[Leica] Wide angle

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

I read an article in a photo mag a few decades about I guess maybe it was
the 80's
About the White House photographers of the time.
It was like there were about ten or twelve them I got the impression.
Their "kit" as the Brits might say.
The gear the use we'd say over here.

Two cameras one hanging over each shoulder.

The first camera was a nikon SLR and they'd have about three lenses for it.
On the other shoulder was a Leica M. Any M.
But on that any M was always the same lens.
The super Angulon 21mm 3.4
That to them was what the M camera was made to be a life support system for.
And you got the impression that was the camera that was in use half the
time.

And yes you can take a picture with such a super wide lens and end the end
what gets seen is a cropped version of what you may have seen in the view
finder. If  you bothered looking through it at all. As you've probably zone
focused in the first place.

My point being the 21mm focal length on a 24x36 format camrea is a classic
default for a long long time. Especially Leica.

For cropped 1.33 as the M8 is that's a 16mm lens.


Mark William Rabiner