if you have only one lens

[mansio]

sorry if this has been asked over and over again

i am indecisive about choose which lens to bring to on a daily basis and my choice is between 35 or 50 on a leica m5; both are summicron so f-stop is not the problem, but any other focal length is welcome to the response 🙂

it's been few years now since i have shot with any cameras and my last was a 5D with all the 2.8L zooms so this question wasn't brought up.

so what do you guys think?

it's mostly for streetscape/anything really. i am not a fan of changing in the midwalk of town. for more dedicated travel i will have the gears packed but on a street walk i find this a little redundant.

thanks

 

[mfunnell]

Why not try alternating between one and the other, and keep track of which you used? Once you have enough photos for comparison, see which one gets you more photographs that you like.

...Mike

 

[back alley]

really, any lens that you are comfortable with will work.
many like 28 or 35 for street but the 50 is, i think, the most popular.

i use whatever i'm in the mood for at the time i am heading out.

 

[mansio]

Why not try alternating between one and the other, and keep track of which you used? Once you have enough photos for comparison, see which one gets you more photographs that you like.

...Mike

ya, been doing that, but also curious about others input 🙂
the reason i ask is because i had just finished my first roll this week and looking to finish another within this month, and at this rate it might take another month or two before i could be more decisive, hence my question

 

[GaryLH]

The 40 of course

The 40 of course

A 40 equiv. of course... After years of shooting a 40f2 on a Leica CL, this is the one camera one lens for me if I am pushed into this. My setups are:
- apsc --> Fuji 27f2.8 or cv28 or canon rf 28f2.8
- m43 --> the Panasonic 20f1.7 of course
- film --> Minolta 40f2 or cv 40f1.4

For your choice of 35 or 50.. I would go 50 unless u do a lot of street. Another way to figure it out is when u c a shot in your mind, do u frame in 50 or 35 perspective?

Gary

 

[Keith]

35mm is the more versatile and would be the logical choice for me. 🙂

 

[Johnmcd]

I keep on coming back to a 50mm equivalent across the formats. Seems to suit me best.

 

[Tony Whitney]

I think if it came down to one, 40 would win every time, though I shoot with 35 and 50 some of the time too. The CV 40 mm f1.4 has to be one of the "greats" by any standard. I use it with my M6 and GXR and either way, it's superb.

 

[Rodchenko]

It's one of those very personal things. It used to be that everyone used 50mm, but I couldn't get on with it, and much preferred 35mm. Now I come back to photography, a great many more folk are using 35mm, and even 28mm - even as a fixed prime, in cases such as the Coolpix A. Oddly, I have gone slightly longer, to 42mm as my main lens.

Funny old world.

 

[Ruhayat]

I was faced with the same quandry just last week and eventually came to this conclusion: 35mm Summilux 1.4, for the following reasons:

1. Versatile focal length
Two steps back it's a 28 (okay, no edge perspective distortion, which I kinda like sometimes), crop in post and it's a 50 (cropped to a 50 POV it looks more or less like a 50). The new Ricoh GR offers you a similar concept (crop out a 35 out of the 28 lens).

2. Versatile brightness
I tend to shoot f4-8 most of the time, but if I need f1.4, it's there.

3. More compact and lighter than the 50mm Lux.

4. I got one at an almost giveaway price from a recently bereaved estate.
That was the real deciding factor, actually - otherwise I was leaning to either the Nokton 50 1.5 or Summilux 50 Type II. (Turns out, I also nabbed a full set of fast CVs from the estate, from 35s to 75).

 

[Shade]

I tried living with just a 35 but that really didnt fit with me well. I have always been a 50 man since then..

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

it's mostly for streetscape/anything really.

This leads me to suggest 35. If you had said mostly street portraits, I'd have asked how tight you usually like to frame your subjects and suggested consequently. For you, it sounds like 35 will do.

 

[helen.HH]

for me... its back to a 50, like the tightness, the intimacy

for you it seems 35 might suit your street needs 😉
Can't go wrong with either...though one of those focal lengths might just seem more perfect to your EYE

 

[raid]

I would most likely opt for the Rigid Summicron 50mm/2.
While the 35/1.4 Lux is also fun to use, if I had to choose one lens only, the 50mm lens wins.

 

[Roger Hicks]

for me... its back to a 50, like the tightness, the intimacy

for you it seems 35 might suit your street needs 😉
Can't go wrong with either...though one of those focal lengths might just seem more perfect to your EYE

Dear Helen,

Same here. Maybe 30 years of 35 Summilux has pretty much given way to the 50 C-Sonnar for the last two or three years.

But of course I'm older than you... (This is regardless of your actual age, which I do not know. Ladies are ALWAYS younger than men).

Cheers,

R.

 

[MCTuomey]

OP: can you sort your existing file library by focal length used? the data might give you insight as to where you shoot more frequently and therefore your preference.

 

[Chris101]

I read something like this once, and took it to heart:

To isolate and simplify, use a 50mm. To get more in the scene and add complexity, use a 35.​

Pretty basic to interpret along the simple/complex axis: Shoot one thing with the 50. To shoot two or more things interacting, use the 35. It's a fun rule to break as well as follow.

 

[Kent]

For me and my M8 it would be the CV Ultron 2/28.
But I don't want to be restricted to just one lens. Three, at least! (15, 28, 75) 😉

 

[one90guy]

My favorite walk around is a 35mm Mamiya which has small lens, usually have the 50 mounted and a 28 in a pocket. Probably tend to use the 50 the most.

David

 

[noisycheese]

35mm is the more versatile and would be the logical choice for me. 🙂

Since our choice is 35mm vs. 50mm, I would agree with Keith.

But then, I have been "ruined" by years of shooting with a 28 'Cron as my primary, all-around lens. My 50mm lenses almost seem like short telephotos to me these days.

The choice of 35mm vs. 50mm depends not on what people here say; it depends on what you photograph (subject matter), how you photograph (at a mid-distance or up close and whether you tend to make the majority of your images at full aperture or stopped down to hyperfocal setting or perhaps in between), which focal length you are most comfortable using, and which lens produces the results you seek to produce.

In other words, we can't decide for you, we can only make recommendations based on our experiences. 😉