I am looking for a small 50mm lens for M6 camera, and understand that LTM lenses with adapters are a possibility.

I kind of like the idea of having an old lens and the vintage look they confer to pictures. Has anyone used the combo and have recommendations for a particular lens?

I searched the archive and could not find anything on that topic.Thanks in advance,

Marc

-- Marc A. Pilgrem (mpilgrem@hotmail.com), May 15, 2002

Answers

I am thinking in particular about the collapsible versions ...

-- Marc A. Pilgrem (mpilgrem@hotmail.com), May 15, 2002.

Marc--

An LTM lens with adaptor will work fine on the M6. The adaptors are available from mail order dealers such as B&H Photo and from Stephen Gandy at www.cameraquest.com.

I have a collapsable 50mm Elmar that I am no longer using, and would sell it to you (or anyone else) for what I paid a while back: $120 + shipping. It has nice smooth focus, good coating, some oil on the aperture blades (but the blades work fine and no oil is on the elements), and generally works nicely. Comes with generic rear cap. All in all a good user lens. Contact me if interested.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), May 15, 2002.

The coated 50 f3.5 Elmar is what you need. Be aware that the ergonomics are a bit odd, with the f stop ring right around the front elelent. I also disabled the infinity lock, which was driving me crazy. I can barely tell when the lens is on my M3, and the image quality is surprisingly good.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), May 15, 2002.

I use both 50 f3.5 coated Elmar and 50 f2 Summitar on my M6 and IIIf. The Elmar is incredibly small, collapsed the camera fits easily in a pocket. It has a 30's look, whereas the collapsible Summitar has a 50's look. (The lenses, not the photos, hehe).

Joe

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), May 15, 2002.

The 50 f2 Summitar or a Canon 50 f/1.8 all will work nicely with an M adapter.

The 50 f2 Summitar uses special size filters; you will need an adapter to use 39mm (I had a very nice one custom made by SK Grimes). The Canon uses 40mm filters which are very hard to get; I had SK Grimes make me a 40mm to 39mm stepdown ring.

Tony

-- Tony Oresteen (aoresteen@mindspring.com), May 15, 2002.

you might also consider the 40mm f2 from the minolta cle. this is a leica bayonet mount that pulls up the 50mm frame lines

-- greg mason (gmason1661@aol.com), May 15, 2002.

Marc; I you are lucky with rolling the dice one of these clones my be good...The Russian lenses are a real crap shoot...Some are great; some are crap! One of my Industar-50's is really great!

-- Kelly Flanigan (zorki3c@netscape.net), May 16, 2002.