Leica R4

[McQueen278]

I'm thinking about picking one up with a 50mm f/2 for a nice travel/walkaround. There is one at a local shop and the price isn't bad. Anyone have any experience with the R4 or the 50mm f/2 Summicron R? I'll also grab an adapter for the 50mm for use on my 5D. Is the lens truly the same optically as the 50mm f/2 Summicron M?

 

[Iron Flatline]

I'm stumped... and I'm one of the few Leica-Heads here.

Go to the Leica Forum and ask there. You'll get more detail than you could ever shake a stick at...

 

[usayit]

I don't know for sure but most likely different optics. As far as I know, not too many lenses shared optics between the two lines... I have one, the Summicron 90mm which is obvious because of its size compared to other incarnations of the Summicron 90mm (hence it is cheap and not highly valuable). The fact that the flange distance of a rangefinder is really short compared to an SLR accounts for at least some optical differences.

It is fairly difficult to keep the differences of various lenses from leica straight... there are some historian/aficionados that know so much that it is scary. as Iron suggested... l-camera-forum.com might be a better resource.

 

[McQueen278]

Thanks guys! I'll look into it over there perhaps. I think I am going to pick up the camera regardless just to use the lens on my 5D. The body is nice, but it's not nearly as nice as my OM1n. It's really cluttered and you have to take the camera from your eye to dial in compensation. I've seen some shots with that lens wide open though and the Bokeh is smooth as can be so this might just get packed up with some Velvia 50 and Tmax 400 every time I hit the road.