[Leica] More equipment than you need?

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Mark Langer offered:
Subject: Re: [Leica] More equipment than you need?


>I too tend to use a 50mm lens the most, but that begs the question
> "Which 50mm?"  It depends on the situation, and has much to do with
> the characteristics of the lens, the body that I'm mounting it on, and
> what I'm using it for.  I love the 50mm Summar for portraiture, the
> compactness of the 50mm Elmar, the speed of the Jupiter 3, the image
> rendering capability of the 4th gen. Summicron, the screwmount,
> collapsibility and bokeh of the Summitar (to say nothing of the
> bizarre "barn door" hood for it), the fact that my Nikkor 50/2 goes
> nicely on my Niccas, the heft and build quality of the 50/1.5 Simlar,
> etc.  I could go on and on.  The problem is that even by concentrating
> on a 50mm lens, there are just so many appealing options for one to
> take.<<<<

Hi Mark,
That's amazing you have such a range of same focal length lenses and have to 
make decisions on which one to use.

I had a 50 1.4 Summilux I think it was for the original M4's, but when the 
Noctilux was available I bought it because it was FAST ;-) and I use fast 
and faster . ;-) As that's always been my first choice for buying Leica 
glass.

Got rid of the 1.4 Summilux because it sat in the equipment cabinet and 
never did anything after the Nocti arrived. I also have a complete kit of a 
lll f with a 50 1.5 Summarit and a bunch of other glass, however none of 
that ever gets used other than clicking through all the shutter speeds a 
couple times a month, back in case, back in carry all, back in cabinet. ;-) 
Oh one of these days I'll get rid of it. Oh yeah and this kit looks like it 
just came out of the factory. :-)

However, back to 50 lenses. How many do you carry at one time and at what 
point do you decide which one you will use?

People ask me when I'm carrying 6 cameras how do I decide which one to use? 
My response? "Generally the moment I see what I want on film or expect an 
action to occur." The anticipation of a moment and I reach for the camera I 
know will give me the largest image on film.

And I'd most certainly say what the back ground looks like, bohek whatever, 
never ever comes to mind as I only think of the moment of peak action and 
being as sharp as a razor blade on target.  Unless there's a major visual 
distraction of something I see in the background, then I change my position 
or angle to get it out of the frame. Unfortunately moments in life don't 
always allow that luxury to move then you go wide open to soften it out as 
much as possible..

However, your 50's sound like an amazing set of lenses. I can't imagine 
making the choices you must do in the heat of a picture moment.

ted