M mount on a budget...

OurManInTangier said:
...I've just ordered a VC 35mm 2.5 color skopar ...

What other lenses do you guys suggest for someone with a Leica M6 .72 who does alot of street, documentary and obviously general photography.
Hi -- I think you'll like the 2.5/35 Skopar, and this is such a useful general purpose lens for street, documentary, environmental portraits, etc, that we can smoothly segue into my suggestion for additional lenses: None. Save your bucks for now and mind-meld with the 35. After a year or so you'll have a very good idea of your own personal need, if any, for something longer, wider, and/or faster.

Just my best suggestion. Many years ago I bought a used M2 with a new 35 Summicron. A "golden" combo, the 35 is a classic choice. A year later I got a 90mm but never did use it much. If you got a 25 and a 50 or 75, say, you'd possibly be frustrated by packing these all around with you and then trying to switch lenses for each different situation you encounter. Keep it simple, is my suggestion, and enjoy!
 
OurManInTangier said:
No-one has come back so far to say that anyone lens is much worse than another with the exception of Roland, but if I understand you point is more about the number of quality Jupiter's than the quality of the design?

Exactly Simon: I am a Sonnar addict, and a good J-9 is a great lens, one of the best portrait lenses out there, IMO. It just can be very frustrating to find one, and in the end more expensive than to buy another optically similar lens (like a Nikkor 85/2). And I agree with Ray, a 28 is a good companion to a 35, in particular if you have a .72 M6.

But you also see a bit where the problem will be: all the posters are right, all these lenses are great ! 🙂
Finding a body is easy, the lenses are the real cause of GAS, at least for me ....

Best,

Roland.
 
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Hi Mike, pretty easy: the 35/2.5 Color-Skopar pancake versions (I and II), the 35/1.2 Nokton and the 40/1.4 Nokton. All others are LTM.
 
Somebody's gotta mention the m-hexanon 50/2 by Konica.
Better than any f2/50 lens Leica ever made.*











*(that I currently own)

Well, leitz does offer a shameless copy of the supeior Konica lens in the form of the latest Summicron 50/2, so if you can't manage to locate the no-longer- produced Konica true and proper original, one can always sell a car or child and buy the Leitz clone of the Konica, it's almost as good some say, despite being many times more money than the Konica. But despite costing more, the leica lens won't say konica on it, but with the lens hood out they look similar enough that people may think from a distance that you have a real Konica instead of the knock-off.
 
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Aye. Hexanon M lenses (28mm f2.8, 35mm f2, 50mm f2, 90mm f2.8) are great value but the secret's out and the prices are creeping up.
The Kobalux/PasOptik 28mm f3.5 is a fantastic street lens - more pancake than most "pancake" lenses. Most are screw mount buy a few are M mount. The lenses from the Leica CL (40mm f2 and 90mm f4) are great value and very good optically and mechanically. The CV range of M and ltm lenses are hard to beat for value for money.

Don't be afraid of screw mount lenses - unlike most other adapters the ltm - M adapters incur no loss of functionality at all. Just remember to factor in the adapter prices.
 
Andy Aitken said:
Aye. Hexanon M lenses (28mm f2.8, 35mm f2, 50mm f2, 90mm f2.8) are great value but the secret's out and the prices are creeping up.
The Kobalux/PasOptik 28mm f3.5 is a fantastic street lens - more pancake than most "pancake" lenses. Most are screw mount buy a few are M mount. The lenses from the Leica CL (40mm f2 and 90mm f4) are great value and very good optically and mechanically. The CV range of M and ltm lenses are hard to beat for value for money.

Don't be afraid of screw mount lenses - unlike most other adapters the ltm - M adapters incur no loss of functionality at all. Just remember to factor in the adapter prices.

Thanks for the info on the Hexanon - I have started to look at these too after someone else mentioned them. I'm more than happy to use screw mounts, again through this thread, I've discovered that the ltm adapters are quite slim and don't impinge on functionality so it may be slightly cheaper than M mounts.

One thing is for sure from all of the postings - There's a massive amount of choice to be had when choosing lenses for this system and that's a good thing when you need to marry a budget to the best glass available.
 
clintock said:
Well, leitz does offer a shameless copy of the supeior Konica lens in the form of the latest Summicron 50/2, so if you can't manage to locate the no-longer- produced Konica true and proper original, one can always sell a car or child and buy the Leitz clone of the Konica,


The later choice is acturally an incentive to get a Summicron. 😉
 
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