[Leica] Re: more on 50 vs 35...

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

I have two M6's and have had a 24, 35, 50, 75, & 90. After a few years of 
carrying this stuff around, I sold everything except the 35 and 50. 35/1.4 
ASPH and 50/1.4. I have found that I use the M6/50 far more than the M6/35. 
For photo hunting, the 50 has proven far more useful for me. For 
documenting where I am and what I'm doing, the 35 is much better. I may try 
a new 28/2 one of these days for that purpose. It is possible that my 
35/1.4 would then be considered a low light lens only. When the 28/2 has 
run out of gas.

Jim


At 07:45 PM 7/12/01 +0100, Guy Bennett wrote:

>I tend to prefer wide angle lenses, and thus generally wander around with a
>35 mounted on an M6. Of the 4 focal lengths I have, the 35's the one that
>sees the most use. The 50 has been languishing in my bag for a while now. I
>mention this because I recently had a bad 35mm day...
>
>A week or so ago I was out shooting in an architecturally interesting spot
>and wanted to get some shots of people moving through the monumental
>geometry of the space. I alternated between one M6 with a 35, and another
>M6 with a 90. Looking over the negs, I am really dissatisfied with the
>shots taken with the 35 - there's too much info and the people are too
>small to create what I would consider to be effective compositions.
>
>This was basically a miscalculation on my part. I was after the space and
>immediately thought "35," though I should have realized that I would have
>to move in closer for the people but in doing so would lose the space.
>Hanging back, I got the space (and too much of it), but the people are
>lost.
>
>My point is that the 35 has become a sort of default lens for me - I carry
>it everywhere and generally get good results with it. So much so that I'm
>losing touch with other favorite focal lengths, one of them being the 50.
>I'm rethinking my 35 strategy and am going start forcing myself to use the
>50 instead. I'm hoping that it will allow me to hang back a bit, but still
>manage a relatively tight (in comparison with the 35) composition.
>
>Guy