Care to join me in a little fantasy?Andy Piper , mar 14, 2003; 05:56 a.m.
How 'bout one of these to compliment the freshly 'down-sized' MP? Or your 35 f/1.4 or Tri-Elmar as a 'carry' package?
...instead of that big 'ol 90 f/2 or 74 f/1.4?
Answers
Andy Piper , mar 14, 2003; 06:03 a.m.
I should have added - IF your monitor is set at 72 dpi this is life size. It will look a little smaller than LS at 96 dpi. Stick your M body up underneath it to get the REAL effect.
And - yes - I am sending hard copy to Herr Cohn - with a letter full of "bitte"s!
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Chip L , mar 14, 2003; 07:04 a.m.
Neat idea, though I would rather see a Tele Tri Elmar (50-75-90 or 75-90-135) or a 24mm Summicron.
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Johann Fuller , mar 14, 2003; 07:32 a.m.
Make it a 70mm and the 50 framelines will be a sensible framing tool at last!
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Michael Kastner , mar 14, 2003; 07:34 a.m.
I'd prefer a Bi-Lux-M ASPH 1.4/35-50.
My 2/40 C-'cron does the trick in the meantime.
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Lee Shively , mar 14, 2003; 07:50 a.m.
Uh, Andy, my fantasies are in an altogether different area....
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Michael Kastner , mar 14, 2003; 08:09 a.m.
... Lee, namely... ?
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John R. Fulton Jr. , mar 14, 2003; 08:43 a.m.
21 Summicron or 24 Summicron.
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Joachim Schendel , mar 14, 2003; 08:51 a.m.
2/75 Asph. my dream! Worked 12 years with only one lens 1,4/85 Minolta, sold it and bought a M 7 with different lenses. Waiting for my favourite.
Joachim Schendel
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Albert Smith , mar 14, 2003; 08:53 a.m.
A small, compact 75mm lens is the only lens that can make me excited, but I'm sure I'll never see one. Too bad thought, because I can see a 28 / 75 f/2.0 combo covering most everything I use a rangefinder camera for.
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Oliver S. , mar 14, 2003; 09:02 a.m.
<drooling> Andy, tell Mr Cohn I'm ordering it now.
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Dan Brown , mar 14, 2003; 09:07 a.m.
Yes, that's a nice fantasy. I was hoping for something along the lines of a thin Tele-Elmarit style body though.
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Michael Kastner , mar 14, 2003; 09:11 a.m.
Okay, guys, if even half of us here on board would order the same thing e.g. a 2/75 today (something we've all dreamt about and discussed here for years), then Leica should be able to work on it tomorrow. And they would even make money doing it. Unfortunately, I don't think they're working on it.
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John Layton , mar 14, 2003; 09:34 a.m.
The post above about the framelines makes great sense. Make the lens a 70, and use the outer (50mm) lines at infinity, and the inner (75mm) lines when working in close.
My favorite two lens combo right now is a 28 and 50, but a 28 and 70 or 75 (if the inner/outer line system would be accurate) could be even better!
Now here's my fantasy: an auto-aperture, shutter-coupled (like the Nikon FTn) Visoflex with both built-in center-weighted light meter and semi-silvered spot on the mirror, so the existing M-6 meter could perform the selective-area function. Then make dedicated auto-aperture lenses (60 macro, 90 summicron, and 180 elmarit) for this accessory. This actually shouldn't be that difficult. (Yeah, business has been slow lately, and this is much more fun!)
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David Mark , mar 14, 2003; 09:39 a.m.
I also think this would be a fantastic lens, and would make a nice long lens to pair with a 35 or 28 Summicron in a very versatile two lens kit.
My one (mild)reservation: I've always found that the 75 framelines are hard to see when working quickly.
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Rob F. , mar 14, 2003; 10:17 a.m.
I'd like one myself. I like the idea of a 70mm f/2lens, as Johann said, used with the 50mm frame for distance, and the 75mm frame close up. I would buy it. Going with 70mm would help to keep down the length and the diameter, so the lens would not intrude into the framelines very much, if at all.
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Kelly Flanigan , mar 14, 2003; 10:17 a.m.
Add 5mm foll length; subtract some sharpness; add a tad of focus variation between serial numbers; add a adapter; and one has a Jupiter-9 85mm F2.
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Rob F. , mar 14, 2003; 10:26 a.m.
Yeah, but add another 5mm, add lots of sharpness and consistent performance, and you have a 90 AA.
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James . , mar 14, 2003; 11:48 a.m.
I love my 75 lux, big n' bad baby!
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Joel Matherson , mar 14, 2003; 12:04 p.m.
A smaller 75 is a perfectly viable new lens for Leica. My old workmates from the camera store I used to work for tell me that the Voigtlander 75 f2.5 is the most popular Voigtlander lens that they sell apart from the 35 f2.5 which is sold mainly as the standard lens on Bessa cameras. And that they are mainly bought by Leica M owners. If Leica made a smaller 75mm im sure it would be a winner.
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Ana ... , mar 14, 2003; 12:31 p.m.
Thanks for posting this! Before the MP came out, I actually filled out the customer service form in the Leica website - requesting them to consider making a 75 f/2 Summicron-Asph. I thought nobody else shared in this fantasy...
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Dan Brown , mar 14, 2003; 12:41 p.m.
Yes, a 75mm Summicron would be the perfect 'long' lens for an 0.58 finder M. Although, the 50mm Summilux is working pretty well for me.
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Ivar Wind Skovgaard , mar 14, 2003; 01:11 p.m.
This is a funny coincidence.
Just two nights ago I sat and daydreamed about what would be my ideal compact travel kit. I decided on two bodies (slow slides and fast b/w), a 35mm and a 75mm. The 75 so I wouldn't need a 50 between the 35 and the 90, low weight and volume being the key...
Then I looked at the lenses available, and decided on the 35/2 for compactness (and because I've used one and liked it). The 1.4 looks a little too big, though it might be that one in the end for low light performance.
And then I looked at the 75s. And I looked again. I simply couldn't believe my eyes, I had never before realized there was only a 75/1.4. What could they possibly be thinking of? What's the point of that? If I want the ultimate low light performance, I'll get a Noctilux, it's about the same weight and only a couple hundred dollars more.
Sure I can see some uses for it, but most days I'd take the lighter lens if it existed. In fact a 90/2.8 and a 50/2.8 put together weigh almost exactly the same as one 75/1.4. Although I wouldn't take that particular route, it does put things into perspective...
Of course this is mostly academic to me - my III will have to do for a while - but if I do get a real M system some day, I'd like that 75/2 in it
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Carsten Bockermann , mar 14, 2003; 02:24 p.m.
I think there is a pretty good 75/2.5 Voigtländer lens around....
The need for a 75/2 is not apparent to me. My 75/1.4 balances very nicely on an M6; if I want to travel light, the 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit-M is fine. I only regret that the current 90/2.8 is so much heavier than the Tele-Elmarit-M.
Carsten
http://www.cabophoto.com/
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feli , mar 14, 2003; 03:20 p.m.
I really like the idea of using the 75 framelines up close and the 50s for infinity. My friend has the 75/1.4. It's a great lens, but a little too big to carry around. A nice compact 75/2, about the size of a 50 Summilux or 90 Teler-Elmar, would be really great. I would buy one.
feli
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Andy Piper , mar 14, 2003; 04:03 p.m.
Lee: I guess each of us have areas where we need to fantasize - and areas where we don't... 8^)
et al.: Why a 75 f/2?
Well, the 75 'lux and 90 'crons may balance well on an M6ttl body (IMHO - not!) but they don't balance as well in a bag with 3 other lenses on my shoulder. Not to mention that the focusing is often tight (to help structurally support all that glass, and also probably to help maintain focus with non-existent DOF).
They also have DOF that's too limited for much portrait work - I usually like DOF that covers more than one eyelash close up. yes I can stop down the faster lenses - but then, why carry the extra weight if all I need is a shorter f/2?
Finally, with the big lenses (in my case a 90 f/2) I definitely notice that portrait subjects get a startled 'deer-in-the-headlights' look when they glance up and see that big 'ol 55/60mm 'eye' staring at them. This never happens with the 90 TE or 35 'lux or other smaller lenses.
So I'm looking for something with the f/2 aperture (for low light/background blur) but a bit more local DOF, and less intrusive to my subjects - and my shoulder.
Main drawback to the V'lander 75 is its 1-meter minimum focus. The Leica 75 focuses in to .75m (tightest framing in the whole M lineup) - and so would my proposed 'cron. I'd probably never use this lens over 6 feet away, and could probably weld it at the .75m setting.
Incidentally - the old Hektor 73mm screw-mount lens managed to squeeze its f/1.9 aperture into a 39mm filter ring. And Leica produced a very limited number (c. 25) of 75 f/2 ELCAN lenses in R mount for the US govt. It's not like they haven't taken this walk before.