Well, that didn't happen the way I expected it to. So, which lens?

ecowarrior

ecowarrior

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After saying in a previous thread I would take my time considering what to buy and so on and so on, ma 'n pa have gone and bought me an early Christmas/Birthday present. I should be more careful saying to my dad what I like. Or then again, maybe not 🙂

So, the courier cometh (soon), and the courier bringeth to me a Leica M5 2-lug in chrome. And I couldn't be more excited. I hope this is to be the start of a long and happy relationship with one camera, and probably one lens.

Wondering what Lens to buy. I'm certainly not against a Voigtlander, or a Zeiss, but ideally I'd quite like a Leica lens if I can get one without selling a kidney. Probably a 50mm, that's my usual favourite focal length, though a 35mm would be fine too. Initial look suggests something like the Summarit 2.5 though that would be fairly top end of my budget.

Any recommendations?

ps. Can I stay now I've got a Leica? Please? Can I? 🙂
 
ecowarrior said:
Can I stay now I've got a Leica? Please? Can I? 🙂
Click to expand...

Not untl it shows up.
😉

Congrats! First off, if it needs work I highly recommend Sherry Krauter. She fixed up my M5. I don't want to be a buzz kill here, but I really hope your camera is in fine working condition as they are expensive to repair.

Ok, to the fun part. As you are obviously shooting film, and as such limited in ISO compared to digital, a faster lens will give you far more flexibility vs a slow lens. So while the Summarit 50 2.5 is a really good lens, the 2.5 max aperture will be limiting once the light starts to dim. For the same money you can get the new Voigt Nokton 50 1.5 (which is great) vs a used Summarit 2.5. If you get this lens used, it will be quite a bit less money.
If you want a really nice fast lens for even less, the Canon LTM (you'll need an adapter) 50 1.4 aka Japanese Summilux is a great choice. As long as you find a non hazy one. Those are about $300.

The good thing about buying a used Voigt or Canon is that you get to shoot a great camera with great glass, and once you have enough $$ for that Leica lens you really want (if at that point you still want one) you can sell the used lens you have for most prob zero loss.

Good luck and have fun!
 
You are in luck! There are a lot of threads about "which 50mm?" .

I'm an M5 user for a long time. My favorite daily 50mm at the moment is the Voigtlander Color Skopar f2.5/50mm.
It's small and has a nice little focus tab. The B+W images it produces are sharp and yet very smooth with just a bit of a stronger contrast than vintage lenses but less than modern ones. (imo)

The Planar f2/50mm is a super sharp much more even edge to edge optic if you like clinical or shoot lots of color. Another great choice and probably the best value at 50mm in M mount of all lenses offered on the market.

As to Leica 50mm lenses. My favorite that I have owned was the V3 Summilux. The V2 is the same optical formula and usually running about half the price as the V3.
The V3 focusses to .7m (compared to 1m for v2) but for me it was just luck I ended up with it. Back in the mid 2000's I picked it up for about $800 Try double or triple that now.

The Summilux was a lens that was sort of dreamy and soft-ish at wide open then becoming very sharp stopping down.
Being f1.4 one could really seperate a background from the subject even at mid distances.

A lens that performs very simlarly for about $400 is the Voigtlander Nokton ltm 50mm f1.5.
It's a sweet little lens and balances very nicely on the M5. I may pick one up again soon.

I'm rambling... there is a start. I'm sure many will follow with more advice.
Cheers
 
Congrats on your M5, that's really cool.

I'm a big fan of the 50mm Summicron, the latest pre-ASPH one, there were a lot of them made and can be had used at a good price. I also have a 50 Summilux pre-ASPH, and though I love the way it renders, for some reason when I'm going out to shoot, I always grab the Summicron.

Had a first generation Summicron collapsable and a Zeiss, but found the collapsable wasn't terribly sharp wide open (compared to the Cron I have now) and I never liked the cold rendering of the Zeiss when shooting color film or digital.

So there's my 2¢ worth.

Have fun.

-Tim
 
FYI, As an M5 owner I could not be happier, I typically have the 50 mmV2 Summicron on it and sometimes use a recent find of a mint Jupiter 3 50mm on it. Only exception to the 50 is a 35mm Cron ASPH on it as well. Enjoy the M5, an elegant work horse IMO.
 
A V3 or 4 Summicron (depending on your favourite rendering) won't cost you a kidney, is your preferred FL, and it's Leica as you wish.
You can sell it at any time with no loss or even gain.
You can't go wrong with it.
 
I must say the Nokton 50 1.5 did catch my eye. That is definitely one option on my list. The Summarit would be nice but I think I will put that one to rest for now, it's an expensive lens and I would rather aim a lower down the budget if I can. I'm looking at probably around the £500 max. My budget could stretch but I'd rather save a little if possible. I think the M5 takes one of those old batteries too - I have one of the wein 1.35V's knocking around somewhere if needs be.

I have had a look around the various secondhand dealer sites here in the UK and haven't seen anything that quite fits the bill yet but I'll keep looking.

I bought the M5 (on instruction from parents) from a reputable dealer rather than ebay, as it comes with 6 months warranty. All looks to be in good order from the pictures and description, and I did ring them to check. The only issue they raised was the little "tab" on the bottom is a little floppy but otherwise works fine. I can live with that.

I'll be shooting exclusively black and white film, as that is what I can develop at home (I love the whole process).
 
Go for the Nokton and don't look back!

No need for a Leica Lens with the Voigtlander and Zeiss lenses currently offered. Save your dough for a trip to Barcelona and some film 😀
 
I have and use both the Color Skopar 50/2.5 and Nokton 50/1.5 ASPH (LTM). Funny thing, I use the slower lens on my film M more than on my digital M ... I just like what it does on film more than on digital. I don't find the difference in speed that much of an issue ... I tend to stop down the Nokton to f/2 or f/2.8 most of the time anyway as it performs more to my liking about there, where the Color Skopar is wonderful wide open.

Personally, if I were buying today, I'd for the Summarit-M 50/2.4 or 2.5 if new (B&H has the f/2.5 model for several hundred less than the f/2.4 model, and they're not much different) or a good used Summicron-M 50 (cost a little less). That said, the Nokton 50/1.5 ASPH is a wonderful lens in its own right, the closest thing to a middle 1980s Summilux-M 50 at a fraction the price. That's why I bought it.

The confusing thing is that there really aren't any truly bad choices. Each of these lenses is top notch and differs from the others just by nuances of rendering. Any one of them will do you extremely well.

Enjoy your new M5!

G
 
I will echo that there are no truly bad choices amongst the main contenders here.

I will, however, contradict some of the statements above. The Zeiss Planar is a great lens for black and white film. It's spot on for focus without any shift issues. Wide open it is sharp wherever you focus it, and personally I prefer the bokeh over the 'cron. And most importantly, at least for my house with big windows and northern European winter light, it is highly flare resistant. I have tried two 'crons and they both flared badly for me.

That said, the Voigt 50 1.5 ASPH is also a fantastic lens, and so is a used 'cron for your price range.

Whatever you choose, have fun! A Leica with a decent 50mm is a magical combination.

Cheers,
Rob
 
Hi,

Lucky you, it's one of the nicest bodies going.

As for the lens, given the budget I'd aim at something like the f/2.8's in 35 or 50mm. You don't need speed when you consider that the well known funny 16 rule suggests with an 125 ISO film a shutter speed of 1/4000th of a second at f/2.8 and an 8000th at f/2. Rather over the top, imo...

Anyway, enjoy the camera.

Regards, David

PS FWIW, I'd look for a lens that's the same age as the camera as well as being f/2.8 but that's just my 2d worth.
 
Not sure what your budget is. Here are my 50mm recommendations, depending on (used) price.

< 300$: Nikkor 5cm/2, Canon 50/1.8, or Canon 50/1.4
300$ - 500$: Color Skopar 50/2.5, collapsible Summicron, Nikkor 5cm/1.4, Canon 50/1.5
500$ - 800$: VM Nokton 50/1.5, Hexanon 50/2.4, rigid/DR Summicron or Summicron v3, Nokton 50/1.1
800$ - 1500$: pre-asph Summilux, or Amadeo mounted Millenium Nikkor 50/1.4
> 1500$: Summilux ASPH

I've tried others, but wouldn't recommend them.

As a side note, for what it gives, the Summarit is overpriced, IMHO.

They are all different, check out sample pictures on https://www.flickr.com/groups/m-mount, for instance.

You could also get a 40mm, like the CLE Rokkor 40/2, or Nokton 40/1.4, great lenses.

And the 35mm list is almost as long. So there, pick your poison, and welcome to the club 🙂

Roland.
 
Surprised Roland... No Planar 😱

ferider said:
Not sure what your budget is. Here are my 50mm recommendations, depending on (used) price.

< 300$: Nikkor 5cm/2, Canon 50/1.8, or Canon 50/1.4
300$ - 500$: Color Skopar 50/2.5, collapsible Summicron, Nikkor 5cm/1.4, Canon 50/1.5
500$ - 800$: VM Nokton 50/1.5, Hexanon 50/2.4, rigid/DR Summicron or Summicron v3, Nokton 50/1.1
800$ - 1500$: pre-asph Summilux, or Amadeo mounted Millenium Nikkor 50/1.4
> 1500$: Summilux ASPH

I've tried others, but wouldn't recommend them.

As a side note, for what it gives, the Summarit is overpriced, IMHO.

They are all different, check out sample pictures on https://www.flickr.com/groups/m-mount, for instance.

You could also get a 40mm, like the CLE Rokkor 40/2, or Nokton 40/1.4, great lenses.

And the 35mm list is almost as long. So there, pick your poison, and welcome to the club 🙂

Roland.
Click to expand...
 
f16sunshine said:
Surprised Roland... No Planar 😱
Click to expand...

I never tried, Andy. But the 50/2.4 Hex is a beautiful modern Planar copy - a little slower but smaller than the ZM.

If you care .... from my 50mm project last year (https://ferider.smugmug.com/Portfolio/One-Year-with-50mm-Lenses-on-F)

index-for-web.jpg


Roland.
 
I can probably go round and round looking at various lenses and end up with the finest of them all, only for it to be let down by my own talent.

In the end I have ordered the Nokton 50 1.5 in black. I looked at online examples from it, and the reviews are also good, so I suspect it will be perfect for me. I'm sure a Leica lens in the right hands would show it up no trouble at all. I don't have those hands though.

That leaves me with some savings and a new lens with a great reputation. So, look out for some photos at some point!

Thanks all.

(oh and thank you for that link to the brochure - excellent!)
 
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