RexGig0
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 p.2 #13 · Modern, affordable 50mm for Leica M? | |
johnvanr wrote:
Didn't Zeiss just build their M-mount lenses for their then M-mount camera? I'm not sure they're actually built for digital cameras.
Anyway, the 35mm 1.4 IS too large for the M system. You can buy new models for below $2,000, which is what I did, but I shouldn't have. I should have first checked it out via a rental or in a store. Oh well.
Having two 35mm lenses is something I have done, with each of the two DSLR systems I have used. One f/2 compact, and one larger/faster, in each case. It makes sense to have two 35mm M-mount lenses.  (Of course, the M-mount system is a bit different, as some compact lenses are “fast,” some of the optically very best are f/2.)
Most of the Zeiss ZM line were designed for film use, and not all of them have done as well with digital M cameras. Color shift is a problem with some of them, on pre-M11 digital M, unless used for monochrome images. (I love the quite compact Zeiss C-Biogon 21mm f/4,5 ZM, on an M Type 246 Monochrom.) The Distagon 35mm f/1,4 ZM was released notably later than the others, definitely with digital in mind, though the buzz it generated seemed most intense among those who want to shoot M lenses on other brands of camera. (I claim no expertise, but did a deep internet dive, on the Zeiss M-mount Ikon 35mm film camera, and the ZM lenses, in the early/mid-2010s. I have yet, however, to see a Zeiss Ikon M-mount camera, in the wild, or at a camera store.)
Perhaps it is because I started M-series shooting with a Summilux-M 50mm ASPH, and later added the hefty APO Summicron-M 75mm ASPH, but I do not find the size or mass of the Distagon 35mm ZM to be a problem. When using any of these three, I let the camera hang so that the lens is oriented toward the ground, with the strap passing over my right shoulder, so that the camera is positioned above my left hip. This is stable, and minimizes the distance that anything protrudes from my body. Within reason, the size of a lens does not matter, if it is hanging below the camera. A smaller-lighter lens balances on the camera in a way that lens facing outward, when the camera is hanging on its strap. I find myself worrying more about the hood catching on things, when the lens protrudes outward.
A personally-relevant reason that relatively large M-mount lenses do not bother me is that my right thumb, hand, wrist, and shoulder are not aging as well as those parts on my left side*. So, I would rather carry an object in my left hand, if it is as hefty as an M camera, regardless which lens is affixed. A lens can be the camera’s “add-on grip accessory,” enabling the camera body to be “run slick.” Plus, being left-eye dominant, my left hand is somewhat more efficient at bringing the camera to my left eye.
*I am left-handed, but right-armed, writing lefty, but throwing right-handed, and using large tools right-handed, so, more wear and tear, over time, on my right side.
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..I sometimes have to re-think WTF people are talking about sometimes 