Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]40mm is a nice focal length. One of the reasons that I am so attached to the compact Japanese leaf shutter rangefinders of the 70s is that they have lenses in the 40mm range, often with reasonably fast optics in the f1.7 to f2 range. Generally the lenses are surprisingly good too. If you have to go for just one lens, 40mm seems so useful as a focal length. I'm surprised that it hasn't been a more popular focal length in interchangable rangefinder cameras. I actually had a 4cm f2.8 Olympus Zuiko lens in LTM in case with finder that was a pleasant enough lens, but I sold it in a moment of madness as I wanted more modern optics for the CLE. I haven't seemed to have found a good 40mm Summicron or Rokkor to replace it yet (by good, I mean one in good shape at a good price) and since the 40mm Nokton goes for about the same price as a really clean f2 lens of the same focal length, I thought that it might be a possibility. Not that I'm lacking for 40mm on fixed lens cameras like the Konica or Rollei. And the performance of the lenses on those would be tough to beat. Mark > > > > John Newell > > > Because a 50 as much as I love them require a lot of concentration or your > miss your focus. > On the other hand a 35 is kind of for me: Sloppy. It's too point and shoot. > > A 40 on the other hand is a nice compromise between the formality of the 50 > but with the giving you a break on the focus and DOF of the 35. > It's a loose 50. > > And it's a super compact almost pancake light weight lens which makes my > camera a pleasure to carry around for hours to a full day. > No unwieldy lens shade of my 50 Summicron flying into the highway. > No heaviness of my 35 apish Summicron. It's just heavy that's all that > lens. > > And I like using the finder on the hot shoe. I'll be getting such finders > for every focal length I've got. Probably use them often. Love that clean > view. > > > Mark Rabiner > Photography > Portland Oregon > http://rabinergroup.com/ > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >