p.1 #1 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
Curious as to what would be the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens? Lots of brands like TTartisan, 7 artisan, etc. make cheap $50-60 lenses but you don't see them for the M mount...or at least I'm not finding them.
p.1 #8 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
Technically the cheapest "lens" is a $3 body cap with a hole. If you're into pinhole and DIY...
There is also a whole raft of lenses you can get for nothing that are a $20 adapter away from mounting on your camera. My Takumar 55/2 for example, lovely lens, great results on the monochrom, if you don't mind live view/EVF/zone focus.
p.1 #9 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
One_more_year wrote:
Curious as to what would be the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens? Lots of brands like TTartisan, 7 artisan, etc. make cheap $50-60 lenses but you don't see them for the M mount...or at least I'm not finding them.
An example of an inexpensive Leica-/Leitz-manufactured lens, on the pre-owned market, with decent optical quality, might well be the Summaron 3.5cm f/3.5, available mostly in the threaded mount, but some few apparently made with the M bayonet mount. Based upon mentions that I occasionally notice, one can expect to pay several hundred dollars for a good one. I bought mine about six years ago, because I wanted to concentrate on using my Summilux-M 50mm ASPH, with which I had started M-system shooting, but wanted to add a compact, inexpensive, but decent 35mm for occasional use.
For something really inexpensive, there are operations that make very inexpensive M-mount lenses, by recycling or re-purposing the lenses from cheap, disposable point-ant shoot cameras. DispoLens seems to be an example, available through Etsy. I have NO idea how good the quality may be.
p.1 #10 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
One_more_year wrote:
Curious as to what would be the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens? Lots of brands like TTartisan, 7 artisan, etc. make cheap $50-60 lenses but you don't see them for the M mount...or at least I'm not finding them.
The 7Artisans 35mm f/5.6 is probably the cheapest at ~$100.
p.1 #12 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
One_more_year wrote:
Curious as to what would be the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens? Lots of brands like TTartisan, 7 artisan, etc. make cheap $50-60 lenses but you don't see them for the M mount...or at least I'm not finding them.
Which M body are you wanting to mount it too? I know that may seem irrelevant, but I'm just curious if this is for a film or digital camera that is in your bag.
If you're looking for the absolutely cheapest Leica M lenses ... they'll be in the bargain bins for condition.
p.1 #13 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
There are several good bargain M lenses from non-Leica based brands - there are even more if you extend the search with LTM lenses which can be easily adapted via thin LTM/M adapter to M-mount cameras.
Cheapest Leica M lenses with best price/quality ratio are IMO the Summarit f/2.5 and f/2.4 based lenses. Leica has stopped making them, but you can get them still online used.
Often cheapest M lenses in general are made by Chinese brands like 7Artisans or TTArtisan. Some of the newer ones here are actually very good.
Middle of the road regarding pricing with very good price/quality ratio are made by Cosina with the Voigtlander lens line. Many of my M lenses are Voigtlander M lenses.
Zeiss ZM lenses are also in the book, also not as pricey as Leica ones. I never had a ZM lens but some of them are very good, too.
p.1 #16 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
The cheapest actual Leica lens I own is the 90mm/f4 Elmar LTM from 1947; easily adapted to M mount with a ring adapter and one of my favorite lenses for portraits; it has a unique rendering. You can often find them for under $100 USD.
p.1 #17 · What is the absolute cheapest Leica M mount lens
rscheffler wrote:
Currently manufactured by Leica? The 28/2.8 or 50/2. ~$2,800
Manufactured by Leica but recently discontinued? Summarit f/2.5 series before they were 'upgraded' to the f/2.4 series.
Desmolicious wrote:
From what I heard, Leica got a deal on the number “4” which is why they made the change.
Wouldn't surprise me as the number 4 strikes 'fear' (German: vier - 'v' is pronounced like 'f' in English) in the hearts of many Asian cultures, so there would be a massive surplus available. No wonder those lenses were discontinued - Chinese lens collectors wouldn't touch them!
