If you were to have only one Leica lens

If you were to have only one Leica lens

  • 50mm 1.4

    Votes: 246 21.1%

  • 50mm 2.0

    Votes: 158 13.6%

  • 35mm 1.4

    Votes: 350 30.0%

  • 35mm 2.0

    Votes: 240 20.6%

  • 90mm 2.0

    Votes: 5 0.4%

  • 90mm 2.8

    Votes: 3 0.3%

  • 21mm 2.8

    Votes: 3 0.3%

  • 21mm 1.4

    Votes: 18 1.5%

  • 50mm noctilux (any one)

    Votes: 78 6.7%

  • Other (precise below)

    Votes: 64 5.5%
  • Total voters
    1,165
Interesting to see the 35/1.4 is ahead of the rest. It is the lens I would choose to part with last of all (if I had to). A great lens on either a FF M-film body or cropped (like a 50/1.4) on a M8. Outrageously sharp even at f1.4
 
Erik van Straten said:
Summilux preasph 50mm f/1.4 II, Leica M3, TriX printed on Ilford MGIV fb.

Erik.

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This is very "HCB-ish" - please take that as a compliment.
 
One and only one? Has to be the 35 'lux ASPH. Shot with it for a decade and then (gulp) sold it. *whimper; the preciousssss!* Now I can't afford to replace it.

Right now it's just the 50 Summicron-M. Very close to pulling the lever on a Biogon 35/2.

The mighty ASPH (all 3 are on Kodachrome 64): [1] [2] [3].

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Difficult question. Only one - I would have 50mm f1.4 or 35 f1.4 (or the f2)... I would end up with the 50mm f1.4 asph due to 50mm asph has no distortion and superb for portraite - the best 50mm ever. The 35mm is generally more useful, I think, but it is not as superb as 50mm asph regarding distortion and sharpness. Moreover, 50mm is what your eyes see... boring but true.
 
time said:
Difficult question. Only one - I would have 50mm f1.4 or 35 f1.4 (or the f2)... I would end up with the 50mm f1.4 asph due to 50mm asph has no distortion and superb for portraite - the best 50mm ever. The 35mm is generally more useful, I think, but it is not as superb as 50mm asph regarding distortion and sharpness. Moreover, 50mm is what your eyes see... boring but true.
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Distortion on the 35 ASPH is not bad unless you're using it for architecture, in which case it's silly to use a rangefinder. Sharpness is adequate for nearly all practical photography – unless you're one of those freaks who uses microfilm emulsions and a 15 kg tripod stabilized with sandbags. Seriously: if you need more sharpness than the 35 ASPH can deliver, you really oughta be shooting MF: you want a Mamiya 7 or an S2 or a Phase One.
 
Of all the lenses I own for 35mm format, the one I shoot with the most- by far- is the DR Summicron. So I guess that would be the last one I'd part with; though there are plenty of others in my stable that would make me whimper to lose.
 
semilog said:
Distortion on the 35 ASPH is not bad unless you're using it for architecture, in which case it's silly to use a rangefinder. Sharpness is adequate for nearly all practical photography – unless you're one of those freaks who uses microfilm emulsions and a 15 kg tripod stabilized with sandbags. Seriously: if you need more sharpness than the 35 ASPH can deliver, you really oughta be shooting MF: you want a Mamiya 7 or an S2 or a Phase One.
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35mms are not bad at all - either 50mm pre-asph. I didn't say that. 50mm asph is technically/optically a little bit better. So IF I must have only one lens as asked here, I might prefer the very best 50mm lux asph.
 
time said:
35mms are not bad at all - either 50mm pre-asph. I didn't say that. 50mm asph is technically/optically a little bit better. So IF I must have only one lens as asked here, I might prefer the very best 50mm lux asph.
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Fair enough. 35 and 50mm certainly have different capabilities. But the Leica ASPH versions of these lenses are both so good that - given the strengths and weaknesses of the compact rangefinder platform - I simply can't imagine making the choice based on optical properties that are wholly unlikely to ever be field-relevant. The focal length difference is vastly more important. IMnsHO.
 
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