new to leica

[dskphotography]

i just bought an m6 a 35 cron (older) a 50 cron (older chrome) and a 90 2.8 heavy i wanted a 40 voigtlander noct but i was told id need to do some pretty wierd mods with the m6 i think i might have made a mistake i bought a leica mainly for street work at night and i bought the crons because they were cheaper than the luxs and i only had a budget of 2400$ anyone know of something fast i could put on my wishlist (under 2 grand used)


just curious i thank you all in advance for the help

 

[Biggles]

Summicrons for street work at night- a mistake? Uh, no. Not in my book, anyway.

Just use 800- or 1600-speed film, or push your usual stuff a bit. Learn to hold reliably, on demand, at 1/30th and 1/60th with your 50mm and 35mm lenses, and you'll do just fine.

 

[furcafe]

The best value in fast lenses I know of is the Cosina Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton. An excellent lens for a good price, approximately $340 new (less used, of course). Also, yes, you can modify the 40/1.4 Nokton (another good, relatively inexpensive lens) so that it brings up the 35mm frames on your M6, but no mods to the camera are needed. You could easily pick up either of those lenses & sell the 90/2.8, which isn't very useful for street work, anyway.

i just bought an m6 a 35 cron (older) a 50 cron (older chrome) and a 90 2.8 heavy i wanted a 40 voigtlander noct but i was told id need to do some pretty wierd mods with the m6 i think i might have made a mistake i bought a leica mainly for street work at night and i bought the crons because they were cheaper than the luxs and i only had a budget of 2400$ anyone know of something fast i could put on my wishlist (under 2 grand used)


just curious i thank you all in advance for the help

 

[x-ray]

The 35mm Nokton f1.2 is the finest for night work. I have it along with asph summicron and Biogon. The Biogon is the best performer but the f1.2 of the Nokton is what you need for night work. The flare level is noticably less than the Summicron including the asph and even the 35mm summilux asph and partuicularly the v1 non asph. Even at 1.2 sharpness is excellent and at 1.4 it's even better. By f2 it has amazing sharpness. Contrast is exceptional and has beautiful OOF. The price new is around $800. Some complain about the size but it's about the same size as the 50 1.2 Noctilux that I used to have and seriously outperforms it. It's not a large lens by SLR standards but it's not small by RF standards but is smaller than the Noctilux f1 50mm. Size is just what you have to deal with with super fast glass.

I highly recommend this lens and have personally used and owned many M mount lenses. Optics and construction are first rate by any standard, even Leicas.

 

[furcafe]

I have to partially disagree. f/2 may be fine for your typical well-lit city streets, but it's often too slow for darker street environments or indoor shooting in clubs, etc., even w/ISO 3200 or 1600 film, especially if you want a decent chance of stopping subject motion. Yes, I know club & bar shooting isn't street per se, but many photographers who do street also shoot a lot of interior "available darkness" work (I do, anyway). In addition, there are plenty of times when you might want to use slower films & f/1.5 or f/1.4 give you more flexibility in those situations.

Summicrons for street work at night- a mistake? Uh, no. Not in my book, anyway.

Just use 800- or 1600-speed film, or push your usual stuff a bit. Learn to hold reliably, on demand, at 1/30th and 1/60th with your 50mm and 35mm lenses, and you'll do just fine.

 

[Mike Richards]

Don't forget DOF and focusing

Don't forget DOF and focusing

The wider the aperture, the shallower the DOF. I've used my Summilux '50 for night shots, sometimes at f1.4, and with Neopan 1600 shot at the rated speed. I found out that if the light level is so low that f1.4 is called for, then focusing becomes difficult. So I've used f2 or f2.8 more successfully, even with slow shutter speeds of 1/30 or even 1/15. Also used my 21mm f2.8 at these speeds successfully. Something to think about, depending on your subjects. You may spend a lot of money to upgrade to Summilux f1.4 models only to find out you are taking all your shots at f2 or f2.8. I have some examples posted from the Preveza Sardine Festival:

http://homepage.mac.com/richam/PhotoAlbum107.html

 

[edodo]

get the canon 50mm 1.2 that is pretty cheap compared to the nokton and the noctilux.

 

[35mmdelux]

Crons are great, the standard. Just load fast film for low light cond. Remember Tri-x and Ilford 400 (HP-5) can be ramped up to 1200asa if needed (dev appropriately).

You'll only need one lens. Keep it simple.