Nate, Magnum workshop . Was this in NYC ? How was the experience.
It was in Korea with Susan Meiselas and David Alan Harvey. I need to finish writing up my experiences. Susan and David were great, the Korea part of it was a complete catastrophe, so much so David said come to any one of his workshops in the future for free. I plan to go to his next Thai workshop with James Nachtwey since it won't cost anything...
You know what I have noticed on FM - the number of people who watermark their photos are far fewer in the Leica, film, or medium format threads than on other parts of the forums. Just a random thought for the day.
Thanks Charles, Ryan, Ajay Yes, #2 was through the restaurant window.
Najibs, precious moments shot! Nice.
Ron, love your "hands" series! #1 with all the details going on in the picture is my favorite.
Excellent shots Gary, especially the last one into the light.
Ryan, another excellent set with the 50Lux. Super smooth rendering too!
Corposant, nice shot!.. hehe.. I could tell it was Ektar before looking at the text below... those reds..
Nate, sorry to hear about the situation in Korea. would be interesting to read your writeup. Let us know when its ready. Wow, another opportunity in Thailand with James Nachtwey! Good for you.
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A few more from today. All 35Lux ASPH. Flares a lot on #4 even though I used the hood. No filter was attached.
Hi Guys. I am continuing my search for a good 50mm for my M8. I have been looking for a ZM50 but I want to consider other options before I take the plunge. My preference would be something fast (f/1.4 ish), fairly small, with good wide open performance, bokeh and center sharpness. I plan to mostly use the lens wide open or slightly stopped down, 1.4 - 2.8 usually. However, it would be nice (but not a necessity) to have something with decent performance stopped down for the occassoinal landscape shot. I do not want to blow the budget on this one so looking for good value for money. No brand preference, it just has to be a good performer. Any advice would be appreciated!
Joe and KL, thanks guys, much appreciated KL the lure of the 28 Cron is pointless to resist
Gary, tough question! My favourite is obviously the 50 Lux Asph, but on a budget the ZM 50/2 Planar is a brilliant lens. Another excellent option is the CV 50/1.5, as it is sharp, with no focus shift. I know a lot here really like the ZM 50/1.5 Sonnar, but the few copies I had received did have focus issues. If you do find a good copy, they are also an excellent lens.
Thanks Charles. I really do like the Sonnar rendering but they are hard to come by and the focus issues deter me. I have not thought about the CV50 f/1.5 - may have to explore that option.
the CV50/1.5 is double gauss and as such NOT a sonnar design. It is however quite sharp. The ZM C-Sonnar is much smaller than other 50/1.4 lenses. The exception of course being other Sonnar designs and the Canon 50/1.4 in ltm.
sharpness, generally pleasing bokeh, less if an focus shift. They replaced Sonnars and Tessars when multicoating came about. The only reason to seek the Sonnar is compact size and unique rendering.
Gary Clennan wrote:
Hi Guys. I am continuing my search for a good 50mm for my M8. I have been looking for a ZM50 but I want to consider other options before I take the plunge. My preference would be something fast (f/1.4 ish), fairly small, with good wide open performance, bokeh and center sharpness. I plan to mostly use the lens wide open or slightly stopped down, 1.4 - 2.8 usually. However, it would be nice (but not a necessity) to have something with decent performance stopped down for the occassoinal landscape shot. I do not want to blow the budget on this one so looking for good value for money. No brand preference, it just has to be a good performer. Any advice would be appreciated!...Show more →
Have you ever thought about a Type 3 Summicron? You might be able to find one for less than $1000.
Gary Clennan wrote:
Hi Guys. I am continuing my search for a good 50mm for my M8. I have been looking for a ZM50 but I want to consider other options before I take the plunge. My preference would be something fast (f/1.4 ish), fairly small, with good wide open performance, bokeh and center sharpness. I plan to mostly use the lens wide open or slightly stopped down, 1.4 - 2.8 usually. However, it would be nice (but not a necessity) to have something with decent performance stopped down for the occassoinal landscape shot. I do not want to blow the budget on this one so looking for good value for money. No brand preference, it just has to be a good performer. Any advice would be appreciated!...Show more →
Gary, I ended up keeping the ZM50/2 Planar and selling the 50 'cron. On the M8 I found the performance to be too similar, my eyes couldn't tell the difference apart from the ZM being contrastier and had punchier colours, and for less than half the price, I decided to keep the ZM. I easily sold the cron yesterday though. There is just something special about owning a pure Leica lens though, but I won't let my heart override what my eyes can see and my wallet can give, which isn't deep enough to buy all Leica lenses.
Bottomline is that if I had kept the 50 cron I would have had to sell my 35 cron IV pre-asph, which I can now keep along with the ZM50, now that I sold the 50 cron, so it works out to a good compromise. I wish my pockets were deep enough to buy all Leica's, but the fact is that the ZM lenses comes soooo close in performance, it's hard to justify the Leica stuff sometimes, as in the case of the 50/2. The Summilux vs Sonnar is probably a different story though.
Hi Gary,
My vote goes to the 50 cron, any version - just something about it - very pleasing results. I'm not very technical and can't really tell you why I like it though! I had a ZM 50 f2 which I liked but never really got into so I sold it to finance another lens. It's amazingly sharp though.
Some pics from a road trip last week back to my hometown in Malaysia (35 Lux ASPH v1)
customers ::: night market, Ipoh, Malaysia
Vendor takes an sms break ::: night market, Ipoh, Malaysia
Assorted fried treats ::: night market, Ipoh, Malaysia
"This is the best, trust me" ::: The seller (had him at hello) ::: night market, Ipoh, Malaysia
Mr Chan processing my negatives ::: old guy, old color
. Was this in NYC ? How was the experience.
Yes, #2 was through the restaurant window. 
