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Super fast wides


phovsho

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Anyone using or tried the 21 and 24 1.4 ASPH on their film Ms? Interested in thoughts and reflections. How are the results? I'm a little unsure how much use I would get out of a lens which is so wide and big.

Cheers

M

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Murray, Noah Addis (sp?) has also written about the 24/1.4 here and possibly elsewhere. I think he liked it but was using it on an M8 and ended up selling it. I've wanted one since they were released but have been unable to try one up here in the backwoods of Boston. I even bought the new all-metal VF to go with it. I'm not buying one without trying it to see if it works for me wide-open, and it's quite aggravating to have to go to some place like NYC to use a lens for a few minutes.

 

To be honest I'm having second thoughts about it. I love the focal length and have a perfectly wonderful 24mm Elmarit, but I haven't yet seen any wide-open full-frame examples that would illustrate to me that the new 24 would be a useful improvement over my f2.8 version which is BTW, tremendous wide-open. Additionally, I don't like the filter/hood design at all and there have been posts here about the hood being off kilter when it's screwed in. Add all of that to being unable to try one out and maybe I can be forgiven for losing interest...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did use a 24 'Lux for a few months, but I only used it with the M8. I'm sorry to say I never shot film with it.

 

Well sort of sorry, not really. For my needs 24mm is just a bit wide on film (though it was great on the M8 and I specifically bought it for the M8). I knew with the M9 I wouldn't use it, so I sold it. Ironically, now that I've sold my M8s and I'm still waiting for my M9s to come in, I've been shooting some film and loving it.

 

The 28 Summicron is one of my favorite film lenses, and it's a lot smaller and a lot cheaper than the 21 or 24 'Luxes. The 35 'lux Asph is also a favorite of mine. I don't use super-wide lenses all that often, but I'm keeping my 21 Elmarit Asph for when I need something wider.

 

To me that much cash could be spent on a trip somewhere interesting to shoot, a LOT of film or even those two things plus a cheaper lens or an extra camera body. The 24/1.4 was one of the only Leica items I ever regretted purchasing. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing lens, but had I known a full-frame digital camera was so close I never would have bought it.

 

I hated the screw-in hood and series filter. It was a mess, always getting knocked out of position and I was afraid the filter was going to fall out (which it never did, but still...) You shouldn't have to tape together a $6000 lens.

 

Now if you really like the ultra-shallow DOF look, and you really like super-wides, then by all means check them out. Riccis has done wonderful work with the lenses on film.

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