My Leica M8 has been out of action for a little while. It’d become difficult to use for anything other than close up portraits, so I just lost interest in using it. The issue with its focusing was down to little more than rangefinder calibration, but I just hadn’t got around to getting it sorted. A week or so ago I needed to send the M4 for a check over to the same chap, so I sent them together. They both landed back with me yesterday morning, thankfully, in good time for me to have a go with the M8 and the Zeiss 28mm ZM Biogon I have on loan from Zeiss (review coming soon).
My expectations for the Biogon were fairly high, it’s hard to find a bad word written about this lens. The only thing that people seem to disagree about online is just how good it is. My interest is a little more specific – I’m much more intrigued to seeing how much character it shares with my Sonnar – but more on that in my review.
Of course, when combined with the M8, the 28mm gives an effective equivalent focal length of about 35mm. If you read my brief thoughts about the 28mm Elmarit-M you’ll know that I don’t feel like a big user of the 35mm focal length. I usually find it not wide enough, or not long enough, instead favouring 28mm or 50mm respectively with a rangefinder. I say with a rangefinder, as actually when I’m shooting a point & shoot camera, I get on just fine with 35mm…
I have a strong appreciation for the fact that these preferences must just be in my head, as actually yesterday I sort of proved myself wrong. With the 28mm lens fixed to the M8, I quite happily snapped away, and found the focal length just right. Perhaps I need to rethink the preference, or maybe the M8 28mm combination just gives me more of a sense to freely snap than if I was shooting a film rangefinder with a 35mm lens. One way or another, I enjoyed shooting yesterday afternoon, and fully intend to get as much out of this combination whilst I still have the lens in my possession – it’s certainly more enjoyable than shooting digital with my Sony csc cameras… Anyway, here is a few the shots from yesterday.
Cheers,
Hamish
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jenquest on A few snaps with the Leica M8 and Zeiss 28mm ZM Biogon
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Terry B on A few snaps with the Leica M8 and Zeiss 28mm ZM Biogon
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
One interesting thing that seldom gets mentioned alongside the crop effect on FoV is that DoF remains the same for the lens in question. This can prove beneficial as although you have a FoV of 35mm, the DoF is that of a 28mm, quite a difference. Is this something that you have explicitly exploited?
By the way, look after the LCD as Leica has no spares, so you could end up with an expensive display piece! :D)
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Aukje on A few snaps with the Leica M8 and Zeiss 28mm ZM Biogon
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Alex Hakimi on A few snaps with the Leica M8 and Zeiss 28mm ZM Biogon
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Comment posted: 18/06/2016
Tommy on A few snaps with the Leica M8 and Zeiss 28mm ZM Biogon
Comment posted: 02/09/2017
Comment posted: 02/09/2017
Jim Kuo on A few snaps with the Leica M8 and Zeiss 28mm ZM Biogon
Comment posted: 16/06/2020