[Leica] 21mm Lens Questions

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> You are correct.. it is Cosina vs Leica since all 3 lenses in contention 
> are
> made by Cosina.  But then you must consider that the 2 Zeisss lenses are
> basically the same $1000 price without finder, but the Cosina lens is
> $300-500, with finder.  to boot, the 4.5 Biogon and the 4 Cosina look like 
> the
> same optical formula.
> 
> The 21 Elmarits were plentiful around $1500 until the M8.  then they shot 
> to
> around $2k++
> 
> Frank
> 
Well you didn't say what you want to shoot with it.

Me I got into Leica half the reason so I could shoot Leica glass. The best
glass out there. I knew getting in the stuff was far from cheap. And took
some serious thinking and planning with every step.
Me I was able to swing one lens a year. From '93 to 1003.

I got my new 21mm f2.8 Elmarit M ASPH 12/29/2001 for $2299. at Camera World
in Portland from Brad Weeks the Leica Rep having a Leica day.

New now at B&H updated for the M8 they are going for $3,595.00

Gone up in price #1,296!

I'd never used a lens that wide before or never owned one.
I did commercial photography for a few decades with the widest lens I had
being the 24 on my Nikon. There was once I think I was really backed up
against a wall.

Certainly some trepidation with the 21 being not that much wider than the 24
compared to most gaps between lenses. And all that money.

But the 21 focal length is a serious focal length that can not be denied I
found and and soon wondered how I lived without it. A serious Leica focal
length for sure.

Wondered how crappy it all would be looking if I'd been shooting it with a
Nikon 20. I loved my Nikon 24 but the Leica blew it out of the water so
thoroughly that I because certainly sold on Leica.
I'd always wanted a Super Angulon from the very first.
But with Leicas new non priced in the sky ASPH's they introduced with their
24 I realized the 21 to end all 21s was the ASPH they'd just come out with
in that focal length.


When I used nikon for film if I had a job to shoot and there was a lens I
really needed I didn't have to do the job right I'd get it and generally the
job would pay for the lens.
Not so Leica.
Leica was more a once a year thing with some planning.


One of these days though I do plan to have a Compact Schneider JSK Super
Angulon in my arsenal and shoot with a true "symmetrical" non retrofocal
wide for the first time in my life.

But I'll tell you the distortion at the edges with this ASPH is nil.
Its a lens you can easily use for architectural use.
I used it for interiors.

Mark William Rabiner
rabinergroup.com