Which Lens? 50 vs. 75

[dkphoto]

Hey everybody,

currently i'm using my Bessa R2 only with my Ultron 35mm.
Sometimes the lens is a little bit to short, so i need a longer one 😉
I'm shooting street.

The question is: 50mm oder 75mm.

The Nokton 50 1.5 seems to be very nice.
Unfortunately it's hardly available.

At a local store i could get a Summarit 50 1.5 from 1956. It's a nice lens with the typical Leica glow in mint condition, but they want 450euros (about 600USD), which is too much money in my opinion.

And then we have the Color Heliar 75mm 2.5.
I dont find much about this lens, the people who have it like it.
But i'm not sure if the 75 is too long?

So help me, what do you think?

 

[back alley]

ideally a 35/50/75 is very nice.

if i were going with just 2 lenses then 35/75, a perfect and small combo, very easy to carry.

the 75 is a very nice lens.

 

[zleica]

ideally a 35/50/75 is very nice.

if i were going with just 2 lenses then 35/75, a perfect and small combo, very easy to carry.

the 75 is a very nice lens.

Well said! I use the same 35/75 combo if I'm carry two lenses.

 

[Rob-F]

For street work I find a 75 too long. I keep having to back away to get my shot, and that tends to be a giveaway that warns people of what I am up to. A 50 is the longest I would use, with 35 or 28 being more ideal for me. YMMV.

 

[MCTuomey]

since you're in the streets and you note that the 35mm is a "little bit" too short (rather than a lot), i'd say a 50. the price/performance of the nokton 50/1.5 is astounding, so i'd search one out. if you can't find one, have you considered the Canon ltm 50/1.4, another price/performance champion?

 

[Roger Hicks]

35/75 is my basic outfit. But it doesn't matter very much. On the Alpa my main lens is a 38/4.5 Biogon on 44x66mm, a 21mm equivalent in 35mm terms.

Cheers,

R.

 

[payasam]

My vote also for the 35+75 combination. With those two lenses you can cover just about every situation.

 

[Bingley]

I had the CV Heliar 75/2.5 at one point, but sold it. It's a very nice lens for portraits, but I found it too long (and the focus throw too long) for street photography. While a lot of photographers like the 35/75 combination, it does not work for me, particularly for street. Thus, I concur w/ Mike's recommendation that a 50 might be more useful given the kind of photography you're doing. His recommendation to search out Canon 50s if you can't find a Nokton is also spot on, IMO. Finally, you may be able to find some older Leica lenses (Elmar, Summitar, early Summicron) for less than the price of the Summarit, that will be quite usable for street photography, although you'd have to give up 1.5.

 

[dkphoto]

Thanks, this helped me a lot!

I think i'm going to look for a Nokton 50 1.5

I have an offer for an Nokton 50 1.1 for 660€ (890$) which is a pretty good price. The lens is 5month old and in mint condition.

I have to think about it^^

 

[payasam]

Seems to me that we are ignoring the obvious way to arrive at an answer. I propose that you spend a couple of hours just looking at what you would like to photograph -- alternately with the 50 and the 75 frame lines up. My guess is that you will find that the difference between 35 and 50 is not so great after all.