First lens for a Leica M9

[lowjason]

Hi,

Hope you can help here.

I have seen many postings that the first lens on a Leica M9 should either be a 50mm (highly recommended) or a 35mm lens. Since I am upgrading from a FF camera and have always been very comfortable with a 35mm prime, does it mean that 35mm on Leica m9 is a natural choice for me? I assume it should be this case, but are there other considerations that I should take note?

 

[magicianhisoka]

If you like 35mm on FF, get a 35mm for the M9 too then Yup it is a natural choice.

 

[nightwolf75]

why dun you bring ur m9 to the leica shop down at raffles hotel arcade? the folks there will help you to test the lenses out.

just. don't. touch. the. noctilux.

 

[lowjason]

Thanks Magician.

Nightwolf, I haven't bought the M9 yet. Still deciding if I should get brand new here in Singapore or in Hong Kong when I go in April...but I saw news that Leica price will go up next year, so I reckon any potential saving will be wiped out from the rise in price.

 

[lowjason]

Oh and yes, I heard about the noctilux...LOL

No, I won't spend a bomb for my first lens!

 

[nightwolf75]

Thanks Magician.

Nightwolf, I haven't bought the M9 yet. Still deciding if I should get brand new here in Singapore or in Hong Kong when I go in April...but I saw news that Leica price will go up next year, so I reckon any potential saving will be wiped out from the rise in price.

just look ard locally for used sets lor. every now and then, 1 will appear in buy/sell.

i just saw one used set at P&G over at peninsula. you might want to check it out.

 

[lowjason]

thanks nightwolf..will check it out!

 

[xuberone]

i just saw one used set at P&G over at peninsula. you might want to check it out.

yup listing for $7999 black m9.

 

[lowjason]

thanks bro.

How do you find the condition? Anything to look out for in a used M9?

 

[Dfive]

I'd go a Leica 28 f2, OR 35 f2 / OR 35 f1.4 OR what I went for is the 50 f1.4

 

[Achim Reh]

If you spend this amount of money on a ( really excellent) body, I would certanly go for a matching lens in the same quality . As you prefer the 35mm, the 35/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH should be your choice

 

[nightwolf75]

thanks bro.

How do you find the condition? Anything to look out for in a used M9?

just borrow a lens fm P&G to test and make sure all the electronics are working. i guess most impt is to test and see if the LCD screen is ok. just take a black screen shot. any dead pixel shd show up as red. if u really worry, bring ur laptop along and see pics on ur laptop.

anyway, it is still there today. i just noticed the set is still under warranty.

 

[New2digital]

If you spend this amount of money on a ( really excellent) body, I would certanly go for a matching lens in the same quality . As you prefer the 35mm, the 35/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH should be your choice

I second this recommendation. With the 35lux, you got 54 degrees horizontal coverage, this include a lot of the scene and with the sharpness of this lens even fully opened there is sufficient DOF to cover even minor focusing inaccuracies to give you great prints even if you need to do some major cropping. Great lens for small group photos such as shooting at full table of dinners at weddings. Can even go without flash for such shoots if desired. Anyway, this is my first lens with my M9 and very happy with it. I have bought others since but this lens is on my camera much more often than the others.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

If you spend this amount of money on a ( really excellent) body, I would certanly go for a matching lens in the same quality . As you prefer the 35mm, the 35/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH should be your choice

I wouldnt really call the M9 a really excellent body, same goes for the M8.

The quality of the digital Ms are a far fetch from the mechanical Ms.

imho, the 35mm F1.4 lux FLE is far too clinical for my liking.

& it comes in black only :bsmilie:

 

[Achim Reh]

Well, with 18 Mpix, a full frame sensor and no AA filter, it certainly deserves a sharp lens. Otherwise, safe the $$ , and buy some cheap point and shot.
But this is just my opinion, I will never understand the people, who buy a top end body and put a 10-1000 "can do it all" zoom lens on it.
Anyway, at 35mm, the Summilux-M ASPH would be my first choice, at 25mm, I would go for the Zeiss Biogon

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Well, with 18 Mpix, a full frame sensor and no AA filter, it certainly deserves a sharp lens. Otherwise, safe the $$ , and buy some cheap point and shot.
But this is just my opinion, I will never understand the people, who buy a top end body and put a 10-1000 "can do it all" zoom lens on it.
Anyway, at 35mm, the Summilux-M ASPH would be my first choice, at 25mm, I would go for the Zeiss Biogon

AA filters? Thought its a UV/IR filter?

I wouldn't call the other lenses cheapo or brush someone off if they fitted a below top dollar lens on the M9 & there is no really zoom lenses for RF.

There is a lot more to those below top dollar lenses. A lot of character in those lenses which I assume you have yet to experience.
Sharpness, bokeh, they are all overrated.

Btw, at wide open, the M asph you are talking about still has focusing errors, not exactly sharp wide open. Seems only up to date, leica corrected the focusing issue with the latest FLE.

 

[mazeppa26]

anti aliasing filter
M8 has no anti aliasing filter thats why need to put uv/ir filter in front of lens

guess any lens is a gd lens as long as you use it

 

[Cactus jACK]

But this is just my opinion, I will never understand the people, who buy a top end body and put a 10-1000 "can do it all" zoom lens on it.
Anyway, at 35mm, the Summilux-M ASPH would be my first choice, at 25mm, I would go for the Zeiss Biogon

I wouldn't call the other lenses cheapo or brush someone off if they fitted a below top dollar lens on the M9 & there is no really zoom lenses for RF.

There is a lot more to those below top dollar lenses. A lot of character in those lenses which I assume you have yet to experience.

both have valid points... different ppl look out of different things - be in terms of character, sharpness, bokeh, vignette, size, price, weight, vintage, etc.

best thing about RF is that you can have the opportunity to experience all of it, if you are open to it, willing, and have the budget... everything from the old classics, the exotic, the new, and the luxurious... all of which can give you a different "finish" to your photograph. this is not quite analogous to "50L" to a "18-200" comparison, but there are more affordable lenses to the top of the line lenses... referring back to the previous para, they are all capable lenses with different characters.

all that been said, if you just want your best chance at "nice clean" images on a RF system, the latest lineup of lenses from Leica, Zeiss, or Voigtländer can all deliver... all with certain trade-offs. But you'll be missing out on 99% of the other lenses that you can try on RF... and like I sometimes tell ppl, you cannot really say that you don't like something, unless you have given a chance.

 

[Achim Reh]

An AA filter has nothing to do with UV ( also they are sometime combined in in the same unit) . It is a filter , that sits in front of the sensor and adds a certain blur, a slight unsharpness to the picture. That is done to prevent unwanted moire pattern , in a very short and over simplified explanation, small structures in the photo/ object could line up with the sensor pattern and create unwanted effects.
However, the positive effect of a design with no AA filter ( like Leica M8 / M9 or Ricoh A12 M ) are razor sharp pictures ...if the lens sharpness and resolution is sufficient ( at this time, the Zeiss Biogon ZM 25mm is one of the highest resolution production lenses with 400 LP/mm) . On the other hand, a lens, which is not as sharp and has a lower resolution, can not make use of this little extra sharpness and resolution, a sensor design with no AA filter can give you . Some examples of this effect can be seen on my post "GXR A12M The poor mans Leica" in the review part of the forum.

 

[Achim Reh]

You can't really see the resolution and sharpness of a lens on a 15cm jpeg on a computer screen.