Leica top 10 most famous lenses.

[gustav[] pEña]

I dont know about it but I read about the 35 cron 4th in everywhere so I should say is the most legendary, maybe fallow by the 50 noctilux.

I really don't know. Can anyone post a list of the leica 5 most legendary lenses?

To make it more interesting could be the top ten most legendary M/LTM so in that way we could include canon, nikon, Voiglander.

Do it as you want.

gustav[] pEña

 

[Ben Z]

I don't quite get what you mean by most " famous". Do you maybe mean most popular , most favorite , or most legendary. And, according to whom? Famous Leica-using photographers, collectors, lens-testers and other authors, or just lenses that have become the darlings of aspiring Leica newbies due to repeated accolades by "prolific posters" on various internet forums? My 10 most famous Leica-mount lenses would be the ones I own 😀

 

[gustav[] pEña]

Your rigth, sorry about my english. I mean most legendary. Im gonna edit the post a correct it.

 

[vizioneer]

The 35 cron 8 element or whatever, noctilux, 75 lux, 35 lux asph, and maybe the 21mm super angulon.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Rated as one of the best, the 'cron 50/2 DR. As for legendary, the 'cron 50 (in any flavor, shape or color).

 

[raid]

Some would add older model lenses for the Leica Glow.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Top 5 or Top 10? Famous or Legendary?

I'm going to go with "Famous"; and with that, not necessarily meaning "Best":

- 50mm Summicron (any incarnation).
- 50mm Elmar f/3.5 "Red Dial"
- 50mm Summarit f/1.5
- 50mm Summitar
- 50mm Summilux (any incarnation).
- 35mm Summicron 4th Version
- 35mm Summilux ASPH 2nd Version
- 75mm Summilux-M
- 90mm Summicron (pre-asph and APO)
- 50mm Summar

this is, of course, *my list*. Fame is relative.

 

[ddutchison]

Well Leica is all about Legend isn't it?

For legendary lenses, I'd start with the 35 and 50 Summicrons, any version. These have always been the lenses everybody else's 35's and 50's were compared to. The 35 'Cron in both the 1st and 4th versions has had near-magical optical qualities attributed to it, and the 50mm Collapsible gets extra legendary status from it's adoption by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The 50mm Elmar is the lens that most says "Leica" to me. With the exception of their very first year, Leica has always made a 50mm collapsible Tessar derivative called the Elmar, so it's inextricably part of the legend.

I'd also nominate the The 1st version 50mm f1.2 Noctilux as the best example of leitz's reputation for producing superbe quality optics regardless of any consideration for cost. In this case, Leica chose to use an asymmetrical element well before the technology for manufacturing such things existed. This one element had to be hand-ground for each lens (and the story goes that only one technician at Leitz was capable of performing this task). Production was slow, rejection rates high, and the price astronomical.

Lastly I'd add the 21mm Super angulon, because just about every picture I've ever seen of a working photojournalist, from the 60's to the 90's, showed one of these stuck on an "M", hanging off the photographers neck.