Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/05/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jeffery, Don't let our resident curmudgeon keep you from a 90. Acquire the 1.25magnifier or one of the Japanese versions and the 90 or even 135 are very useable on an M. Now, the real reason for the lens. What do you want to do? If you just want to get closer then the 90 is the ticket. Either the AA or the Elmarit are both very good fron wide open, just about the same capabilities so if you want shallow dof then the Summicrom wins. If you want a different look to your images then the 75 wins. Something about that focal length makes it a winner. I use the Summilux fairly often and it just works. Now, problems. Framelines are a problem, the inner dashes from the M6 on are a pain. I tend to use an M3 and just frame very tightly and then when I am using an M6 do the same. Second is the amount of the view cut off by the lens. This doesn't bother me but others go crazy if they can not see everything. Third is the critical nature of focusing at 1.4; you have less dof than with a Noctilux and when you are at 1.4 where you focus matters. Of course there may be a dabbler with a 75 Summicron for sale cheap and that is a very nice lens. Why do Leica shooters not use telephoto's? I think that many just don't want to slow down enough to focus and compose with the smaller viewfinder image. Again, with a magnifier the 90 becomes a 50 and you are pretty comfortable with the 50. My recommendation would be to pick up a beater 75 Summilux with good glass and then a 90 Elmarit so you have more choices. Or, find a good Canon 85 1.8 or F2 in LTM. Cheap and very good if not up to current standards. Have fun. Don don.dory@gmail.com On 5/8/06, Jeffery Smith <jsmith342@cox.net> wrote: > > I have every conceivable possible lens between 15mm and 50mm (with a lot > of > weight skewed toward the 50mm end). However, I have only two lenses past > 50...a 90/2.8 Hexanon (which is "very good") and a 75/2.5 Heliar (which is > "very good"). I would like to have something excellent longer than 50. > It's > a length I don't use enough. Since Zeiss Ikon apparently stopped dead in > their tracks at 50, I pretty much have the following choices in Leica > glass: > > 75/1.4 > 90/4 > 90/2.8 > 90/2 > > Of course, the faster the glass, the more expensive it is. I doubt that I > will be shooting smoky, dimly-lit pubs with this. So speed is not that > much > of an object. Does one of these stand out among the others? If the fast > glass is the glass with hair-raising quality, I will consider [choke!] the > cost as secondary. > > BTW, 90mm seems to be the length LEAST used by LUGers, at least in PAW > postings. It isn't THAT long...... > > Jeffery Smith > New Orleans, LA > http://www.400tx.com > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >