[Leica] Advice needed on 35mm lens for Leica M

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

On 3/8/05 3:54 PM, "Colin Yastrzebski" <smcj35@yahoo.com> typed:

> I need some help to choose a used 35mm lens for
> my M outfit to replace a Summicron I lent to a
> friend and never got back (my friend bought it
> from me).  I am using a 40mm Summicron-C as a
> temporary replacement.
> 
> I could just replace the 35mm Summicron with
> another, however I wondered about the pre-ASPH
> Summilux and also the ASPH Summicron, which now
> seems to be coming on to the used market in
> larger numbers.
> 
> I would like my "new" lens to have the smooth
> bokeh of the Summicron.  Does the ASPH share the
> "look" or the non-ASPH Summicron?
> 
> Does the Summilux (pre-ASPH) also have smooth
> bokeh?  Does sharpness suffer because of the
> f/1.4 maximum aperture?
> 
> Questions ... questions ... but they are best
> asked before I buy!
> 
> Thanks.
> 
Well instead of going into 35's like everyone is talking about and that is
what you're asking I'll suggest a different approach entirely.
Me I seem to have my 40mm Summicron-C crazy glued to my camera.
Its the only lens I want to use lately for street shooting.
To me a 50 is great be requires a lot on the part of the user or you'll miss
your focus.
A 35 is a point and shoot "get the shot" lens the way I think of it.
But in a way sloppy.
I always feel guilty for not using a 50.

But the 40 is the perfect compromise.
Three degrees cropped in on both sides from what you'd get from your
horizontal angle of view from a 35.
The 35 giving you 54 degrees. The 40 giving you 48. A 50 gives you 40
degrees HAOV.

To for me it's a "cake and eat it too" lens.

I'd get a nice 28 and just keep useing 40. The options are limitless on 28s.
The Summicron ASPH being at the top of the list in impressiveness in the
whole Leica lens lineup. A reason to buy the camera it seems to me.
Plus interesting options from old versions but I like the recent offerings
from Cosina either under the coloring of Voigtl?nder or now Zeiss Ikon.
I don't have a 28 and I think I'm going to opt for the Cosina Zeiss Ikon.
Put a T* on my Leica yea that's the ticket!

Yesterday though I ordered a Snapshot Skopar 25mm f/4.0 screw Mount Lens to
put on my Bessa L I got for less than a price of a lens cap the day before.

But I'm not saying a 24 and a 28 are the same lens.
But I am thinking a 24 and 25 is. In effect.
That crazy I'm not.

I may have seemed to make more sense to get the 28, a focal length I don't
already have (I have a 24 and 35) but I'm not thinking I'm going to put the
Snapshot Skopar on my M6's anyway. I don't even think of it as part of my
Leica system.

But I can see this thing getting me into Leica screw mount. (LTM).
Getting old lenses and bodies and all. They seem pretty cheap.
And fit in your pocket.
Like all Leica's should.


Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/