baer

What is the least expensive but good lens for street shooting for a Leica M4 or M5?
Thanks,
Wishful

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I don’t know, but Voigtlander, Carl Zeiss, and some others make lenses for Leica M-Mount that are less expensive than Leica lenses,
You could do an internet search for Leica M-Mount lenses in the focal length(s) you are looking for.

P.s. The Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH and the Leica Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH are both considered excellent street lenses. You could try to find them used.

BebuLamar

Nothing good enough for Leica but a Leica so the lease expensive would be the 50mm f/2 Summicron.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

True.
And the 50mm f/2 has a built in retractable lens hood.

BebuLamar

And the OP can buy a used one that is about the same age as his M4.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Google would have an answer.

ELNikkor

If you've got a Leica, you should have a Leica lens on it. A 50 f2 Summicron will have the best price point.

MrPhotog

If you are looking for a Leitz lens, consider an older screw mount lens and the inexpensive screw mount to M mount adapter.

The 50mm collapsible f/3.5 was a standard on the Leica screw-mount bodies. Many of those bodies have died, but the lenses continue.

If you look on ebay, You can find lots of copies of this lens, made in Soviet, Russian, and Ukranian factories. I suggest avoiding these clones, but I‘ve never tried one—so I don’t know if they are junk or not.

Careful with a collapsible lens on the M-5. If it is pushed back all the way it can damage the swinging light meter. I made a spacer from a piece of bicycle tire innertube (a fat rubber band works, too). You can still collapse the lens, it just doesn’t go in all the way. When the M-5 came out, my regional Leica rep suggested using a piece of Dymo label tape on the barrel for the same purpose.

Nikon and Canon made Leica-compatible lenses, and this was the start for both companies. Nikon also made lenses for Sears, Roebuck’s Tower camera. I’ve owned a few of these and they were pretty good. I liked 85 mm f/2 lenses from both Canon and Nikon. I’ve seen these recently in the $200-$300 range. The 50 mm offerings from Japan were f/2 or faster. Though not as sharp as a 50 mm Summicron (what is?) they do a very good job and are as sharp as the 50 mm lenses Nikon and Canon sold for SLRs.

I like 35 mm focal length for street shooting and as a general-use lens, so I have my vintage 35 Summicron on an M-4 right now. I paid $160 for it, used, in 1972, and I wish I could tell you where to find one for that price today. I’ve seen them at $2000+. The darn thing is worth over ten times what I paid for it. There are a few Canon 35 mm screw mount lenses on Ebay. They should be very good quality, but unlike my Leitz lens I doubt they will increase very much in value in the next 50 years.

For that focal length, though, you can get a brand new Voightlander lens, in M mount. I haven’t tried the 35 mm Voightlander lenses, but I did get a 15 mm Voightlander lens, which I am quite happy with. Reviews of other Voightlander lenses are mostly positive to very positive.

Cameraquest has a huge amount of info on all the Voightlander lenses (past, and currently in production) which fit Leica M, or Leica screw mount. There are newer versions of some, which have been ‘improved’ to work better with digital sensors. For your M-4 and M-5 film cameras the older versions should be perfectly fine, and could be a steal.

https://www.cameraquest.com/voigtlen.htm

Have fun shopping 😎

BebuLamar

I would say an M lens of the same vintage as the camera is best.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

7Artisans 35mm f2 DJ-Optical Leica M Mount Lens for sale on EBay for about $170.00

Canisdirus

https://fstoppers.com/gear/incredibly-affordable-lenses-leica-cameras-614403

Video on just what you asked about.


Nothing for nothing...but Leica is not a starter system...you certainly are not getting bang for bucks either.

Today's Leica is not a tech setter...not it's wheelhouse...it's purely about status.

That being said...folks who walk around being seen with their Leica's (the main point of owning one statistically)...don't put budget lenses on the bodies...defeats the status signaling after all.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Look at the videos from MrLeica.com. Many of his reviews are of various Voigtländer lenses which are used by many people on their Leica cameras. Optically, Voigtländer lenses are just a step below Leica lenses but at a fraction of the cost. In his various videos, he discusses dozens of alternative lenses for use on his various Leica bodies, most of them being Voigtländer's. Voigtländer lenses, originally from an old German company, are actually manufactured by Cosina in their factory in Japan. Zeiss lenses are also made in that same factory.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Or not. There are some excellent alternatives made by Cosina/Voigtländer.

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

I sold my M3 outfit a few years back. I used a 50mm f2 Dual Range Summicron. A super nice lens and the close focusing attachment was very useful.