Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/13

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Subject: RE: [Leica] 21mm vs 24mm
From: Austin Burbridge <LIGHTandPOWER@ibm.net>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 12:09:49 -0700

Jean-Claude, Greg, Eddie, Wilbur

Thank you! Your comments are VERY helpful.

There are plenty of numbers about 28-24-21 lenses but surprisingly 
little subjective prose about their application. That the 
focal-lengths and angles of view are so close to one another makes 
evaluation  -- without making photos with each -- hard.

I found Eddie's remark 'BTW, I use this lens without the additional 
finder attached on my M6' and Jean-Claude's 'IMO, a 24 mm is still an 
ordinary lens.' to be particularly useful in understanding what the 
difference might be between the 24 and the 21.

I am indeed looking for an 'ordinary' lens (albeit very wide) for 
general use, mostly for photos of people with lots of context.

I haven't been able to find photographs of similar views taken with 
each lens -- the Brian Bower book's photos are not very helpful in 
this regard since they are landscape/architecture. Can anyone point 
me to good examples for comparison among 28-24-21mm M lenses, either 
online or in print?


AUSTIN.




>Sure.
>
>IMO, a 24 mm is still an ordinary lens. The one you can use for all
>kind of subjects, for landscapes, reportages, even portraits. A 21 mm
>is, IMHO of course, much more difficult to use. The edges of the
>pictures begin to take a strange perspective, you need a strong
>foreground in landscapes, etc.. So I concluded that I would use the 24
>more often than a 21.
>
>Moreover, I carefully read the Erwin test of both lenses, Chasseur
>d'Images tests and some more magazines reports. I have the feeling
>that the current 21 is not at the top of what I would expect from a
>(pricely) Leica lens.
>
>The last but not least reason is that I got a good price on the 24
>that has been too long on the seller's shelf (don't forget that a good
>price in France is a very bad price in the US, though).
>
>PS : I forgot. I have an adapter to mount my 18 mm Nikon on the Leica
>M bodies and I expected to buy the 15 mm Cosina when I want to go
>really wide.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
> ---
> Jean-Claude Berger (jcberger@jcberger.com)
> Systems and RDBMS consultant (MCSE), Lyon, France
> http://www.jcberger.com
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of AUSTIN
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 7:51 AM
>> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>> Subject: [Leica] 21mm vs 24mm
>>
>>
>> >That's why I decided to buy a 21 or 24 mm (I finally made my
>> mind for the 24).  Jean-Claude Berger
>>
>>   I'm still trying to figure out whether to get a 21mm or a 24mm.
>> Could you talk a little about why you chose a 24 over a 21? please.
>>
>>
>