OK, I'm going to buy an M6!

You're right, Strangedoctor, Leica prices are high, but driven even higher buy "collectors" who get them just for show.

I was going to get myself a CV Ultron lens, but a Konica Hexanon crossed my path and I fell for it. Now, if I were a big user of long glass, I'd go for the 90mm glass they offer, but, to tell you the truth, I'm more drawn to wide angles than to long lenses... which of course makes the CV 21mm a very nice choice!

FWIW, the 50mm Nokton has been getting very good reviews from Leica users. It's faster (just by a hair) than the Summicron, and a lot more affordable! :D
 
Nokton

Nokton

Francisco,
Isn't the Nokton a full stop faster than the Summicron?
 
The Nokton is very nearly a stop faster than the Summicron, at 1.5.

I'm very interested in lens alternatives, no question. While I want what the Leica body offers specifically, performance from the lens is all I need, not name.

You know, I was watching a show on the German army's attack on the Soviet Union today (I'm rather a history buff) and I was fascinated by the way the stills and movie footage looked. I'm not even really sure I can describe what I liked about it so much - it just seemed particularly dramatic and dark, though the exposures were right. Am I just perhaps noticing now what old German lenses are like?
 
Merciful,
I know exactly what you mean about that old footage. I think it has more to do with simplicity than anything else. Back then nothing was really shot in wide angle, and I believe that most amateur photos today are. If you read old photo magazines, 28mm and 35mm lenses were considered radical wide-angles when they first came out. Our eyes are becoming used to wide-angle distortion, so old pictures, to me, seem so simple and blunt. They are not made hideous by excessive detail.
I too am a history guy; I'm pretty sure that that WWII footage you mentioned was shot with 16mm film. I really think the historical "feel" of rangefinders are in the mechanical simplicity that was at its peak in the forties and fifties.
One of the first lenses I ever got was an early coated 50mm Summitar. It is a really great lens (though not that sharp), the way it pops out, and it seems so eerie to wonder about what it "saw" in the past.
 
Thanks - I hadn't thought about focal length. I'm going to keep older Summicrons and Summitars on my want list. I'd really like to get a 90/2 in the kit along with a 50.

That war footage is just perfectly in tune with my style.
 
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I prefer to think of half a stop between the 'cron and the Nokton, so it's not a hair. I probably had Summilux in mind instead of Summicron, hence the "hair" remark.

But when it comes to the Summilux and the Nokton, the difference really is a hair.
 
Step 1 complete!

Step 1 complete!

I got an M-Hexanon 50/2 on eBay yesterday. Now, all I need is a nice 90mm. And an M6 - I forgot all about that for just a moment.

I've been seeing the odd 85/2 Canon Serenar around. Forgive my ignorance, but how would I frame with that on an M6 - no framelines, right? Just look a little outside the 90mm lines and get used to it?
 
merciful, congratulations on your purchase!

Now, with a 50mm lens under your belt, you're going to lust after a wide angle... even if you like portraits (think of it as a good tool for environmental portraits). Keep your eyes peeled!

Let's see what other people say about this Canon lens. Good reputation, indeed, but to me, the problem is, again, framelines. Besides, I'm not really crazy about long lenses... In fact, I have to admit to myself I already have all the Leica gear I wanted.

Good luck in your pre-purchase research endeavors! :)
 
Thanks again.

I'm not much of a wide-angle guy: 50mm is usually as environmental as I want to get with my portraiture. My style requires a longer lens for traditional portraits, and also to do environmental stuff from a little distance, without being intrusive. I hope to be doing a major project soon that requires some subtlety in this regard.

M-Hexanon 90mm from eBay, or Voigtlander 75mm/2.5 new for $319 (+ adapter)? Herr Puts speaks well of it here: http://www.imx.nl/photosite/japan/voigtl01.html
 
The 85mm Canon is a good lens. I've used the Russian 85mm (although that has focusing problems) and I used a 1950's 105mm Nikon. Neither of these have corresponding framelines but the'yre close enough. The 85mm is close enough to 90mm (and better being slightly wider) that, depending on your subject, it shouldn't matter.
I used the 105mm on a job once photographing city signs and I never clipped anything with the inacuracy. These longer lenses are underrated.
90mm 2.8 Elmarits are relatively inexpensive.
 
If you want to know what I'd do: go for the Konica glass.

However, you can also get an Elmar 90/4 if you don't mind a slower lens. It's less expensive and you get Leica glass. I do have one, uncoated, which I use only with black & white. Consider it a Plan B, in case neither of these good choices of yours pan out. Price paid? $55. That's priceless!

And see what I did with it:
 
Solid portrait work - and I like the look of the Elmar.

I think I'll end up with one of those eventually, but speed is pretty important to me a lot of the time. I could really be in trouble sometimes with the f4 as opposed to, say, an 85mm/2 Serenar. We'll see...
 
My Elmar is very quirky, and I'd find it difficult to replace because of the unexpected bits it shows at times. Check this link out:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/data/505/12Barri_Gotic_5-Pidgeons.jpg

That's one of my photos in the RF Members Gallery, done with the same Elmar 90/4. See the slight flare in the middle? Seems to add a 1930s air to the image...

BTW, my lens dates from 1936.

Good luck in your ebay searches!
 
Merciful, congratulations on the 50mm Hexanon; I don't have a 50mm lens... hmmm. But I've had a 90mm for a long time that has gotten little use. So, thinking 90 might be a bit long, I got a 75mm Voigtlander lens on eBay for $212. Can't say as I've given it any more use than the 90! But it performs very well.
 
That's a beautiful result, Francisco. just what I'm hoping to produce.
 
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