Buying an M9 - need lens combination suggestion

J

jamesdfloyd

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Long-story short, I am selling all my Nikon D3 gear and I will buy an M9. My question deals with what my first "non-Leica" lens should be. I debated getting an M8.2 and buying 2 brand new Leica lenses (28mm & 50mm) or buying an M9 and getting a Zeiss or Voigtlander winde angle (24mm or 28mm) to start with, then trade up to a Leica lens within a couple of months. After that, I will try to complete a lens set by buying 2 or 3 more lenses within a year.

I plan on using the M9 as a travel and weekend camera.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

J.D.
 
depends on your budget, but I would recommend Zeiss lenses.. you may like them so much that you may not feel the need to buy Leica lenses.

- 25/2.8 ZM
- 35/2 ZM
- 35/2.8 C ZM
- 50/2 ZM
- 50/1.5 ZM

If you want something wider, 21/2.8 and 21/4.5 C are excellent.
If you want something longer, CV 75/1.8 works or even older 90 elmarit.
 
If you buy any of the Zeiss lenses, there are many people who would suggest "getting Leica lenses later" is not necessarily "trading up" ... unless you are talking about price alone.
 
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It seems like a trip around the houses to get an M8.2 first, especially as this will skew the logic of what lenses you end up with on your eventually M9.

But the better way to look at the question is not to think in isolation about your first lens, but also what your second lens will befor your M9. Although the 35mm is the least used of my lenses, it would without doubt be the one lens I could survive with if all the others were taken away. So I'd say start with a 35mm f/2 of some sort to keep the overall package small and light, which is presumably one of the attractions of a full frame rangefinder. Think about larger faster lenses when you are refining your collection. Then the next lens can be either a 28mm (or 21mm) or a 50mm, depending on what you find you missing out on most.

Steve
 
At least some of the Zeiss M-mount lenses use 1/3rd stop aperture clicks (instead of 1/2 like the shutter dial), I find that very annoying. There are also (generally) more issues with edge colours in non-Leica wideangle lenses, but that can be fixed with software, or sometimes with marker pen coding the lenses.

Based on my limited experience I would say that some of the Zeiss wideanges are sharper than the Leica equivalents (and cheaper, and easier to get hold of), but the 1/3rd stop thing is a killer for me.

I would strongly advise not to get an M8.2, the crop is significantly different.

Edit to add: I would recommend you subscribe to Sean Reid's reviews site, he does really good comprehensive reviews of lenses, and is great at pulling out the differences between them. Depending on your tastes there are often non-Leica lenses you will find you enjoy using. I've been using a Voigltander 50/1.1 for over a year while I wait for my 50 Summilux to arrive.
 
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surely if you were to get one lens it would be the new nokton 35mm 1.2 or Zeiss sonnar 50mm 1.5 if you must buy brand new? You wouldn't be likely to replace these later. Me personally I would get a second hand 50mm Summicron for the same amount as a new Zeiss
 
You have 80 years of lenses to choose from. I probably have 100 lenses that can work on my M9.

It would help narrow suggestions down by describing what type of photography that you plan to do with the M9.
 
Try to find out what your mostly used focal length(s) will be and cover it with a Leica lens. Otherwise you will constantly feel the urge to "upgrade" and loose money, no matter how good CV and ZM optics are. Been there, done that. Otherwise, none of the CV or Zm lenses I had or have ever disappointed me. Some of the ZMs might even be as good as the Leica alternative, particularly the ZM 25, it doesn't get any better than this one. ZM 18, ZM 25 and Summilux 50 asph is actually a great set up with the two ZM lenses costing less than a new Summicron 28mm.
 
jamesdfloyd said:
... selling all my Nikon D3 gear.......... I debated getting an M8.2 and buying 2 brand new Leica lenses (28mm & 50mm) or buying an M9 and getting a Zeiss or Voigtlander winde angle (24mm or 28mm) to start with......
Click to expand...

Hi - It looks as if you may be doing what many of us have done in the past; assessing a way of working with one camera type, and transferring their preferred lens angle of views to the intended 'M' camera.

What I, and many others have found is that working an 'M' can change those lens-angle preferences. Often, a former wide angle worker can find them-self preferring to use a slightly longer focal length with an 'M' and adapting to a new way of working.

A 35mm or 50 mm might actually be a good starting point for you, but I'd urge you to delay any lens purchasing decision and read Sean Read's reviews [as suggested] to get a good sense of the price/design/construction advantages of Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlander lenses for the 'M' platform. You could start with "35mm lenses on an M9".

Take your time, good luck.

............... Chris
 
Some people don't like the Bokeh on CV lenses but I am not a big fan of shallow DOF pictures.

My choices are CV 15 and CV 35 both are excellent lenses. Check the thread on CV 15 in RFF.
 
travel and weekend camera? intent to trade up to leica soon?

i'd suggest starting with leica now if that's where you want to end up. you'll spend more time shooting and less time mucking about buying and selling lenses. if you have to economize now, look at the "new" summarits: the 35 and 75 are well regarded.
 
Thanks for the comments...

Just to clarify; my Nikon gear is all oriented towards wedding photography (which I gave up 2-years ago and is now collecting dust) and my Mamiya/Phase One digital combination is oriented towards landscape. I want to which to the M9 for several reasons, but principally because I travel extensively (international) for work and I want something better than my D-Lux4 and lighter-weight than a D3. Also, I am beyond tire of the "DSLR arms race". I simply want to buy something that will be appropriate for years.

Some how, I think I am preaching to the choir here, because it seems that a good portion of the people on this forum share my opinion.

Finally, I guess I was drinking the Leica "Cool-Aid" by thinking that I needed Leica lenses over Zeiss.

Thanks for the comments.

J.D.
 
My current kit is a M9 with a 35 Summicron type 4, 50 Summicron (1969) and a 90 Elmarit M. I also have a 135 Elmarit that sits in a drawer unless I know I'm going to need it. All together I probably spent $3,600 on these lenses. It is not a huge outlay for what are some of the finest lenses ever made. In fact each one was a replacement (due to divorce, loss and glass abuse) for the 35/50/90 M4 kit that I carried around for most of my life. But replacing my original lenses took patience and a lot of looking.

Along the way I used a 35 CV Color Skopar, which is an excellent lens. In many ways this tiny CV lens was sharper than my current 35 Summicron. This little 35 and its little 28/3.5 brother are great starter lenses - as is the 50/1.5. I also had a 21 Biogon which, while I had to have it adjusted twice, took some very impressive photos.

You can buy all four of those CV/Zeiss lenses for around $2,600 and have a great kit or go the extra grand and have what you know is the kit you really want.
 
Two lenses for travel/weekend: wide-angle/short Telephoto. 28 and 85/90 is a good combo.

If "super-speed" is not important, the 28/2.8 Elmarit (I have a V3) is a great lens. The 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit is also really good. These lenses sell used at reasonable prices.

If you need more speed- the Voigtlander 28/2 wide-angle is hard to beat. The Nikkor 8.5cm f2 in Leica Mount is excellent, and is not too expensive.
 
leica elmar-c 90/4 is an absolutely tremendous travel lens. it's about two stops too slow for total world domination, but it's light, sharp as hell and reasonably priced.
 
Of course if you buy Zeiss or CV you will have a good lens, but unless you buy a Leica lens you will never know how they compare. It is all well and good to like Zeiss (for instance) but you can only recommend them based on experience of Leica, otherwise it means nothing. So while Zeiss are excellent lenses sooner or later you will have to try a Leica lens just to quell the doubt. I have no doubt that Leica are better overall, but not so much that it matters in every case.

Steve
 
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