burantek:

Being on a bit of a RF kick, I also picked up a Hasselblad X-Pan and I am looking REAL HARD at a Leica M6 or M6TTL.

As there are several M users here, either 6 and/or 8, I am stumbling over glass.

My choices are:

1.) Leitz -probably in the f2 range.

2.) Voigtlander (Nokton) -brilliant in f1+ range at great prices!

3.) Zeiss -ZM... big fan of Zeiss having shot them on the Hassy MF cameras.

With a mu43 adapter, I can throw any of them on the PEN as well! Any thoughts?

 

An M6 is far from a bad choice— I've owned one for a couple of years (Had a go with an M9 the other day, feels nowhere near as solid).

A nice used leica lens is a good choice: The prices (especially for standard focal lengths) become almost comparable to new Zeiss lenses. The Zeiss lenses are sharp, as is the Nokton, but the Leica glass, as I'm sure you know, is, on the whole, absolutely unique even wide open.

As far as I know, all M-mount lenses work with an adapter on the PEN, but remember the focal length doubling sensor size.

A word of warning, though: Just as with B&O, once you buy a Leica, it will most likely become catastrophically addictive.

 

richardd:

A word of warning, though: Just as with B&O, once you buy a Leica, it will most likely become catastrophically addictive.

Never was a truer word spoken

I use a Leica M6 and am slowly accumulating lenses. Frankly, the camera body is ultimately the least expensive item in your Leica kit. In the digital world, it is also likely to be the item you keep for the shortest time because of the onward march of technology. It will also have the lowest retained resale value. In contrast, the lenses will last, literally, for decades. There is no tricky autofocus, just mechanical perfection. If you plan to move to an M8, 8.1 or M9 digital body in the future, it will be helpful to purchase lenses now with 6-bit encoding to allow the body to configure itself for the optical characteristics of the attached lens. Such coding can be added later by the Leica factory, but at a cost.

Build quality and optical performance of Leica lenses is exemplary. There are generally three price points, mainly driven by speed: Summilux (f1.4) $$$; Summicron (f2) $$; Summarit (f2.5) $. (I'll ignore specialty lenses such as Noctilux in this summary.) The first two are assembled by hand and feel rock solid. The Summarit line was intended to have lower production cost because of reuse of key elements across the focal length range (35mm and 50mm share components, as do the 75mm and 90mm) thus reducing production costs. The Summarit line (I have a 75mm) does not have the physical feel of the Summicron, but is still an excellent lens and at a comparatively agreeable price.

 

 

A quick thanks! It seems that the M6 (TTL or otherwise) is held in high regard... and the value retention is amazing!

Thanks to your posts and some more research... I went from being sold on the Voigtlander glass to being sold on the Leitz glass! One quick question: Any thoughts on going straight to the M mount glass or trying the older Screw mount w/ a Leitz (or similar) adapter?

burantek:

A quick thanks! It seems that the M6 (TTL or otherwise) is held in high regard... and the value retention is amazing!

Thanks to your posts and some more research... I went from being sold on the Voigtlander glass to being sold on the Leitz glass! One quick question: Any thoughts on going straight to the M mount glass or trying the older Screw mount w/ a Leitz (or similar) adapter?

Unless you have a specialty lens you want to set up the camera for (ex. You have multiple bodies with specific lenses mated for specific uses) I'd personally avoid adaptors. They never seem to have the same quality feel as the original equipment. M lenses are just about as diverse in both types and quality these days as the Screws but also have a lot more usefulness with all the M cameras, both analog and digital, floating around. I love the M6, but with the great deals on the M8 I'd give it some serious thought. A shutter twice as fast as the M9 ( which still is fast compared to the M6) and a imager that is great for all but the widest lenses. Either way don't forget to get a great custom leather case from Luigi. You may only do it once but you'll never forget the experience ;)

Jaff, here are some example shots of the Canon EF 50mm F1.0L.

 

I just got this lens, I actually bought a Canon 5D mk2, just so I could get this lens... So I'm once again back with Canon. But Canon is an excellent camera, it lack the finesse of the Leica though.

 

Anyway, this lens is a killer!

So anyone up for some "Bokeh"? All shots at F1.0.

 

 

 

Some in Black and White... The DOF is just crazy, and such wonderful rendering of the out of focus areas.

 

 

Andreas,

Thanks so much. What a lens! While being firmly entrenched in Nikon when dealing with non-European gear -this has been very enlightening! 

That second shot is amazing -I'd frame that! It would look great w/ my wall color.

More B&o artsy shots please!

 

In response to all the wonderful Leica feedback from above... I hate to admit that I have done nothing but search since my last post!

I have been all over the place. I was sold on the M6TTL. Then, I wandered back to a .72 Classic -then to an M3 -and now I am hot on a IIIF kick! The glass will likely be Leitz F2. My only real interest would be w/ 50mm. Frankly, I think I have more fun "searching" than using as is often the case w/ B&o!

In the meantime, I have sold off my Olympus PEN. I have since picked up a NIKONOS V (Ploprof camera?) for fun as well as another Hassy V-series. And finally I purchased something I have wanted for a long time: Hassy H-series w/ 80 and 150.

Thanks Jaff!

 

Yes, I will take more shots of my B&O.

 

If you want to frame/print the pic, I can give the original file in tiff/jpg. Just let me know. 

Brilliant! I will PM/email my contact address! I have a pair of matching frames ready! Thanks!

I'll send you the file tomorrow Jaff.

Hi bayerische,

your pictures are looking very good.

Would you mind to send No2 to the email I have send you via PM. Do you have some raw format as well? That would be perfect.

The perspectiv you have choosen is very interesting, I ll have to grap my camera and give it a try...

Larskoelle:

Hi bayerische,

your pictures are looking very good.

Would you mind to send No2 to the email I have send you via PM. Do you have some raw format as well? That would be perfect.

The perspectiv you have choosen is very interesting, I ll have to grap my camera and give it a try...

Hi Lars,

thanks!

I've uploaded the file to your address.

 

-Andreas

 

You might have to start charging, Andreas!

The original as he sent is just spectacular. I rotated it 180 and set it as my desktop on a 23" Avocado monitor.

I just sent the file to my printers. I went w/ a 16x20 and I should have it next week.

Remember, I have a matching pair of frames!  Start clicking!

Thanks again!

burantek:

You might have to start charging, Andreas!

The original as he sent is just spectacular. I rotated it 180 and set it as my desktop on a 23" Avocado monitor.

I just sent the file to my printers. I went w/ a 16x20 and I should have it next week.

Remember, I have a matching pair of frames!  Start clicking!

Thanks again!

Sounds great Jaff!!!

I won't charge you guys!

I'll click away tomorrow, had a tad of the "hangover flu" today...

 

 

My favorite this far with the 50mm is this one, love the reflection of the BL5!

 

Andreas, that is just beautiful!

 

beocool:

Andreas, that is just beautiful!

 

Thank you Beek!

One more in the same theme...

bayerische:

One more in the same theme...

And perfect for the second frame!

burantek:

bayerische:

One more in the same theme...

And perfect for the second frame!

JPG will do fine?

Doesn't anybody want to frame the poor little FM ratio detector from my Dirigent? It's hand made in Denmark!

I'm back to back...

 

Couldn't resist anymore...

 

bayerische:

Couldn't resist anymore...

Funny... I picked up a Leica "bridge" VL1 last week for fun -and took some remarkably similar shots!

P.S. Your second shot went to the printer last week!

tournedos:

Doesn't anybody want to frame the poor little FM ratio detector from my Dirigent?

With some creative cropping, I think it would would work!

burantek:

tournedos:

Doesn't anybody want to frame the poor little FM ratio detector from my Dirigent?

With some creative cropping, I think it would would work!

The 3rd IF filter might be a better starting point. These were both just ambient light snapshots for documentation purposes...

However, I have since built a ring light for purposes like this. Stuff from DealExtreme plus some junk laying around, cost perhaps $20 and one hour of work...

The camera is my Canon 30D workhorse which has been everywhere from Greenland to Tanzanian grass (sand...) plains and never complained.