Anyone have a 50mm "carry everywhere" solution?

I don't think there is a really pocketable solution if you want to carry a Leica M. It will always be a little bit to bulky and heavy in any pocket. But have you considered carrying it in a bag. I carry an ordinary messenger bag every day and I have no problem stuffing a strapless M6 with any resonable 50mm lens in it. This way you could just use the Planar.
 
wallace said:
I had the same problem. And I found the solution for me:
Pentax MX with 45mm Rikenon Pancake lens. (same size like the
origninal Pentax 40mm, same quality). The same with the Me Super,
if you want automatic exposure. Fits easily into my pocket...

Thomas
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I have an ME Super and a 40/2.8 pancake and I do not find it terribly pocketable at all. This combination would go in a large coat pocket but it still represents a not insignificant bit of bulk. To my mind a camera needs to be quite a bit smaller still before I'll call it pocketable.

Matthew
 
ferider said:
Sanmich has a point: a Canon P with collapsible Serenar is not expensive and for all
practical purposes will give you the same quality as most cheaper Leica combos, at half price or better.
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The LTM Elmar 50 will also collapse just fine on a P, so that's another option for you.
 
hans_s said:
I don't think there is a really pocketable solution if you want to carry a Leica M. It will always be a little bit to bulky and heavy in any pocket. But have you considered carrying it in a bag. I carry an ordinary messenger bag every day and I have no problem stuffing a strapless M6 with any resonable 50mm lens in it. This way you could just use the Planar.
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Hans is right about the weight. My M4/Elmar-M combo in chrome, the weight is 845g (camera 600g, lens 245g). That's roughly 1.9 lbs! The combo is relatively compact, but it tends to stretch out a jacket pocket pretty badly. I tend to use a long strap to wrap mine across my chest or back. That way, it is quick to use but out of the way.
 
ferider said:
Marc, you mention the Color Skopar in your first post. Why did you discard that as an option ?
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I haven't found a great many photographs taken with that lens. But what I have seen has not impressed me all that much. A lot of the images seem somehow unbalanced to me. I can't really describe my impression any better than that.

Part of my problem, and I'm sure I'm not alone here, is that I want all of the functionality and image quality that I get from the M2 and my favourite M-lenses but in a smaller package. And it's very easy to ratchet up in a huury. I start by wanting a small camera so I look at compacts. But then I can easily talk myself up to an M body with a collapsible lens. From there, it's only a short step to the set-up that I already have. Maybe the answer is just to start carrying a bag everywhere I go and stick with the kit I've got. Maybe my problem is that I am fixated on the Elmar-M and just won't be satisfied with anything else. I don't know. I'm more confused now than I was yesterday. But I certainly appreciate all of the input from everyone.
 
The Contax T2 is almost the best of both worlds, no shutter speed control, but adjustable f-stops and an extremely capable lens.

pontiac-1.jpg
 
Rafael said:
I haven't found a great many photographs taken with that lens. But what I have seen has not impressed me all that much. A lot of the images seem somehow unbalanced to me. I can't really describe my impression any better than that.

Part of my problem, and I'm sure I'm not alone here, is that I want all of the functionality and image quality that I get from the M2 and my favourite M-lenses but in a smaller package. And it's very easy to ratchet up in a huury. I start by wanting a small camera so I look at compacts. But then I can easily talk myself up to an M body with a collapsible lens. From there, it's only a short step to the set-up that I already have. Maybe the answer is just to start carrying a bag everywhere I go and stick with the kit I've got. Maybe my problem is that I am fixated on the Elmar-M and just won't be satisfied with anything else. I don't know. I'm more confused now than I was yesterday. But I certainly appreciate all of the input from everyone.
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one of the r camera bodies and a 50 is still pretty small.
 
Hmm. I've chosen to answer this without reading the whole thread so forgive me if someone else has already suggested my ideas.

If the ZI 50/2 Planar is your favorite lenes but is too big, then it seems to me you have exactly 2 choices - the 50/2 collapsible Summicron or the Canon 50/1.9 collapsible lens which is also a double Gaussian design. I have owned the Summicron in the past but sold it in favor of a Canon 50/1.8 so that should show where my biases lie... 😉

Another option, presuming you are not impossibly wed to Leica, is a Contax II & the 50/2 collapsible Sonnar. A very easily pocketed camera that will produce results well beyond my ability...

William
 
Yikes, how many responses does this question need?
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It is a good question nonetheless, well worth agonizing over. The fifty is a great focal length, it brings out the best in all of us (encourages "nothing in excess") but it is difficult to pouch. My favorite combination of rigid summicron & M3 is like carrying a shot put around town. I leave the two at home much of the time.

It seems that consensus is that the Sonnar 1.5, new, or older version in aluminum, not brass (to help save against pocket sag), or a collapsible Elmar, Sonnar or Summicron (despite the horrors of medium contrast and lack of zit and wrinkle capture) might be just the ticket.
 
For compact, elegant 50mm outfit, I really enjoy the IIf (or IIIf) and the 5cm f/3.5 Elmar. For something a little larger and more sophisticated, an Mn (n = 2, 3, 4, or 6) with the new 50mm f/2.8 Elmar-M is hard to beat.

Richard L.
 
Those new summarit lenses are kind of interesting, that 50 f2.5 looks to be a winner in terms of image quality, not in price though.
 
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