Re: [Leica] 28mm M Lens recommendation

[SthRosner@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/6/01 9:28:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time, ddh@home.com 
writes:

<<  If someone held a gun to my head and said I could only have
 four lense in M mount (maybe someone should do me this favor!), I'd probably
 choose the following:
 
 1. 15 heliar -- don't have it yet, but I trust Ted, and the equiv. in SLR
 costs a fortune.  I choose it over the 21 because my gut tells me if I'm
 going to want wide, I'm going to want W I D E.
 
 2. 28 -- but which one, I don't know yet.  Money's no object?  The asph
 (same size and filter as the elmarit but an extra stop, so why not?).  I
 choose 28 here over 35 because I prefer the wider coverage--the 35 is close
 enough to 50 that I can get by with that should I need a narrower field.
 I'm choosing it over the 24 on the other end because with the Hexar RF or
 .58x M6, the 28 frames are quite visible in the finder, and I prefer to do
 without the ext. finder (if I'm going to suffer it, make it worth it by
 going down to 15!).
 
 3. 50 -- could make a compelling case for the noctilux here, but my
 summicron gives me nothing to complain about--consistently wonderful images
 with great color, contrast, sharp to the corners--and is so light and
 compact that I can't imagine giving it up.
 
 4. 75/1.4 -- here's the surprise.  Most folks would jump to a 90 for the
 fourth (if they went above 50 at all), and I have no love affair with this
 focal length, but the images rendered by the 75 stand in a class all their
 own.  I consider it the best Leica lens of these four, maybe the best
 period. >>

Dan: I am in complete agreement with exception of your surprise, the 75/1.4, 
about which I have heard nothing but good. I would want the reach of a 90; if 
I were starting today, probably the APO-Summicron-M, though my current 90 is 
the old 1958 design five-glass 2.8 Elmarit.

Seth        LaK 9