my first lens

[anselm]

I have just bought an M6 and have been overwhelmed by the vast array of lenses available. i had thought that the safe option would be a 50/2 cron.(seems to be the standard recommendation for general photography).
However, i hear that the summicron c 40/2 is a good value for money lens, or its rokkor equivalent, but obviously the m6 does not have viewfinder lines for it. Finances are an issue, but i appreciate you pay for quality and results.

help cos i'm drowning in indecision and a sea of compatible glass.

i am a novice photographer and wish to learn, and develop my street photography style..so be gentle

thanks in advance

ans
🙂

 

[venchka]

Welcome aboard!

😀 I'm going to throw more options at you.

Canon 50/1.8 or 50/1.4

Nikkor 50/1.4

Both of the above in Leica Thread Mount (LTM) with adapter.

Leitz 50/slower than 2.0. I'm not up on all the different versions, but they are out there. Someone who knows will educate both of us.

Edit to expand on ManGo's 35mm topic:

Canon 35mm/2.8 in LTM. I think there is at least one in the Classifieds here at RFF right now. Nice lens. I like mine.

Cheers!

 

[back alley]

i agree with the recommendation of a 35mm lens for street shooting. many have done it for years with a 50 but i like a 35 better.
and they can be had for cheap to stupid expensive.

joe

 

[Nick R.]

Get the best lens you can afford. If you can't afford a modern Summicron (3rd generation or better), get a VC. A lot of guys like the look of old glass, but I think that it's better to start with modern glass and work into the different looks of the older stuff once you understand how things work.

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

My favorite lens is the modern 50/cron (tabbed and/or internal hood). That said, my second favorite is the 40/cron 40/rokkor.

Depends on your shooting style, do you prefer a wider focal length, or the greater OOF look of a longer focal length?

Good news is you can't lose choosing either, they are all great lenses.

 

[wlewisiii]

I think Nick is right about buying the best you can afford, but for each of us that a hard point to decide. If you've spent your savings on your M-6, what options do you have? That said, I'd suggest a 50mm lens. It's sheer versatility with the "2 Foot Zoom" as well as the wide variety of optical signatures available make it my prefered focal length.

Some options are:
Cheap:
Jupiter 8 50/2.0 - an excellent copy of the Zeiss Sonnar. Very cheap and usually quite good.

Inexpensive:
Canon 50/1.8 - an excellent planar type lens that made Canon a contender in lens making. Can be found for as little as $100 & is a screaming deal if you do.
Jupiter 3 50/1.5 - a bit more of a crap shoot than the Jupiter 8. The lens usually has to be adjusted to work right on non-FSU cameras, but an adjusted lens can be a real joy to use.
Summicron 50/2 - the earliest collapsible ones can be found quite inexpensively with a bit of patience. It may need a CLA and have lots of "cleaning marks" on the glass, but get it that CLA & you'll have a fine lens at a reasonable cost.

Beyond that, begin to look at new lenses from Cosina (low end) or the Zeiss ZM 50/2 (medium) or ZM 50/1.5 (higher, when available) or else one of the various Leica lenses (high & up from there 🙂 )

Hope this is of some help.

William

 

[ChrisN]

Hi Anselm - welcome! Plenty of good advice above. I like the 35mm Summicron (my favourite lens). The Cosina-Voigtlander 35/2.5 is a great lens too, but is screw mount so you need an adapter. If you go that way be sure to get a high quality adapter as cheap ones can lead to close-focusing problems.

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

 

[pvdhaar]

Although the advice so far is solid from each of the poster's perspectives, it is also very personal. For every reason to go with a 35, there's another that dictates a 50.

If you want to forego trying out cheap Russian optics and upgrading later when you've developed a feel for what the various focal lengths bring you, you need to make a choice that's good for you

And I can only see one economical way to go about it, and that's to take that camera into the streets and use the frameline-preview lever to judge which focal length you would be most comfortable with. Will people think you're odd? Quite probably.. Will you make a better decision? Most certainly so!

Oh, and if you really want a Leica lens, don't ignore the 50/2.8 Elmar. Cheapest of the bunch, and plenty character well suited for the streets..

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

 

[Dfin]

I agree with Magus, you have an M6, invest in a Leica lens. Remember the 50mm Summicron is The Lens, by which All other Lenses are judged! There may be some as good as it ,maybe a few better, there are certainly a great many that are lesser than it. This is the lens that Leitz, I believe, put its heart and soul into, try and buy the latest and cleanest one you can. You want be disappointed with the results!!

 

[Nick R.]

Although I have the Elmar and think it is a great lens, I don't recommend it because the modern Elmar at this point is more expensive than a used Summicron. You can get a Canadian Summi 50mm for under $500 if you're patient but I haven't seen a modern Elmar for under $550.

I don't recommend an old Elmar for the reasons I stated in post #5.

 

[Ronald M]

50 `cron is a safe bet. The new 50 2.8 Elmar is a very nice lens if you don`t need to do pics in the dark. The lens shade is as effective as any although it looks as if it is not. It is in no meaningful way a compromise with a Summicron except being one stop slower.

35mm version IV is nice if you work at 2.8 or 4.0 or slower. Otherwise get the ASPH 2.0. The third version is pretty comperable to the IV.

 

[pvdhaar]

.. but I haven't seen a modern Elmar for under $550..

Then, no-one wants to part with them? The M-Elmars have been around for a while, haven't they?

 

[pesphoto]

Dont think you need to buy the best or most expensive glass right away. Get a lens you can afford, buy some TriX and get shootin'. I agree about a 35mm for street shooting, a good way to go.

 

[back alley]

there have been many great photos taken by glass that was not made by leitz...

 

[Ken Ford]

Welcome, Ans!

A tremendous amount of good advice here - I'm sure your head is spinning by now. I agree with Peter's idea of using the preview lever to try and determine what focal length works for your personal vision.

That said, a question for you. You said you are a photographic novice, but I suspect that's a bit of an understatement or else you wouldn't have bought an M6. What other equipment have you been using, and what focal lengths (or focal length equivalents if you're coming from digital)?

 

[wlewisiii]

One other bit that I'll add to my earlier suggestions - if you want to find out if you like the 35mm focal length w/out breaking the bank, consider getting a Jupiter 12 35/2.8 lens. They run $30 - $60 on ebay. It's a LTM lens, so you would need an adaptor but even with that expense, it's the cheapest way to experiment with that focal length available. Plus it's a very good lens in it's own right, being a well made copy of the pre-WWII Zeiss Biogon lens. I only sold the one I had because it wouldn't fit on my CL (meter stalk gets in the way) but that wouldn't be an issue on your M6.

Good luck with whatever you decide & don't let all our varied suggestions worry you. Pick what sounds like fun to you and burn film.

William

 

[visiondr]

Ok, perhaps this will seem too much like a pitch. But, I have a 50 Summicron looking for a new home. Anselm, look for a private message from me regarding the "first lens" you need.

 

[ywenz]

My 1st lens was a 50/2. I recommend it highly. If you start out wider, you might never go back to 50mm so I'd recommend starting long and then go wide.