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 p.299 #16 · Leica M/X/T/S/Q/CL/SL Picture Thread | |
Thanks Joakim. Nice shots - I especially like the first one 
carstenw wrote:
That is a very good observation, and Leica did do that to a large extent, sadly only with the Summarits. Standardized behaviour would be good. About the aperture rings, they differ wildly. My 28 Cron is perfect, tight but easy and clicky to turn. My 50 Lux ASPH is (was, really, I sold it for reasons I will detail another time, soon) at various times decent, too tight, and about right, after the various visits. My 90 Cron ASPH is too loose, but I didn't send it in yet. My 35 Lux ASPH is a chrome version, which feels completely different, a bit loose, but very nice and soft.
...Show more →
Hmm, so you think it's a question of quality control rather than design? That's disconcerting. I'm not sure though as after my 75 Cron aperture ring broke and they replaced it, it was still as 'clunky' as before and feels the same way as the 35 Lux ASPH and 28 Cron ASPH. All feel OK as far as tightness goes, but they don't have the dampened smooth feel of my chrome Lux 50 ASPH and black 90 AA.
So, what is the set that you are keeping? It is educational to look at the path you took to this place. If you read your early posts on Zeiss vs. Leica, and Voigtländer and so on, they read dramatically different than now. You used to dislike Leica boke, and love Zeiss boke, but a couple of Zeiss M lenses cured you of unconditional Zeiss love, and a couple of Leicas cured you of Leica blindness. I guess now you like each for their own characteristics, which is about where I am at, although my path here was very different. In fact, I am not sure that there is any lens that I could still recommend to you now, other than the 24/2.8, but that isn't needed in your lineup. That is one of the more Zeiss-like lenses in the Leica M lineup, with snappy colours, tight contrast, etc. I sometimes think of trading my 28 Cron for one, but I want to try it on a FF Leica before making that decision.
In general I think I still prefer Leica M lens characteristics, but my Zeiss lenses have really won me over, and although I prefer Leica lenses in general, there are specific Zeiss lenses which mess with that. I think that the 50 Lux ASPH is still my favorite lens of all time though. I will pick one up again some day for sure.
By the way, yes, the 90AA is my second-least favorite lens, *of the ones I kept*. It is my third-most favorite of all the lenses I have tried (which is a much larger set). I have only great lenses left....Show more →
Well, when I started with the M9 my gold standard were the Zeiss ZE lenses. I was also unfortunate in that I started with the 75 Cron (the only modern ASPH that I could lay my hands on quickly). I had hoped it would be something like the 100 MP. It was not and as you know it's still one of my least favorite lenses.
The Zeiss ZM lenses were an outright disappointment compared to the ZE lenses as I was set on keeping the kit small and not have multiple lenses for a focal length. The 35/2 Biogon was disappointing wide open. The ZM 18 was very good but required an external viewfinder as did the ZM 25. The ZM 50/1.5 did have it's nice moments but it was too flawed optically to be a true general purpose lens.
The pivot point for me came with the 35 Summilux ASPH which I liked from the start and came to the realization that not all Leica lenses were as uninteresting as the 75 Cron. So I gradually moved away from regarding Zeiss drawing style as the ultimate one and started appreciating Leica more and more.
There is one huge factor in all this, and it's very obvious now and pretty silly. I started using Zeiss ZE glass in spring 2010 and continued to do so until the autumn. Then the M9 took over. Photos taken in May are quite different from photos taken in November. My reference point for Zeiss was summer - lots of colors and my reference point for Leica was winter - basically monochromatic. When I started to see things in color this spring the Leica glass started to make much more sense and first then did I fully realize how good those lenses are.
While not using the Zeiss ZE lenses my memory of them became skewed. I conveniently forgot the various flaws they have and played up the good parts. When I've revisited them in the last couple of months I was surprised to see those flaws but was in a much better position to objectively see the various shortcomings. I have so many lenses now that there are basically no more holy cows for me. This is generally a good thing, although not always very popular - if you recall the reactions to my unforgiving analysis of the 75 Cron 
Anyway, to your question - what set am I keeping. All for now. I don't want the bother right now of having to go through the whole selling process. At some point, perhaps after the summer, perhaps later I'll do the culling. Which will it be then?
Well, given the number of lenses I've accumulated you might be surprised that I'm usually most comfortable with shooting one lens for a while. I don't like switching lenses but most of all I find it difficult to mentally switch from a 'wide angle mode' to a 'normal mode' or a 'tele mode'. For instance I have been shooting the 28 Cron for some weeks now and the transition to using a 90mm wasn't comfortable. I do force myself to switch lenses in order to get some variation but I don't like it. So now I don't usually go out shooting with more than three lenses in the bag. The lenses I typically choose nowadays are:
28 Cron
50 Lux
90 Cron (V3 which will now be AA)
So those are the basic necessity. Then we have the 35 Lux ASPH which is the lens to have when I only bring one lens. 35mm is the sweet spot of the M9 and the 35 Lux is for me the best all purpose prime. So I'm keeping that one as well.
Speaking of 35mm, the Lux does have a flaw - it could be better stopped down at infinity. That's where the ZM 35/2 comes in and it is the only 35mm lens that I've used so far that I'm really happy with for landscape use. It's really superb for that. So I'm keeping it for that purpose.
That leaves me with one thing - an UWA. I really like doing UWA compositions and the only reason I'm not doing it more is because of the hassle of external viewfinders on the M9. The ZM 18/4 is a very good UWA lens so I'm keeping it. I'm actually more comfortable with 21mm, but I can't get the ZM 21, as I'd be comparing it to the one-of-a-kind ZE 21, and I'd just be disappointed.
So my short list looks like this:
ZM 18
ZM 35/2
28 Cron ASPH
35 Lux ASPH
50 Lux ASPH
90 Cron ASPH
..which is incidentally the same as yours (except for the ZM 18 & ZM 35/2), right?
The lenses I can get rid of then are the:
ZM 50/1.5
ZM 25/2.8
75 Cron
90 Cron V3
The big question is what to do with the ZM 25. It's very close to the Cron, has somewhat better resolution - but it requires an external viewfinder and is an f/2.8 lens. In terms of rendering it is different from the Cron in colors and vignetting but not in the way of contrast at different resolution levels. So I don't know really what to do with it. I got an external viewfinder for it only a couple of days ago. I then realized that 1) 25 mm is really close to 28mm and 2) my animosity towards external viewfinders had not changed a bit and adding one would not increase my use of the lens.
So that's where I'm at now.
Edited on Jun 10, 2011 at 05:30 PM · View previous versions
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