best lenses for a leica CL

[mullerthurgau]

I'm considering to buy a CL, but I don't know which lenses I should mount on it.

I'd like a 35mm and a 90.



And inexpensive, even screw mount is good.


Suggestions?
🙂

 

[Xmas]

Review cameraquests brief on lenses Stephen is really good.

Inexpensive is J8 5cm + LTM adopter, the J12 will foul the meter cell.

Noel

 

[mullerthurgau]

I'll surely take a j8, but I was thinking if it was possible to have a 35 screw mount lens at the cost of 100€ more or less...

 

[Santafecino]

Hi--
I have 2 CLs and recommend the 40mm Summicron and 90mm Elmar-C, which were specially made for the CL. It has built in frame lines for these lenses. You can also use a 35mm, which I do, with an accessory finder (or just guess the area outside the 40mm frame). The Cosina Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 is cheap and very good. The CL also has a 50mm frame, and I use a 50mm Summicron and find it a good combination, but that 's a $600 lens. You may be just as happy with a Jupiter 8 ($40) and a screwmount adapter ($35 or so), but I encourage you to get a 50mm. The CL is, in its way, one of the best Leicas: light and with a great spot meter.
Regards,
--Santafecino

 

[Xmas]

The cv 35mm is £155 at Robert Whites an adopter £29, a lot more then a J12 +adopter but you will have to disable the meter with a j12.

Noel

 

[mullerthurgau]

that cv 35mm is nice: i've seen many pics taken with it, and it's also very small...


do you think that a price of 300€ for a cl in good conditions (working meter) is fair? i've seen many cl+40/2 at 400€, on ebay...

 

[RML]

The M-Rokkor 40/2 is about $100 cheaper than the Summi.

Both the 40/2 and the J8 are my favourite lenses on my CL. And together (these 2 lenses + the CL) they make a great travelling package. Add a J9 85/2 and/or the CV 25/4 and you can't go wrong. 🙂

 

[mullerthurgau]

The M-Rokkor 40/2 is about $100 cheaper than the Summi.

Both the 40/2 and the J8 are my favourite lenses on my CL. And together (these 2 lenses + the CL) they make a great travelling package. Add a J9 85/2 and/or the CV 25/4 and you can't go wrong. 🙂

talking about prices (sad argument...)
can you or someone else tell me the right price for:
-a cl body in good working order, but not esthetically perfect
a 40/2, sold alone
a cl in the same conditions as the one mentioned before, with a 40/2


thanks!

 

[RML]

talking about prices (sad argument...)
can you or someone else tell me the right price for:
-a cl body in good working order, but not esthetically perfect
a 40/2, sold alone
a cl in the same conditions as the one mentioned before, with a 40/2

In total I paid some 500 euro for my CL and my 40/2, IIRC. But that was from private dealers ($450 for the CL, and 250 euro for the 40/2).

To see what things are now worth, check current and past bids on eBay. Also, check the camera shops in your area. Prices vary widely worldwide, and you may want to buy local instead of from abroad. In Europe, prices in the UK and Germany tend to be lower than in (for instance) Holland. Buying from the US (through eBay or from one of the sponsors or members here) might be cheaper but reckon with shipping and customs duties.

 

[colyn]

The cv 35mm is £155 at Robert Whites an adopter £29, a lot more then a J12 +adopter but you will have to disable the meter with a j12.

Noel

You will have to have the meter stalk completely removed in order to use the J-12. If you can find someone who will do it..but then you lose metering with other lens..

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Canon 35mm F2.8 in LTM. That and an M-Adapter. It is a tiny lens, no trouble fitting the CL in its case. Nor will it foul the meter mechanism. It is smaller and sharper than the J-12.

 

[vrgard]

Yep, I second Brian's suggestion of the Canon 35/2.8 ltm lens. In fact, if anyone has one that they'd be willing to sell, I myself would be interested in it.

-Randy

 

[wlewisiii]

Another great option for the CL is the Canon 28/3.5 - a nice look and the whole of the CL finder approximates the FOV of the lens just fine. I used the combination quite happily till I sold my CL recently. I still use the lens on my Bessa R.

William

 

[vrgard]

Thanks, William, for pointing out the Canon 28/3.5 lens. Guess I was hit with a bit of dyslexia above in that I was thinking of the 28/3.5 lens when commenting that I would be interested in acquiring a 35/2.8 lens if anyone has one to sell. The 35/2.8 that Brian mentions is also a nice lens, so I still second his recommendation there, but don't feel the need to add a 35 to my kit that already has a 40 in it. But it seems to me the 28/3.5 would nicely round out my CL kit that already has a 40 and a 90 in it. So, if anyone has a Canon 28/3.5 they'd be willing to let go, I'm interested.

Thanks,
Randy

 

[ray_g]

recommend the 40mm Summicron and 90mm Elmar-C, which were specially made for the CL.

I like the 40/90 too, Leica or Rokkor - whichever you can get cheaper. Also, the Rokkors take 40.5mm filters and hoods. With the Leica lenses, you need series 5.5 filters. These are drop-in filters and you need the corresponding rubber hoods which also act as filter rings.

I also like the 28/3.5 CV for a tiny 28/40/90 kit. The entire CL VF approximates the 28mm frame, as William mentioned.

 

[borismach]

40/2 summicron-C is a must. 90/4 only if you want some tele shot and don't mind its slow speed. Did anyone mention VC 21/4? It is a good lens and yes it requires a external viewfinder, but you will need one anyway, for lens wider than 35. The short is the CL cannot meter with this lens. But who would rely on the build-in meter of this old camera?

If I were you, I'd definitelyget the 40/2 and 21/4.

Have fun...cheerz

🙂 bm

 

[JNewell]

I will echo the comments on the 40mm Summicron. It is an outstanding lens. I have a 35mm Asph Summicron and in practical use you generally can't tell the difference. I have a couple of 90mm lenses - but for light weight, cost-effectiveness and because you have DoF issues below f/4 anyway, I would recommend (and have been happy with) the 90mm Elmar-C.

 

[clintock]

The 2.5/50 color skopar is perfect on the cl. Harder to find, but sweet also is the rollei 40/2.8 but that usually winds up costing more than the summicron c 40.

Spending hundreds to remove the meter arm of a classic Leica camera in order to use a 50 dollar russian boigon copy lens is not something I'd do. The color skopar 35/2.5 fits and does not destroy the camera.

 

[Biggles]

From a die-hard CL user...

From a die-hard CL user...

A 35 and a 90? You'd be a fool to buy a CL to use with those.

That body and its framelines were made for 40mm and 50mm. Especially the forty. I find the 90 an unacceptable stretch on the CL. It's framed for it, yes, but it's a tiny little patch, a contingency patch at best. I sold my 90 and don't miss it a bit, and I'm an old school portraitist who thinks that life starts at one hundred millimeters. But, I walk around on the street with a CL and the forty, and I am satisfied.

The Leitz 40mm produces negatives of stupefying clarity. It almost doesn't know it's a wide-angle, either. You can't lose. You can't have mine.

Try either the Leitz or the Rokkor 40, and some kind of lightweight, black, 50mm Summicron or Elmar. That's a usable, high-performance CL outfit. Anything else is like trying to ram a 350 V8 into a Volkswagen. It'll work, it'll probably even fit, but the balance, the controllability... eeesh.

Build small fire, sit close.

 

[wlewisiii]

I would suggest that, though the CL was really designed around the 40/2 lens, the OP might want to consider if he's used that FL before? I found, quite quickly all three times (!) I have tried the lens, that the quality of the image is exquisite, but the focal length for me is neither fish nor fowl. In the end I settled on a carry combination of the Canon 28/3.5, Collapsible Summicron 50/2 & a prewar uncoated 90/4 Elmar. And I occasionally used a Canon 135/3.5 with it using an external finder (& yeah, especially with the hood on, it really looked funny on the end of a CL... )

There are lots of ways to use any camera. He simply needs to decide how he wants to use it, then answers to questions about lenses will fall into place.

William