Favorite lens?

1. It's used to be 50mm Zeiss ZM planar. But now when Voigtlander released 50mm f1.2 Nokton it took over the throne. It's a bit bigger but the optics there is phenomenal


2. Leica Elmarit 28mm ASPH. It's small, excellent ergonomics and I like "the look" of the images it produces
 
CMur12 said:
The 135mm focal length is perfect for head-and-shoulders portraits, as it puts the photographer about 5 ft from the subject.

I once assisted a wedding photographer and he told me, as a rule of thumb, to stay at least 5 ft away from the subject, to avoid perspective distortion. (One can, indeed, work around this, but it is still a good rule of thumb.)

I don't often shoot portraits, but I have 85mm, 100mm, and 135mm lenses for this purpose. For environmental portraits, I'll use shorter focal lengths (50mm and shorter).

- Murray
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My 135mm lens is quite old (1950's) so it only has a 14 ft minimum focusing distance.


Turns out it's the camera(Retina Reflex S). After consulting the manual there is a split-screen focusing prism in the middle of the viewfinder, and you are supposed to match the two images together to achieve focus. I find this quite annoying and difficult, otherwise the two images appear in focus all the time.


Supposedly this was a "feature" which was trendy at the time, but I would have preferred just a normal ground glass in the middle.
 
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I have no absolute favorite but if absolutely pushed I guess any fast 50. My Nikkor 50mm f1.4 Ais is awesome in its rendering and the AF version is just as good.



Nikon F5 and 50mm f1.4 Ais manual focus with Tri-X


Lian and Cindy by E.J. Bragg, on Flickr
 
For me it's this lens - 35/2 goggled Summicron V1:


Monochom Goggled Summicron V1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Four reasons why I love it (well actually five): i) I love the way it handles and I love the view through the viewfinder with the 1.25x magnifier (enables me to see all four corners clearly, yet the frame is large enough in the viewfinder); ii) The images are beautifully sharp wide open, utterly confidence-inspiring; iii) I like that it focuses to under 0.7m; iv) This particular example and the hood belonged to my late uncle, who was a commercial photographer. He purchased it new and used it in his business, then his son (my cousin) used it on his M3 during the 1970's to photograph all kinds of rock concerts and backstage stuff for his university newspaper whenever someone big would come to town (Genesis, Chicago, Leonard Cohen, Rush, James Cotton, Buddy Rich, Neil Young, ELO, The Strawbs, tons of others). The M3 and all the lenses sat in a camera bag for more than 35 years thereafter, and a couple of years ago I sold most everything for my cousin on eBay. Most everything, except this lens (and the camera bag :) ) Frank Marshman gave it the full spit'n'polish and it's a real sweetie. I've since added the special Leica 'half moon' ECOOG case for it. Don't think I'll ever sell it. Plus I almost forgot a sixth reason - it's Canadian :)

A couple of examples wide open with this lens:


Riley in Perth by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Jesse by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

I sold my 246 Monochrom earlier this year, so at the moment it lives on the M-D 262.
 
I like to shoot cars, a lot. I fell in love with the Nikkor 24mm when I first tried it. Now, it's been replaced by the Sony 24-105 G. It has not left my A7iii since I got it. Yes, it is heavier than the Nikkor, but, it gives me the versatility of a zoom and is as sharp as they say it is. At all focal lengths. Truly an eye opening lens, it is that good.
 
helenhill said:
No , just normal M mount, 1965 , serial # 2154

Boy does your V1 cron look yummy, Beautiful rendering too
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Thanks - the first shot is actually before Frank went through it, so even just after having emerged from its 35+ year sleep it still worked pretty well.
 
helenhill said:
it used to be the 35 pre asph lux, foolishly sold it... But now I think it's the 35 2.8 Summaron
Why ? For it's classic 60's B&W film rendering / shots One & Three
and love the clean crisp look on digital / middle shot



[URL="https://flic.kr/p/2hz6UAy"]
my mind like tracks laid bare... by Helen Hill, on Flickr


Red coat,Green hat,Red Filter by Helen Hill, on Flickr
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Helen, you make a convincing case for your favorite with those photos. Beautiful B&W rendering. I particularly like the first one.
 
helenhill said:
it used to be the 35 pre asph lux, foolishly sold it... But now I think it's the 35 2.8 Summaron
Why ? For it's classic 60's B&W film rendering / shots One & Three
and love the clean crisp look on digital / middle shot



[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hz6UAy]
my mind like tracks laid bare... by Helen Hill, on Flickr


Red coat,Green hat,Red Filter by Helen Hill, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Very nice images Helen. I especially like the first. (There is something about umbrellas that always adds charm, mystery, or that extra something?) regards Peter
 
It's a hackneyed to say, but my favorite is the one on the camera, whichever camera, whatever focal length, they're all good in B&W, although I've gravitated to the 35mm over the years, in both rangefinders and SLR's. I don't do MF. Been digging the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton II MC on a rangefinder over the last few months, and the replica 8-element 35mm Summicron over the last couple weeks, but have a feeling I'll shoot some SLR's shortly. By the way, I can totally understand why the pre-asph Summilux and 8-element have such strong followings. True character lenses.
 
It’s got to be wide! My current top pick is the 21mm Super Angulon. Some of my most memorable images have been made with it.

Bought mine new in the late sixties for about $350, with finder.
It got used for photos in the crypt of the Taj Mahal in 1970 (can’t do that anymore).
I had one of my SA shots used for the cover of Pacific Yachting magazine. That one paid $ equal to the cost of the lens.

Down just a notch is the old 35mm Summilux, bought mine new in early seventies for $190.

Still have both lenses plus lots of others, but the SA usually lives on one of the M4’s. In fact I like the Super Angulon so much I got a 90mm version. That one gets used on a Super Technica V and is even rangefinder coupled.

Glenn
 
For tiny format my favorite lens is the Noctilux because of the unique look. If I can only keep one Leica lens it’ll be the Noctilux. For any other Leica lens past and present there are worthy substitutes in other brands - ZM, CV, KM, and many LTM options but a Noctilux at F1 is a special thing. The 35mm Summilux-R is another special lens I will spend a lot of time with it from now on.

This one is @F1 with the M9M

L1000637 by ray tai, on Flickr

For large format my favorite lens is the 229mm f4.5 Cooke PS945. On 5x7 it’s a standard lens. This one was shot at f5.6

4FDD9507-00CD-4F7F-9421-29ED3E91CFF1 by ray tai, on Flickr
 
1. Maybe I don’t really have one.
2. Maybe it’s the version 4 35 Summicron because I photographed my children with it.
3. Or the tabbed version 4 50 Summicron because I took my first consistently good photographs with it and it’s light and ergonomically perfect and now not back focussing like in the first 30 years I had it...
4. Or the magical Zeiss C Sonnar for its dreamy Sonnar out of focus look. That lens taught me a lot.
5. Or the tiny Summaron M f5.6 28mm for its compactness and unique rendering.

Yes, maybe that Summaron.

I do agree with Back Alley about the Rollei 40 Sonnar too. Owned one very briefly but the focus helical grinding distracted me and it was not fixable. Beautiful results though.
 
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