Digilux 3 and M glass?

[conorbradshaw]

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Hi everyone,

Just wondering if any of you out there have experience of using the Digilux 3 with M lenses that you would be willing to share?

I'm new to photography and started about 6 months ago with a D-Lux 4.

I'm in the process of purchasing a pre-owned Digilux 3 primarily for the extra lens options but my ultimate goal, once I become a lot more proficient (and save up the cash ), is to own and shoot with an M9.

With that goal in mind I was considering what lenses, other than the kit lens, I should consider while learning on the Digilux, particularly for candid/street/architecture type shooting.. but also landscape and some portrait.

My thinking was that, for say a standard lens, purchasing an Summilux M 24 mm f/1.4 plus M adapter (Leica or Pana?) would give me similar focal length options and performance (???) to the D Summilux 25 mm f/1.4 Asph but would also give me the option down the line to also use it on the M9 thus saving me having to buy another 24/25mm lens?

Does this sound reasonable?

Do these lenses perform very differently?

Any other options I should consider?

I'm conscious that I may be asking stupid questions as a rookie, so apologies if this doesn't make sense.

Any and all advice gratefully accepted.

Thanks

Conor

[MJLogan]

There is no 4/3 adapter for Leica M lenses. You have to go to a Panasonic or Olympus micro 4/3 body for that.

 

The Digilux 3 will take (via adaptor) Leica R glass, as well as Olympus OM and a bunch of other formats. The focal length of these lenses will be effectively doubled due to the size of the 4/3 sensor--a standard 50mm lens will function as a 100 mm, for instance. A weird but rather pretty ghosting effect has been reported when using very wide apertures with some lenses--reflected light seems to bounce between the rear element of the lens and the sensor, creating an ethereal multiple exposure. I've not seen it personally, but will mount a fast OM prime to my Digilux 3 soon and try to duplicate it.

 

The small viewfinder on the Digilux 3 makes precise manual focus a challenge. Some users have had their D3s fitted with a better viewfinder screen from a company called katzeye. I'm considering that myself.

[conorbradshaw]

Thanks for the response (MJLogan)

 

I must admit I completely missed the "micro" (four thirds) bit when I researched those adaptor rings for M lenses.

Oh well...

There seems to be lots on here about R lenses on Digilux 3, so I'll do some digging on that next!

 

As a follow-up... is R glass on an M body an option?... ie. are there adapters to allow that and if so, any issues?

 

I've never seen it stated anywhere, but I get the impression that M lenses generally considered to be "better quality" (understand that at this level it can be a subjective measurement / matter of preference) than R glass...

 

... any views on that?

 

Thanks.

[farnz]

... I've never seen it stated anywhere, but I get the impression that M lenses generally considered to be "better quality" (understand that at this level it can be a subjective measurement / matter of preference) than R glass...

 

... any views on that?

Well ... they're two different lens systems that were created for different purposes, ie rangefinder cameras and SLRs. Some R lenses have identical formulae to their M lens counterparts (the 90/2 APO-Summicron asph for example), which means that the number, shape and combination of their elements and coatings are the same and they are intended to provide identical output when mounted to their respective R or M cameras.

 

You will find more apochromatically corrected R lenses ("APO" lenses) but there are more M lenses with aspherical elements.

 

Here's where I raise my head above the general opinion parapet and hope not to get it blown off but generally speaking M lenses are better for wide angle photography and R lenses are better for telephoto photography.

 

Clearly the telephoto range is 'owned' by the R system because shooting above 135 mm with an M (rangefinder) camera becomes a little hit and miss because of the small size of the image in the viewfinder whereas R cameras can shoot up to 1,600 mm focal lengths (using a 2x doubler) without a problem. But there is a larger selection of wide angle lenses in M-mount than R-mount

 

There are stellar and industry-leading lenses in both systems such as the 50/0.95 Noctilux-M, 50/1.4 Summilux-M asph, 21/1.4 Summilux-M asph, 280/4 APO-Telyt-R, 28-90/2.8-4.5 Elmarit-R asph and the APO-Telyt-R module system.

 

So to suggest that the M system is better than the R system is like comparing apples with anvils: I can't eat an anvil but an apple would do me no good if my shoe broke.

 

Pete.

[conorbradshaw]

Thanks Pete... plenty of useful information and opinion there.

Clearly I have a lot more learning to do... now added to the list of research topics the relative merits of apochromatically corrected lenses vs lenses with aspherical elements...

all part of the fun

[andybarton]

M lenses are now usually of a more modern design than R lenses, but don't take it for granted that R glass is anything other than excellent or on a par with its M equivalent.

 

R glass is very cheap, since Leica dropped the R range from the catalogue, and there are lenses that just don't appear in the M range at all, and never had. The 60 Macro-Elmarit, for example, which is an incredible lens.

[farnz]

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APO and aspherical elements are both designed to correct for natural lens aberrations and will help to produce a sharper image at the focal plane. Some lenses contain both APO and aspherical, for example, the 90 f/2 APO-Summicron asph.

 

APO (apochromatic) elements are designed to focus all wavelengths in the visible spectrum at the same point. There are a great many wavelengths of light in the visible spectrum (400 to 700 nm), which each will produce a slightly different colour to humans, but for simplicity's sake they are commonly referred to as RGB (red, green and blue). Different wavelengths of light are refracted by different amounts, for example 'white' light entering a prism will produce a rainbow as it exits. In an 'ideal' lens, which doesn't exist, all rays entering the lens would produce a perfectly circular dot (on an emulsion or sensor) at the focal plane. But natural lens aberration and optical refraction in a real lens will cause the red, green and blue to focus at slightly different points just in front of or behind the focal plane, which will distort the dot by making it elliptical and introduce unsharpness. An APO element is designed to compensate for refraction to produce a less elliptical dot and thereby a sharper image. (Incidentally, the concept of image sharpness is a highly personal, emotive and controversial issue, which I shall avoid. )

 

The surfaces of aspherical elements are designed to be 'not' spherical to correct a lens's natural spherical aberration. Spherical aberration will cause a ray to produce a fuzzy dot at the focal plane instead of the ideal clear, circular dot and therefore a less sharp image.

 

In general terms, lenses with APO or aspherical elements will produce sharper images than those that don't although there are many people who prefer a less sharp image for portraiture so the choice is a matter of personal preference.

 

This is obviously not the whole story but I hope that it helps you decide what lenses will suit you.

 

Pete.

[peterm1_Leica]

If you wish to know more about using Leica R glass on the Leica D3 you might like to look at this interesting site. Actually he does not use the D3 - nor for that matter the Panasonic equivalent the L1. He uses the Olympus Evolt e330. This is the little camera that the others used as their sesign starting point. Still a 4/3 design and with essentially the same mirror box and viewfinder train. Some good thoughts on suitable Leica R glass for this system

 

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