But for me, when I am shooting black and white there can be no other choice. From version 1 through to the ‘bokeh king’, they all have slight differences in sharpness and colour rendition. And each one comes with its own character. I have tried all of the Summicron versions over time and I have found each one to be fantastic. It is compact, fast enough and so sharp it is offensive. Some people ask why not the Summilux, but I prefer the Summicron. Whenever I want to shoot and really feel like I am part of the street this is the lens I shoot. So go for the Minolta branded one, you will not be disappointed. The Leitz 40mm summicron is basically exactly the same lens, with a much higher price tag. And it is prone to haze, so you have to make sure that you get a good one. It has a minimum focus of 80cm, which is kind of far compared to many lenses and can be a bit frustrating at times. The lens does have a couple of drawback points though. You can guess the framing if you have enough experience and this lens should not be missed.
The unusual focal length, between 35mm and 50mm makes it less popular than many lenses but I feel that is should not really be overlooked. I love the sharpness of this lens and the size. I first got my hands on one when I bought a CLE from my old boss and it had the 40mm attached. This is a definite on the list.Īnother great Japanese lens. You will often see cleaning marks on them too, as the coating was not all that tough.Ī great lens for a great price. The only things you need to watch for are separation of the elements (a common issue with Canon LTM), mould and haze, which is common in older lenses. They are cheap and easy to find, as Canon made tons of them. Of all the Canon lenses this and the 35mm f2 (also known as the Japanese Summicron) are my favourites. And it gives you a delightful bokeh without being too frantic around the edges. The 1.2 is cumbersome and the 0.95 is just a pain in the bum. I like the 1.4 because is has the sharpness and still manages to be of a reasonable size.
They also made some truly rubbish lenses, the 1.2 50mm being a case in point. Canon made some great lenses in the past and this was one of them.
But that is not to say this is a poor man’s Summilux, it is far more than that. It is the same focal length and aperture, but that is where the similarities end. Some call this lens ‘The Japanese Summilux’, which is fairly fitting I guess. The list is in no particular order, as I think that each one of these lenses has its own spot, and because I found grading them to be really really hard. You will see that my list is actually fairly biased in terms of focal lengths, as I don’t really shoot all that much wide stuff. So, I have compiled a list of my ten favourite M-mount lenses that I have used over the years. Despite this I feel the need to share with you my favourite lenses for M-mount cameras. One man’s meat is another man’s poison as they say. But then lens choice is a really personal thing in my opinion. I often see posts on other sites ‘the top 38 bestest lenses for HDR’ and ‘the ultimate 23 50mm lenses’, and to be honest with you, I rarely agree with them completely. I have seen a few ‘top’ posts recently on other sites, and I thought to myself “I should do something like that”, so I did.