Ksana 35 f2.0 + M2

One of the most beautiful Leica boutique is hands down Leica Kyoto! Such a beautiful space and those Leica Kyoto limited edition pouches 🤩🤩

Hi everyone,

I’m Milan Swolfs, a Leica photographer and reviewer. I’ve spent years shooting with different versions of the Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4, and the Pre-ASPH has always been one of my favourites, particularly for portrait photography.

I know the Mandler lens has generated quite a bit of discussion, and not all of it has been positive. Rather than getting caught up in the debate, I wanted to try it myself and see how it performs in the kind of photography I do.

I’ve now published my review of the Mandler 50mm f/1.4 E46 Pre-A, based on my own experience using it for several portrait shoots. I look at its rendering, close-focusing ability, sharpness and imperfections, and how it compares with the Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 Pre-ASPH.

The product photograph in the review was shot with the Leica Q3 43, while the portraits were made with the Mandler on my Leica M camera.

The Summilux is a classic for a reason, and I’m not suggesting that one lens needs to replace the other. But there are some interesting alternatives for the Leica M system today, and I think this one deserves to be judged on its own merits.

You can read my full review, with photographs from my shoots, here:

https://www.milanswolfs.com/blog/mandler-50mm-f1-4-e46-pre-a-review

I’m interested to hear what others think, especially from people who have actually used the lens.

I’ve had my Leica M6 with a 35mm Summicron lens for quite some time, along with the original lens hood that came with it. The hood has been attached to the lens for a while, and I hadn’t removed it to clean it in quite some time, so I decided to take it off today and give everything a good wipe down.

Before removing it, the lens hood was perfectly aligned with the lens. However, after cleaning everything and screwing it back on, I can’t seem to get it to align properly. Every time I tighten it completely, the hood ends up sitting crooked.

I’ve attached some photos to show exactly what I’m referring to. One other thing I noticed is that the white alignment dot on the lens itself isn’t centered at the top, which makes me wonder if that has something to do with the issue.

I’m honestly confused because everything was perfectly aligned before I removed the hood, and I haven’t adjusted or taken apart any of the components.

Has anyone experienced this before or have any idea what might be causing it? More importantly, is there a way to fix it so the hood sits properly again?

I love shooting on my Leica q3 and I want to be able to shoot comedy shows, concerts, etc. with very low light situations. What would be the best setting that I can adjust my camera to? Any feedback would be much appreciated!

Nothing ever comes up in my city that’s even remotely interesting. I was very surprised to see this and grabbed all of it for $300 Canadian.
These are my first leica’s!

Found this Leica and Summar 5cm f/2 at an estate sale this morning! Original price was $700 but today was 50% off and they took my offer of $275. Been wanting a Barnack for a long time so I'm super stoked to find one in the wild. The lens seems to have a tiny bit of fungus in the front element so I'll have to look into getting it cleaned but aside from that, it looks beautiful for it's age

leica M2で撮影してたら偶然こうなったんだけど、とてもいい作品に仕上がってた。
原因はスプールが純正じゃなかったかもとか、色々考えられるんだけど巻き上げ不良があったみたい。
leicaではデジタルでも多重露光なんてついてないよね。
物理的に撮れないようになっているはずだから。
けど、デジタルライカで多重露光したいって欲求はあってもいいかもしれない。多分、受け入れ難い人もいるだろうけど。

Hello!

I’m looking for some insight on the M10-R’s low-light performance compared to the M240 and Q2.

I currently own an M240 and a Q2. Lately I’ve barely used the M240 because of its limited high-ISO performance (usable up to about 1600–3200). The Q2 handles high ISO much better, but I really miss the ability to change lenses and the rangefinder experience.

I’m considering selling the M240 to move to an M10-R.
• Is the M10-R noticeably better in low light than the M240?
• How does it compare to the Q2 at higher ISOs?

Just trying to figure out if the upgrade is worth it. Any real-world experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Recently sold my Fuji x100VI and traded in a few lenses to purchase a Q3 (28). I love how the camera handles and how simplified it is compared to my Sony--it's almost addicting. However 28 is such a difficult focal length! With the Fuji I was glued to the 35 and came to see the world through that focal length. I've been thinking, since I've already invested so much money in the Q3, is it worth it to go a bit further, sell it, trade a few more things, and get an M11 (or the MEV1) plus a 35mm lens? I know it's significantly more money though and I could just use the 35 crop mode on the Q3. Any suggestions?

I’ve been looking for a good opportunity to buy an M8 for months. But last week I saw this M8u on Vinted in incredible condition, with full box and accessories for €1500. I could talk the price down to €1200 for its little defect : 1 bar of the red digits on the viewfinder doesn’t work (probably just the flex ribbon that needs to be set properly, and I might eventually repair it myself). Man the pictures I saw on Vinted didn’t make it justice… it doesn’t have even a little scratch or ding, and also has the bottom sticker still attached. I’ve never been so stoked and excited to use a camera (waiting for my Mandler 35 to arrive next week), and I’ve had many!

Apologies for the potato quality photo but I'm offered this Leica by an acquaintance. Not sure of its legitimacy and my partly-informed understanding tells me it might be real.

Any insights regarding the body and lens are welcome.

Also, what are the things I should keep in mind before opting for it if it's real?

Thank you :) 🙏

I like to take my camera everywhere and sometimes the DR is just too big to be comfortable. I'd like to have the possibility of taking something smaller but it still needs to be fast, and sharp.....

thinking about the nokton 1.5, any other thoughts? I know there's a VC Color Skopar 2.2 but there's not many example images and i shoot in dark places a lot so I wonder whether its a good opportunity to go for a faster lens anyway.

I'm aware of the older leica collapsible f2 options (summicron v1, summitar) but I love the performance of the DR and feel like these would sacrifice the quality too much.

Some magic would be good!

Looks like Leica is now the only digital rangefinder maker. Pixii camera has shutdown and the company is to be liquidated. They had a good run, some ups, some downs. I hope they try and make a second go at it!

My father-in-law found this Leica M3 in the attic of his parents' home. It had probably been sitting there for more than 30 years. The camera belonged to his grandfather and was later passed on to his father. After his death, the Leica ended up in a shoebox and was never used again. It’s a single-stroke Leica M3 with a serial number above 1.000.000 and so released in the early 1960s. Inside the bottom plate, the original sticker from the camera shop where it was purchased in Ghent, Belgium is still intact. We decided to keep the camera in the family. When I first tested it, it showed a few issues, which was to be expected given its age and the years of inactivity. Fortunately, nothing that a thorough CLA couldn’t fix. This week I got it back, fully serviced and checked. Around 66 years after its release and after spending 30 years lying in an attic, this piece is ready to be used as it was intended.

I got the honour to work on and fix my friends Leica CL! He picked it up with lens locally for a steal (500 euro) but the shutter was locked up or would only fire on 1 speed.

After taking off the top and front cover i inspected the mechanism closely and referenced other images and videos online. Thats when i spotted that the shutter speed lever was not leaning against the post on the timing mechanism plate, but had slipped past it. (Images 4-6)

After removing the timing mechanism, cleaning it and putting it back in correctly (image 3), all speeds worked once again!! Put it against the shutter tester and all speeds where very smooth as well. Cleaned and replaced some degraded foam then put it back together.

Also fixed the old focus stiffness on the lens by doing a full dissassembly, cleaning and regreasing and thats working perfectly again too.

Cheers from Dutch Camera Repair and on to my next!

looking for an old m8 around europe

I used to have M11 but sold it back because i could just not get rid of pink hue in pictures when editing, now i think I'm better at this but still wander does -P have better color science / profiles in LR?

I bought this camera about a month or so ago. I uploaded a post and got great answers to my questions.

It was a good price when i bought it but it was dirty, need of a CLA and had some fake leather fabric glued on it. Safe to say it was a mess.

But now it's my beauty.

Cleaned and polished gently, sent of for a real CLA, new leather from cameraleather.com ( I can not recommend them enough, great service, price, quality and fitment)

First rolls are in developing and it's so fun to shoot with, great pocket camera!

My first Leica camera ever and i could not be more excited!

Hope to use it for many years to come 😃

(Sorry for no coffecup beside the camera)

Looking for a decent M5 and this one fits the bill except this pic is a little suspect. Asking $1424 and say shutter speeds are accurate, clean viewfinder, meter works.