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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Cheat Sheet Education

How to Choose the Best Leica Lens for You: a Checklist

Chris Gampat
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08/27/2020
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Leica M10R review product images 1.81-60s400

Picking a Leica lens for your camera isn’t the same as choosing autofocus lenses; let’s dive in!

A Leica lens (specifically an M mount lens) is a special gem that any photographer will treasure. They’re small and render a unique look that can’t be easily duplicated. The tactile experience that they deliver is also pretty powerful, and unlike anything that other camera manufacturers offer. When you pick up your Leica, you’ll never really want to put it down. The Leica Lens is a fantastic tool for documenting scenes as they happen. Through zone focusing, they can be quicker to snap a photograph than the fastest autofocus algorithms of today. So here’s what you need to know when buying a Leica lens.

Know the Monikers

Different Leica lenses have different call names. And they’re usually based around the apertures. Here’s a rough guide to this.

Noctilux: Faster than f1.4

Summilux: f1.4 or f1.5

Summicron: f2 typically

Summarit: f2.4 and f2.5 typically

Elmarit: Around f2.8

Elmar: Around f3.4 to f4

Summaron: f5.6

Telyt: Long telephoto focal length

Thambar: I’ve only ever seen this used for a 90mm soft focus lens

The Bigger Lenses with Faster Apertures Aren’t Always the Best.

With autofocus lenses, most photographers aspire for the most expensive lenses with the fastest apertures. Many of those lenses are big and bulky. With a Leica camera, that weight and price and multiplied by a lot. Leica cameras are lightweight and don’t need big, heavy lenses on them. They’re best paired with small primes. That’s why when you look at what lots of Leica shooters own, they’re not going for the fast f1.2 and f0.95 lenses all the time. Those are too pricey. They’re also very unbalanced. And most importantly, these lenses will block the viewfinder. Stay away from those!

Fast apertures aren’t as big a concern with a Leica lens or a camera. There’s no shutter slap the way there is with DSLRs. But the mechanical shutter can let you shoot to a slower shutter speed without camera shake. To that end, you can instead reach for an f2 (Summicron) or an f3.5 (Elmarit) lens. When paired to a Leica camera, these lenses are nice and small. It makes carrying your Leica M more of a joy. I can say this from experience. When I put a big, heavy lens on there, I seldom want to carry around my Leica. But with a smaller lens, it’s perfect!

What Are You Actually Going to Shoot With it?

The question of what you’re actually going to shoot with your Leica lens is a big one! This is a question you’d ask yourself if you got an autofocus lens too. But with a Leica lens, you’re picking a prime or a trio of primes in a single lens. It’s complicated, trust us. Consider this question carefully because you’re probably going to end up buying a few small primes at best. Are you interested in shooting events with your Leica lens? Do you need the unconventional 75mm lens? What about a 21mm lens? Or how about a 90mm lens? Does a 35mm lens suit your needs? Think about that carefully. Pairing it to the camera you’re using is a significant consideration. If you’re shooting film, list off your most used emulsions and figure out if the aperture is wide enough for your needs. If you’re shooting digital, know that Leica sensors are pretty darned good.

Used or New

Most photographers almost always buy their Leica lenses used. Some folks want to get a brand new Leica lens. Personally, I like the idea that Leica lenses are expensive. How often do you buy a camera that holds it value years afterward or goes up in value? As is the way of things, you’re eventually going to sell it. So how nice is it to know that the value will go up? This is something special if you’re a film shooter. Some lenses, like their glass under $5,000, are worth it to buy brand new.

elmarit focus leica Leica camera Leica lens leica m purchase summicron summilux used
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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