ADVICE NEEDED on what to think about with wide / longer lenses

[Dave Lynch]

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I’m been mulling over an M11 purchase.  I’m looking for a full frame camera system that’s light weight (my R5 & lenses weigh a ton) for travel. I had the loan of a M11 & summicron 35mm for 2 weeks and enjoyed it.  Am now trying to decide on lenses. My concern is the handling of the rangefinder at wider and longer focal lengths. I’ve the opportunity to go into a store, but I’d like to know what to look for before peering through the camera. TIA

 

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[Loop Skywalker]

My favorite travel setup is 35mm and 75mm. If I also need something wider, I add a 21mm.

[Carlos cruz]

3 minutes ago, Dave Lynch said:

My concern is the handling of the rangefinder at wider and longer focal lengths

Visoflex can be a useful for longer and wider lenses. 

[JNK100]

I use a 50mm only. Anything out of the 28-75mm range is difficult using the RF in my experience and the 28mm view may be tricky if you wear spectacles as it takes up nearly all the OVF.

The 'frames' are in pairs e.g. 50/75mm.

If sticking to one lens, I would suggest 35mm or 50mm 'Cron or 'Lux.

[sinjun]

Did you have the chance to try the M11 with the visoflex? This is probaby the best single solution for wider and longer lenses. Some people don't like it for wide lenses since the contrast-detect highlighting doesn't have the precision of the rangefinder for focus (but I would argue it has its strengths for getting optimal focus across the field). It is also possible to use an accessory viewfinder for wide lenses. If you plan to do a lot of shooting outside of the 28-75 mm range, a rangefinder may not be the best camera for you.

[Tseg]

If your eyesight is not too bad, but wear glasses, you can buy a Leica diopeter to correct vision and throw your glasses on top of your head when you shoot.  It is what I do.  So using a 28mm is a non-issue.  I use that focal length a lot for street shooting … but frequently range focusing because of the wide angle and large depth of field.

I was just shooting with a 90mm Summicron yesterday.  I have no issue using it outside on bright days when the shutter speed is up.  The brightness also helps with the focus patch.  You can also use a Visoflex 2 if you need to ensure proper focus, like on a specific eye ball.  Of course, practice makes perfect.

And then there is every focal length in between.

[Stuart Richardson]

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I agree, if you plan to shoot a lot of long lenses, the visoflex is very useful. I use the older version a lot, particularly with my 135mm Tele-Elmar. It is also useful for the 75mm 1.4 Summilux and 90mm f2 APO Summicron. I know that it is an EVF vs rangefinder, but if you are coming more for the compactness, it is a useful solution. There are also really nice optical viewfinders for the wide angle lenses. I am not sure how easy or expensive they are these days, but I have a 25/28 Zeiss ZM viewfinder and it is exceptionally clear, bright and crisp. Since focus is not much of a challenge with wides, just having the auxiliary viewfinder is generally enough. I am used to it from the film days, but I think that they don't take very long to adapt to. Generally framing does not need to extremely precise with very wide angles unless you are doing architecture. If that is the case, you also have the live view screen to help.

[pgk]

1 hour ago, Dave Lynch said:

My concern is the handling of the rangefinder at wider and longer focal lengths.

Handling? Not quite sure what you want advice on. As the rangefinder is independent of viewing through the lens, wide angle focus is its forte because it relies on coincodent rangefinder focus and independent of aperture. However, whilst focus is great, viewing may not be if you are used to a dSLR or EVF camera and using an small additional viewfinder is not everyone's idea of precise framing! The visoflex will help but if you are coming from EVF cameras it could be a retrograde step.

FWIW I use 21, 35 and 75 lenses as my standard set-up and I use a 21mm optical viewfinder. But having used such equipment for 45 years I'm used to it. It will be a learning curve which can, if you enjoy it, be rewarding. But there is little of the ease and precision of other camera types.

[lct]

Depends if you prefer the rangefinder mode, the live view mode or both.
In RF mode, better choose lenses having framelines in the viewfinder. To complement the 35mm you like, you might envision a 28mm and/or a 50mm, a 75m or a 90mm lens.  
In LV mode, better acquire the Visoflex 2 so that yo can use confortably not only the lenses above but also a 15mm, a 21mm and/or a 135mm.
Plenty of choice among Leica and/or Cosina VM or ZM lenses, let alone China made lenses i have too little experience with to advise.
Better borrow or rent lenses if you can as it is a subjective matter and a lens i like much may not suit your needs or tastes at all.
Happy snaps 😊

Edited June 26 by lct

[Topsy]

Like @pgk I use 21, 35 & 75 But also 50 on my M9s and am fine with focussing and composition with these lengths (additional OVF in the hotshoe for the 21mm). Composition with lenses longer than 75 I think is a bit optimistic with a rangefinder.

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[jakontil]

I used a 21 or a 50 on my digital M, but pairing with a 28 or 35 on my film M 

[thierry40]

I am new to the range finder use and struggle a bit with the 50 but with practice it starts to give results. I don’t use view finding much but I think I should do it. Otherwise I use the 28 a lot where large zone focusing helps a lot. I like both for different use. 

[Knightspirit]

I have 18, 21, 35, 40, 50, 75, 90, and 135mm lenses and use all of them. Calibrate your rangefinder (almost always off a little) - you can do that yourself with the right tool by prying the little red dot off of the front for vertical alignment and inside the camera  through the mount for horizontal. Once calibrated - you should get good results with all focal lengths - even a 135mm. For the wider lenses you can just use live view for framing and the red focus peaking for focus. The visoflex is nice too for the longer lenses if you don't mind carrying it (I don't). Also helpful is dialing down your resolution to 36mp instead of 60 - use 60 only when you really want/need it. Everything will be sharper as handshake becomes noticeable at 60mp. Use that for astro shots on a tripod.

For travel - it's hard to beat the 28mm Emarit, 50mm Sumicron, 90mm Elmarit combo. Small, compact, light and covers what you need.  If I were to carry just 4 lenses - I might go with the 18, 35, 75 and 135. My regular kit (still very compact and in a small bag) is 6 lenses: 18, 28, 35, 50, 90, 135. All bases covered.

Edited June 27 by Knightspirit

[leicarox]

While possibly annoying, the visoflex or liveview would help. I've used a 90 on the M11 and it did ok without the EVF. My widest is a 28 and while you can see the frame lines if you move your eye around a bit, it's not ideal for cropping so for me I usually guess and then crop a little in post. The SL2s works great on wide and telephoto, especially with the IBIS - If you can deal with the weight. 

[steve edmunds]

using the RF i would suggest going for a 75mm lens , i use the razor sharp summarit f2.4 , good option in my view for telephoto/portrait using the rangefinder,

by the way i loved " twin peaks"  and "blue velvet"

[Kiwimac]

If you want long lenses, I’d buy an SL. With the M adapter you can use M lenses but also you get the benefit of the much longer glass that is available in the L mount. 
 

If you are having the M, using the optical rangefinder I’ve never found anything longer than 50mm to be reliably accurate in focus. YMMV depending on how good your eyesight is! Certainly long and fast lens focus becomes very very hard at the fast apertures because the DoF is razor blade thin. 
 

You have 60MP however, so depending on the end use, you can crop quite heavily to the angle of view of longer lenses. 
 

You can of course use the rear LCD screen to focus accurately or the Visoflex  attachment. I’m not a huge fan of either really but they do work. 
 

There is also a persistent rumour that Leica will release an M mount camera with a built in EVF, which would likely be a lot more useful for focusing tricky lenses. It wouldn’t, IMO, be an M camera however even if it looked like one. M is the first letter of the German word for rangefinder. No rangefinder, no M designation. They might call it an M but I don’t think that’s congruent with the reason the M is called an M. 
 

At the moment, I have 28,35 and 50. I can use any one of those as a single lens option, although I’d probably err to 35. 
 

I have owned the 75 and the 90. Both very good in IQ. Both too difficult to focus reliably for me to use. Never tried the 135: if I do, it would be for tripod use in landscapes rather than for carrying around. 

[S Maclean]

I never have trouble with the 90 macro Elmar and never had trouble with the 90 app when I had it. I have a pre aspherical 90 that I sometimes miss

the 75 is  dream. I actually recommend the CV 75 nokton

on wide the 21 super elmar is perfection.

If you like 28 go for the CV 28 1.5

35 and 50 you have a lot to choose from. A lot of great lenses from leic, CV, light lens lab etc.

[Ne314satel]

On 6/26/2025 at 10:49 AM, Dave Lynch said:

TIA

I use the 15mm Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar f/4,5 V.2 all the time. The LV function is great. It's a huge improvement over the m9 and m6.

 

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[FarbSpieler]

In my experience, for travel and general use, the 35–90mm range is very workable on the M system, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

35mm is the sweet spot for rangefinders. It frames well and focusing is easy and fast.

50mm is the classic M focal length. Easy to handle, and very natural to use with the RF.

90mm is where rangefinder limits start to show. Focusing becomes quite critical, and the small framelines make composition harder. That said, it’s very manageable with a slower lens (like the 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit) and good technique.

[S Maclean]

Also, for what it's worth, it is not the lens per se that may be difficult to focus, it's the focus range (aperture) adn the distance to subject.

 

If you're focusing on a subject that is 2 meters away, it's basically the same, as there is no magnification change on the RF. Of course the logical counter to that is that we get larger FL to reach objects that are further away....but that's not really as true as one would think as using a 75 or 90 for portraits is quiote common (and easy to focus on)

So, in short, it's not the lens that is hard to focus on(provided the camera is well calibrated) it's the "Use" of that lens that create some limitations or....challenges.

I do shoot with the 135 as well and had great results.

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