Re: [Leica] 21 or 24 mm M lens: advice sought

[Alan Ball <AlanBall@csi.com>]

Christer,

21mm is great for street scenes, especially in non-US cities where the
streets are narrower (think of small casbah streets in Essaouira or
Marrakesh for example, or medieval towns and villages in Europe). It
gives volume to the smallest settings and is irreplaceable in the
numerous 'vis-à-vis' situations one does encounter (people at the same
cafe or restaurant table as the photographer, any type of cabin -cars,
train compartments, cable-car, whatever-), shops, etc. The 21mm is also
ideal for close shooting and very lively pictures of crowd scenes (from
within the crowd), market scenes, interior shots, etc. 

Besides those uses, the 21mm allows very spectacular near-far landscape
images and provides many of the strenghts of ultra-wides, while
remaining useable in less extreme situations.

OTOH, I find 24mm a little too tame for those uses: it feels like a
slightly wider 28mm rather than like a very wide angle. Since you own
the 35mm, you will be more tempted to switch to another wide angle lens
if you feel it will be really wortwhile. And 21mm makes the switch
obviously worthwhile. I would treat the 24mm as a 'radical' complement
to a 50mm, and the 21mm as a sister to the 35mm....

Friendly regards,
Alan

Christer Almqvist wrote:
> 
> I am getting myself a 21 or a 24 mm lens for my M6 and would like to hear
> what you folks think is the "better" one for me.
> 
> I shoot black and white only, have a Tele-Elmarit 2.8/90mm and a Summicron
> 2/35mm. (Yes the physical size of the lens is of a certain importance to me
> and I would always go for the smaller one if there is a choice.) I am a
> fine grain and sharpness fetischist, but I do not think I need the new ASPH
> lenses as I am very satisfied with the performance of my current 35mm and
> 90mm lenses. Does that limit my choice to 21 mm lenses because the only 24
> mm lens is the new ASPH?
> 
> I am into available light photography, street photography and portraits
> (but portraits is not what I am primarily going to use the new lens for, I
> am rather thinking of something like certain Jean Loup Sieff pictures). I
> would  be interested in hearing opinions on the
> price/(practical-usage-)performance relation of older type 21 mm lenses
> provided they can be used with the M6. (I have read what Ervin Put has
> written.)
> 
> (...and yes, don't hesitate to email me privately if you are a seller.)
> 
> --
> christer almqvist
> eichenstrasse 57, d-20255 hamburg, fon +49-40-407111 fax +49-40-4908440
> 14 rue de la hauteur, f-50590 regnéville-sur-mer, fon+fax +33-233 45 35 58