more difficult it is find something. I'm stuck with slightly decentered in the corners Cosina made Color Skopar 21/4 LTM. 

It is very nice lens for digital BW, but decentering gives magenta casts which even CornersFix can't handle.  

 

Edited May 12 by Ko.Fe.

[Kiwimac]

I spent a couple of years with the 35 Apo being my primary - probably at least 80% of what I shot. 
 

The other day I had a bit of an epiphany. I realised that actually I was using it because, combined with 60MP files, it permitted me to be exceptionally lazy with my composition and crop off the edges to what was roughly (usually) equivalent to the fov on a 50mm. 

[Pika898]

35mm, started with the 50mm but have always found it too tight for framing and found myself in situations where it’s impossible to take another step back.  

35mm just feels right for me these days. 

 

[a.noctilux]

Stretching to 28mm for me with Tri-Elmar-M 28/35/50

nice having choices in one lens, not even zoom style .

 

As side note, lenses are there to be used, so the focal length choice is not a free choice.

 

 

Edited May 18 by a.noctilux

[catacore]

For me it's 50mm all the way. Then, on the second place, it would be the 40mm.

[Nachapon Dumrongthumavoot]

I always on the camp of 50mm with M film nowadays.

If im going on a trip,i will usually take MP 0.85 a la carte and a choice of 50mm ( apo, lux v3, AA 1.2 ) depend on the trip and Hass X2D + 38/90 to cover all digital needed. 

[JoshuaR]

I've been on a bit of a journey with this. I used to be mainly a 35mm shooter, starting with the Fuji X100 series, then an M2 and digital Ms. Then I had two small kids. Now, when I'm with the family -- which is most of my photography -- I prefer 28mm and 50mm. 28mm for scenes and people (I like the added dynamism and am often up close by default), 50mm for portraits or more formally structured compositions. I have a less expensive 90mm to round out the kit for telephoto, which I use maybe six times a year.

Moving to this arrangement has changed my solo photography, too. When I travel for work, I'm now also more likely to have a 50mm on the camera and a 28mm or 21mm in my bag for wider scenes, or vice versa. 21mm and 50mm work really well for me when I'm by myself. I used to own a 21 SEM but now have the smaller Voigtlander 21mm f/3.5 and find it to be a great default lens for solo travel, if what I'm wanting is essentially a record of where I've been.

It feels a little strange, honestly. Photography is a big part of my life, it shapes how I relate to things, and 35mm used to be at the center of it, in terms of how I was seeing and even where I was standing. Now, it's either wider or a bit longer. Small potatoes, in the grand scheme, but it's changed. (I started a thread about it here and learned a lot from the responses.)

Because 35mm used to be my main focal length, I own two 35mm lenses, a New Steel Rim and a Light Lens Lab 8-e collapsible. The New Steel Rim has my favorite rendering of any lens, ever. But I use it far less than I'd like. I bought it just when my own usage of 35mm was fading. One of my projects for this coming summer is to force myself to use it exclusively for a month or two, since, from a rendering perspective, it's my favorite "summertime" lens. I bought it after I sold my M2, and another thing I've been thinking about it is that it might be fun to buy another M2 and shoot film with the New Steel Rim for the summer—the results I see others getting are pretty wonderful.

But money's a bit tight, I have a lot of family obligations, and so I've also considered selling it, keeping the LLL as my 'body cap' for ultimate compactness, and just fully embracing 28mm and 50mm. Yet I suspect that, as my kids grow up, they'll become a bit more physically distant -- right now, they're in the little-kid stage where they're always about two feet from me -- and at that point 35mm will make sense again. I will probably keep things as they are.

A lot of times, on the forum, I read people saying things like, "focal length depends on how the photographer sees." Clearly that's right for many people, but it hasn't been true for me. For me, focal length preference has depended almost entirely on concrete circumstances, like distance from the subject, that have been determined by practical questions like, How close do you sit to your kids when you play with them on the floor? How many people are there in your family, and how many of them do you want to fit in the frame? As those answers have changed, my lens preferences have changed. And presumably they'll keep changing!

Edited May 22 by JoshuaR

[mottykytu]

3 hours ago, JoshuaR said:

 

Because 35mm used to be my main focal length, I own two 35mm lenses, a New Steel Rim and a Light Lens Lab 8-e collapsible. The New Steel Rim has my favorite rendering of any lens, ever. But I use it far less than I'd like. I bought it just when my own usage of 35mm was fading. One of my projects for this coming summer is to force myself to use it exclusively for a month or two, since, from a rendering perspective, it's my favorite "summertime" lens. I bought it after I sold my M2, and another thing I've been thinking about it is that it might be fun to buy another M2 and shoot film with the New Steel Rim for the summer—the results I see others getting are pretty wonderful.

 

Nice story,

Btw, How does the rendering of 35mm F 1.4 Steelrim Reissues compare to the LLL 8 element ? both are remake of the original first 35mm Leica M mount, so I really want to know how are they compared. Manythanks

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[lct]

In case you would not know, LLL 8 element is a remake of the Summicron 35/2 v1, not Summilux. Just for info as i have no experience with LLL.

[mottykytu]

39 minutes ago, lct said:

In case you would not know, LLL 8 element is a remake of the Summicron 35/2 v1, not Summilux. Just for info as i have no experience with LLL.

Thanks, Obviously I know, I own the LLL 8 Element for this reason

But it is also the remake of the first 35mm Summicron while the Steelrim is the remake of the first 35mm Summilux

Edited May 22 by mottykytu