Voigtlander 75mm or 90mm compared to ??

[qruyk12]

So should i get the Voigtlander 75mm or 90mm?? Splurge for the Leica 90mm Elmarit M new version??
Anything else would be great but out of my price range at the moment...



So far all you guys and gals have been great with my queries!

 

[Rafael]

A little more information on how you plan to use the lens would be useful. In my opinion, although they are close, 75mm and 90mm are not really interchangeable. Personally, I get along very well with the 75mm focal length and quite poorly with 90mm.

 

[qruyk12]

i have a 35mm and just need a long lens when I need to pull in subjects a bit. perhaps 75 would be better ??

 

[Rafael]

35/75 is a very useful and versatile two-lens kit.

 

[capitalK]

35/75 is a very useful and versatile two-lens kit.

That's what I've been trying out in my bag for the last week or so. Turns out I haven't touched the CV 75mm in my bag yet but I'll let you know how it goes when I do 😀

 

[35mmdelux]

35/75mm set is where its at for me. Although a great lens, the 90mm EM is a bit longish and not fast enough for me anymore. Recognize some people swear by it; it does have its strength(s).

The 75mm is more compact and a great lens for half body portraits and provides some reach in PJ. It really depends on your shooting style -- portraits, shooting from far or close up, detail shoots, etc?

 

[35mmdelux]

That's what I've been trying out in my bag for the last week or so. Turns out I haven't touched the CV 75mm in my bag yet but I'll let you know how it goes when I do 😀

When I shoot with the longer lenses I leave the house with it on the camera and the wider lens in the satchel. If I wait to change it out it will never happen. In other words, I force myself to shoot with the longer lens. After a while you get used to seeing long. The reward is that you actually get to use them.

Many times I leave the house with just the 85mm or 90mm lens. Its alot of fun because these are great lenses.

 

[ktmrider]

35/90 Combo

35/90 Combo

The 35/50/90 is the classic photojournalism combo. If I choose to only carry two lenses, it is usually 35/90. However, I admit I have never tried a 75 primarily as I thought it was too close to the 50 and using either an M2 or M4 I lack the frame lines for a 75 and I don't want to clutter up either finder.

Some people might argue that the 35 and 90 are too far apart but I worked for a couple years as a photojournalist and my standard pair of lenses were 24 and 85 on a pair of Nikon F bodies. Don't really think you can go wrong with either combo.

 

[Tom A]

i have both the 75f2.5 heliar and the 90f3.5 Apo Lanthar. I tend to be using the Apo Lanthar a bit more - but that is right now. My taste changes occasionally and the 75 goes on to a camera (usually a R3M for its free standing 75 frames).
The 90f3.5 is a bit "snappier" at f3.5 than the Heliar 75f2.5. For portraits I suspect that the 75 would be more pleasing at f2.5 than the 90 @ f3.5.
Both are excellent lenses in their own right and it is more your own preference that should dictate the choice.

 

[Justin Low]

I use my 90/2.8 Elmarit far more than the CV 75/2.5 (which is for sale at this writing).

I find that a 50/90 pair works for me better than a 50/75 or 35/75.

The Elmarit-M is a stellar performer.

 

[George S.]

I agree with Tom and the others who say that it depends on your shooting style and present-day tastes. When I started out with RFs, coming from SLRs, I tended to use the 90mm length a lot. It seems the more I got into RFs, the more I developed as a close-in shooter. I tended to stay back and snipe my subjects with an SLR, and now I get closer and become more involved with my subjects. So now I sold my 90s and use the 75 2.5 exclusively for "long" shots. The lens performs very well and is not heavy.

 

[Ken Ford]

I'm a big 35/75 fan, too. I have the C-V and like it very much - it's great from f/4 on down and very usable even wide open.

But... I'd kick it to the curb in a heartbeat for a 75 Summicron. I'd really like a lens that is stellar wide open, and I think the Cron is it. But oy! the cost.

I'm saving away for that Cron...

 

[JRG]

"I'd kick it to the curb in a heartbeat for a 75 Summicron"

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the 35/75 combo, too. And I do know what you mean about the cost of the 75 Summicron! 🙂

But, while it's no faster than the CV, you might want to think about the 75 Summarit. Even E. Puts says it's pretty close to the performance of the Cron. Personally, I'd rather have the smaller size of the Summarit than the extra 2/3 stop of the Cron, and the price of the Summarit is a lot easier to digest.

 

[noimmunity]

Ken: I know that a summicron lies in your future and you will be rewarded for this long period of holding back.

qruyk12:
Another vote for 35/75, a combo that seems especially good for photographs of people: close up tight portraits for the 75, environmental portraits for the 35.

If there hadn't been something about 75, I never would have gone back to it, especially since my ZI doesn't even have 75 framelines. But after I sold my first R3A and CV 75/2.5, I always missed that combo. Shooting a 50 on the RD-1 (effective fl = 75) just made it worse.

The cron's advantages are not just speed, but also close focus distance, tonality, and color rendition. I do not find it clinical at all. And it is smaller and much easier to use than the 75/1.4 . But back on earth, the CV 75 is a very sweet option, too. The summarit 75/2.5 is nice, but from a test I saw comparing the summarit, the summicron, and the summilux, I don't think the bokeh is as good and the look is too clinical for portraits (I'd prefer the softness of the CV lens), and there is almost no chance of getting one used. So between the price of a new summarit and a used summicron, I would vote for saving up for the summicron.

 

[JRG]

"there is almost no chance of getting one used. So between the price of a new summarit and a used summicron, I would vote for saving up for the summicron."

Hmm. Maybe not where you live, but I bought a used Summarit over on Pnet, at a great price, just a month or so ago. And right now, Tony Rose and KEH both have very slightly used 75 Summarits at about half their price for a 75 Summicron. That's a big enough price difference to make me warm up to the Summarit.