Got a nice deal on the C-Sonnar 50mm, but having second thoughts

[Ko.Fe.]

If you are not comfy with one 50 1.5, get another instead. VM instead of ZM.
It has no focus shift anywhere and it is sharp and pleasing. And both are same factory made.
As for giving kit to else, I would be more concerned with RF focusing and cluttered frame lines. I often give camera to strangers who asked about camera. Most are completely incapable to handle it.
Chances you will not keep 50 as the only lens are 50/50 🙂

 

[der Koekje]

Well. I bit and bought an M6 special edition. I’ll probably bite on the Sonnar too. The only way to truly know if the lens is for me is to try it. If I don’t, well, there’s always Planar.

Thanks for the Voigtlander recommendations but I’m gonna be very vain and irrational here. I don’t like the way VM lenses look. I really love the Leica lens styling, and the blue ZM dot and engraving matches my camera perfectly.

I really like mine. The 1/3 stops grates a bit if you have 1/2 stop muscle memory like on my other 50s.

Sharpness fine for me on film or digital and film. It has a (modern) look I appreciate.

If you have either the 45 Planar (highly regarded,v sharp) or 35 Biogon ( said to be the “worst G lens” but its sill stellar) or 28 Biogon on you G system, the ZM Sonnar for an M would be a nice point of contrast.

I have the Biogon 28mm. I’d love to try the 45mm if I get the chance.

 

[dourbalistar]

Well. I bit and bought an M6 special edition. I’ll probably bite on the Sonnar too. The only way to truly know if the lens is for me is to try it. If I don’t, well, there’s always Planar.

Thanks for the Voigtlander recommendations but I’m gonna be very vain and irrational here. I don’t like the way VM lenses look. I really love the Leica lens styling, and the blue ZM dot and engraving matches my camera perfectly.

I have the Biogon 28mm. I’d love to try the 45mm if I get the chance.

It's always good to have a backup Planar, because Sonnar or later things are bound to go wrong. 😉

 

[aizan]

It's always good to have a backup Planar, because Sonnar or later things are bound to go wrong. 😉k

CLASSIC. 😀

 

[dourbalistar]

Lenses come and go. You know what they say, here today, Distagon tomorrow.

 

[j.scooter]

And sometime you just have to let Biogons be Biogons ��

 

[dourbalistar]

If you decide to abandon photography all together, then your lenses will be Hologon.

 

[pyeh]

Of course like many here, you could get a bad attack of GAusS and acquire all the lenses.

 

[f.hayek]

Puns aside, a Sonnar wouldn't be a first choice when learning on a rangefinder. It is unique and quirky; Huss Hardan on a different thread was bemoaning the corner softness on his Nikkor 5cm/1.4 at distance. The design focus shifts significantly and with at least the Nikon, its ideal is subjects at close distance.

50 Elmar M, VM 3,5/50 and perhaps the VM 1,2/50 may be a better place to start the learning curve.

As for the M6, why isn't it a good "starter"? Essentially an M4 with a meter. What's so bad with that? Take the battery out if you want to learn exposure without help. It'll work just fine and is at least a decade or three newer.

 

[maigo]

Of course like many here, you could get a bad attack of GAusS and acquire all the lenses.

Pull out your other credit card, buy twice the gear.
Double GAusS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Archiver]

Of course like many here, you could get a bad attack of GAusS and acquire all the lenses.

I wouldn't focus too much on the optics of the situation, lens ownership can bring up all kinds of perspectives that can get really distorted. I'd much rather be a lOtus floating on the water than skopar out every new lens under the sun. 😀

@der Koekje - congratulations on your new camera! May it last long and give you much pleasure. Years ago, I had a mint condition secondhand silver chrome MP in my hands, but for some reason, it didn't feel right, and I wasn't shooting much film then, so I passed. A year or two later, I got a M9 and M7, and now I wish I'd bought that MP. Oh well.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the Sonnar as well. Just feed the camera decent film and you'll be fine.

 

[Rob-F]

As for the M6, why isn't it a good "starter"? Essentially an M4 with a meter. What's so bad with that?

An M4 could be a better starter because of its more accurately sized 50mm frameline. The badly undersized M6 frameline could be frustrating for a person trying to get used to a rangefinder camera.

 

[LCSmith]

And sometime you just have to let Biogons be Biogons ��

Love it love it!

 

[LCSmith]

I took the lens on a trip to California as the "resident 50" on my M2. It's nice and light and sharp and the filters are relatively normal (46mm), which I could use with the Super-Elmar 3,4/21 and 2,8/90 Elmarit-M.

 

[der Koekje]

It's always good to have a backup Planar, because Sonnar or later things are bound to go wrong. 😉

That’s probably a good idea, but I’m bad at anticipating my needs. I guess you could say I’m not a good Planar.

Puns aside, a Sonnar wouldn't be a first choice when learning on a rangefinder. It is unique and quirky; Huss Hardan on a different thread was bemoaning the corner softness on his Nikkor 5cm/1.4 at distance. The design focus shifts significantly and with at least the Nikon, its ideal is subjects at close distance.

As for the M6, why isn't it a good "starter"? Essentially an M4 with a meter. What's so bad with that? Take the battery out if you want to learn exposure without help. It'll work just fine and is at least a decade or three newer.

Exactly. The frame lines don’t seem that bad to me, especially since I’m not juggling lenses right now.

I do sentiment the focus shift worries. Perhaps I should just shoot a test chart at an angle at F1.5 and F2.8 and see how much I have to lean in at which aperture. Luckily my local developer handles scans within a day.

I took the lens on a trip to California as the "resident 50" on my M2. It's nice and light and sharp and the filters are relatively normal (46mm), which I could use with the Super-Elmar 3,4/21 and 2,8/90 Elmarit-M.

Nice shots! Out of curiosity? What filters are you referring to? I come from digital, the only filter I’ve needed is maybe an ND filter (and even that mostly for video). I know B&W can use colored filters, but are UV filters still very relevant for film?

 

[der Koekje]

By the way, I do hear the sentiment from you guys and I would like to pair the Sonnar with another lens sooner rather than later, but I’m not sure which one to go for. I really like what I’m seeing from the Distagon 35mm F1.4 but it’s quite expensive. And kind of heavy (though still pretty small compared to my usual lenses). The TTArtisan 35mm F1.4 seems nice too, but out of two lenses I should really have one that’s renowned for sharpness. I wonder if the TTartisan delivers on that front.

 

[ktmrider]

Renouned for sharpness? 35f2.8 C Biogon!!

 

[Ccoppola82]

I don’t place sharpness as the highest priority in a lens. I tend to place the highest priority in lens compactness for the simple reason that I tend to carry the camera more often, so keep that in mind with my statements.

If you want a Leica and want to spend the money, just grab a summicron or Lux and be done with it.

If you have a lower budget and you value size, speed, and DON’T care about some barrel distortion (ie, you mostly shoot people) it really is hard to beat the Nokton 35 1.4. I have the V1 but the V2 apparently corrects any focus shift. If you want sharper and slightly slower, the CV Ultron f2 might be a reasonable option. If you place sharpness above all things, maybe look into the Zeiss 35 2.8 which I’ve never used, but gets praised all over the place. I wouldn’t personally ever go for a Distagon or the CV 35 1.2 because they are so big I know I would never take them with me, but that’s just me.

The final option would be to get on the train with the 8 element Summicron replica which you can find on the forum here and looks to produce some fantastic images. I think they are gonna be around $500, which is a steal if it matches the performance of the original 8 element Cron. I’m quite excited to get mine.

 

[james.liam]

If you fancy the 35 C Biogon is only about sharpness, you are woefully mistaken.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Check out the reviews of the M-mount 7Artisans 35/2. $288 and lovely image quality!