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 p.15 #11 · Still no love for the Ricoh GXR? | |
Michael: as with Ed, I tend to buy my lenses with full frame in mind, always.
A short answer to your proposed lens line up: very well thought out. And believe me, the ZM18 will be useful on full frame, for sure.
The long answer: *)
The first "compromise" to that notion was when I bought the ZM18 for use on the GXR M.
I had the M9 at the time and was surprised at how good the ZM18 was on full frame.
So, I have decided the ZM18 is a keeper regardless of format but with the intention of being a cross format lens. I scrounged up a "used" ZM18 finder for it since I am still hoping for full frame later on.
For full frame my "ideal" RF setup would be: 21f2.8, 28 f2 or f2.8, 40/50 f1.4 or f2, and a 90f2.8.
A skeleton outfit would be: 25/28mm and a 50mm lens. Nothing more.
For cross platform, or APS-C mixed in with full frame, the options get a bit messed up and
sometimes a lens transforms well into the other and sometimes not.
I found a little of the ZM25 got lost on APS-C, turning into a slow-ish normal lens but I found the ZM50 works just as fine on APS-C. The 21mm is little "dull" for me on APS-C as I have never been fond of 35mm lenses.
With APS-C I find the transitions are more floating, for full frame it can make sense to have a 28mm and 35mm, even a 35mm and a 50mm - or all three. On APS-C I find that neither the 28 nor the 35 comes into their own on that format. Their neither fish nor flesh so to speak. A 21mm would do very well on APS-C as we have seen but for me that is an expensive route to get a rough 35mm with a look that is a bit different. Also, it would not be wide enough for me, craving at least 28mm equivalent as a bare minimum on the widest side.
Having a 50mm and 75mm on APS-C makes in my opinion one of the lenses redundant. Both the ZM50 and the Leica M Summarit 75 are superb lenses, I was a bit smitten by the Summarit 75 as a landscape lens as well as a portrait lens.
For close shots the rendition of the lenses are very similar, as is the quality and even the bokeh. Most people would not be able to tell them apart at all. The 90mm does make more of a difference, and for "maximum" reach with "minimum" price penalty the Elmarit M90/2.8 is the ticket for me. If I were more into portraits again I would keep the Summarit 75, and I have seen some really fabulous landscape shots taken with it, it just happens to sit in between the two other options I have.
The Elmarit M90/2.8 is a bit bland with regards to bokeh, I think. For landscape / cityscape it is a great lens. As I already wrote, I got it as it becomes a 135mm equivalent on APS-C and that is handy.
A skeleton outfit on APS-C - and actually really nice on full frame - for me would be: ZM18/4, ZM50/2 and Elmarit M90/2.8.
The only gripe with that would be that I would have preferred a f2.8 or f2 for the 18mm. But, I'd rather have great wide open performance on a slow lens than lackluster performance on a fast lens for wide angles. On full frame 18/4 is sweet.
For full frame I would add a 25 or a 28, but not really use it that much on APS-C I guess.
So a cross platform minimal outfit would be: ZM18 (ZM25/28) ZM50 Leica M90.
Given the inherent, or practical, limitations of RF focusing with fast glass I am quite happy with f2/f2.8 and prefer small, cute, yet potent lenses.
Since my ZM28 would not focus properly on the M9 I had to shift to the ZM25 which I was a little reluctant to do, only because of the viewfinder issues. Quality wise the ZM25 is exceptional, bordering on "clinical", but I don't mind. For practical RF use having a viewfinder for lenses below 28mm is not a bad idea, you can leave it on camera while shooting longer lenses and scout the view before changing lenses. You can also use the finders on their own to scout a scene.
*) I have too much time to sit and write:
Coming back from Thailand I smuggled some little bugger inside me through customs and it does not allow me to keep any of the food or drinks, all passes right through, luckily in one direction only. After riding the fever train in Bangkok two days and then on the plane home for 14 hours I have been in a state of lethargy, though fever has lifted. It is a rough chore just keeping myself from dehydrating and I have eaten one or two slices of white bread a day for the past two days, after the initial starvation in Bangkok and the flight home where I could not really eat. I am off fresh fruit, fibre, sugars, lactose and meat. All that climbing in to shape in Krabi has been reduced to skin and bones in five days. But, I am not complaining, I am home, I have a nice warm bed and a flush toilet. Snug as a bug. 
PS
I am sitting at the kitchen table. Don't get any funny ideas.
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thank you.
