Leica M and Zeiss ZM "wides"

[stompyq]

Absolutely love the 21mm 3.4 SA on Film. I think its quite bad on digital but its near perfect for me on film. I have a hard time removing it from my leica

 

[narsuitus]

... I lean toward the 21mm, but am curious what others have done.

I simply love wide-angle lenses for my 35mm rangefinders.
I have the following for my 35mm rangefinders:
35mm f/1.4 Zeiss
28mm f/2.8 Zeiss
21mm f/2.8 Zeiss
21mm f/1.4 Leitz

When I needed something wider than my 21mm on my Leica M6 or M10, I adapt an 18mm f/3.5 or a 14mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens.


Adapted 18mm on Leica by Narsuitus, on Flickr


Adapted 14mm on Leica by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[Rayt]

Updated my previous post with this image.


35mm Rangefinders by Narsuitus, on Flickr

I wonder how difficult it is to zone focus the 21/1.4 @1.4? Just leave it at 2 meters and shoot street all day sort of SWC style from the waist. Hmmm.

 

[kram]

According to my dof app, same dof at 2M as a 35mm lens at f4. No worrys once you get your eye in. Ask a Minox GT35 user 🙂

 

[Archiver]

At the end of last year, I made one of my best purchases, the fantastic 35mm f1.4 Distagon, thanks to the images by Michael Bialecki and the encouragement and suggestion of other RFF members - you know who you are! I have not felt this way about a lens since the 50mm Sonnar, and even then, not as much as I like the Distagon.

I wouldn't mind getting a 18mm Zeiss, as I quite enjoy the ability to capture a lot of locational context. The 21mm f2.8 Biogon has long been my favoured travel lens, but with the introduction of the Distagon, hardly any of my other lenses get camera time. I've gone interstate twice with the Distagon on my M9 and been very happy, indeed.

My 25mm and 28mm Biogons have dreadful lens wobble and focus scuff, which I have yet to have fixed. Now that I have the Distagon, I am even less inclined to do that.

Did I mention that I love the Distagon? Hahaha.

 

[taffy]

M8 + Zm 25 from BW jpeg

Still a good combo all these years. Love the pop.

 

[helen.HH]

21 4.5 C Biogon / M246




Lookin to the sky... by Helen Hill, on Flickr

 

[raid]

I will today again use my Zeiss Hologon (for the G2) on my M10. Should be fun. Will have purple edges and vignetting, even with the special graduation filter in place. Still fun to use.

 

[f.hayek]

I will today again use my Zeiss Hologon (for the G2) on my M10. Should be fun. Will have purple edges and vignetting, even with the special graduation filter in place. Still fun to use.

Raid, you need a Monochrom.

 

[raid]

Yes, I have been thinking about it. For the time being, I remove all colors from M10 images that were taken with the Hologon.

 

[Rayt]

According to my dof app, same dof at 2M as a 35mm lens at f4. No worrys once you get your eye in. Ask a Minox GT35 user 🙂

I am going to try it but I don't have the 1.4 only the 2.8.

 

[Rayt]

Because of this thread I have dusted off the M8.2, got an UV/IR filter for the 21mm Elmarit ASPH and gone out in the morning and then late afternoon yesterday for some old fashion zone focus street shooting. The 21mm with the crop becomes effectively a 28mm my current favourite focal length. Initially I set the M8.2 on auto iso but since I needed to leave shutter speed on Auto I got unsharp images because I could not set 1/500 as minimum. In a street setting people are not standing still and usually neither am I. I shoot close usually from 2 meters away from the subject or less so f/2.8 has too narrow dof if people are moving. I have settled on iso640 with -1/3 exposure compensation so effectively using iso800 like shooting pushed HP5. Aperture set at f/4 or f/5.6 depending on the light. The M8 is a great camera. I don't normally shoot color not since Kodachrome was discontinued and the M8 has that Kodak look.

iso640 @5.6

L1000071-1 by ray tai, on Flickr

 

[Rayt]

iso 320 @ f/4.0. The 21mm has that 3D look with the tree

I don't do much of post processing

L1000014-1 by ray tai, on Flickr

 

[Rayt]

iso320 @f/2.8

L1000016-1 by ray tai, on Flickr

 

[Bill Blackwell]

18mm Zeiss Distagon ZM