crazeazn wrote:
I have a question for recent M9 switchers, how does zeiss zm lenses compare to the respective summarits/crons...I\'m actually entertaining a crazy thought about selling all my gear and going the Leica route, given my style of shooting...Of course cost is pretty prohibitive..would one even entertain a m8.2 (the prices have dropped down so substantially)
Honestly, I would not recommend the M8, I had one and it was very frustrating to use because of the crop factor, the extremely poor high ISO performance, sluggishness, and mine also had a sensor problem that I had to have repaired. It\'s also extremely sensitive to over/under exposure. The M9 is vastly superior in every way, but can still be frustrating to use.
That being said, I\'m a huge fan of Zeiss glass on the M9, I think they make a great combination. These are just my personal opinions so I hope that people don\'t jump all over me about them, but I feel the 2/35 ZM is superior in a lot of ways to it\'s Leica counterpart. I\'m a huge fan of the 1.5/50 ZM, but it DOES focus shift (on digital only, it\'s perfect on film). The other Zeiss lenses I haven\'t tried, but I hear great things about the 21mm and 25mm. There\'s a lot of great alternatives from Cosina/Voigtlander as well, and they\'re quite reasonable in price as well, but they have compromises. My CV 1.4/35mm is a sweet little lens, but it vignettes and distorts a little (some would call that \"character\"). There\'s also a lot of classic Leica lenses on fleaBay and such, but they\'re usually inferior to the new Zeiss ZM lenses and often not any better than the new CV stuff. The old Leica lenses are often quite sharp stopped down, a little soft wide open and have a subtle \"glow\" around high contrast edges. They are also prone to flaring and have lower contrast than modern lenses. Just things to be aware of.
The other thing to keep in mind is that your body and lenses will likely need to be adjusted to match each other for best performance and accurate focus. Leica will only adjust their own lenses so this can sometimes be a problems. Personally, I know my own lenses well enough to just live with the various quirks.
