The Leica M10 and Voigtlander 50 1.2 by Isi Akahome

The Leica M10 and Voigtlander 50 1.2
By Isi Akahome

Hi Steve,

It’s been a crazy start to 2019. I sold my Leica M240, and 50mm summilux to fund the new Fuji GFX 50R. I got the camera wile I was on a trip to Japan with the 63mm 2.8 lens, and it was a nightmare. The EVF and screen on the camera would just go red after a few seconds, so I sent it in to Fuji to repair the camera. It came back, and seemed to be fine, until I used it for a shoot, and all the images has weird lines and artifacts all over. I sent it back to Fuji, and they sent me a brand new camera. At this point I was done with Fuji, and I snagged a used M10 on eBay.

As soon as I held the M10, it was quite obvious that I had the Fuji’s build quality was just awful. It felt so platicky and hollow compared to the M10, and was just massive. I ended up selling the 50R with the lens at a loss, since I couldn’t return the camera to Japan.

I couldn’t afford a 50 summilux at this time, so after a ton of research, I rented the 50mm 1.2 from Lensrentals to see if I would like it enough to purchase one. After my first shoot with the lens, I was in love with it. It is crazy sharp wide open, and the rendering is quite amazing. I was lucky enough to find a used copy on cameraquest.com for $859 – $200 off a brand new copy, and it has easily become my new favorite 50mm lens on the M10. The only things I miss from my summilux are the focus tab, and in-built lens hood. I really think it stands toe-to-toe with the summilux in terms of IQ, and beats it with the bigger aperture, and value.
Side note, the M10 is beautiful. I love how much thinner and substantial it feels in hand. It much faster and smoother in operation than the M240, and the viewfinder is bigger, and much easier to focus with. I also really like the way it looks with the Voigtlander attached. The lens has a very robust and expensive look in my opinion.
I’ve done a few shoots with the lens, and wanted to share them with everyone.
You can see more of my work on IG @isi.a.pix.
Thanks,
Isi.

23 Comments

    • You don’t. You pay for the enjoyment and experience of . Strange that people don’t understand this. Unless, of course, it’s because they’ve never held a Leica in their hands after years of working hard to create photographs with many different kinds of cameras.

  1. I hate you haha 🙂 I have decided not to buy a Leica M10P becuase I’m enjoying the 50R. I’m still waiting for the M adapter to use the lux50 and lux28 on it. Now I’m tempted to buy an M10P which is so expensive again. Anyway I may have to wait some more time. The rangefinder is still one of the best experience anyone can have. I do still have my Leica Film MP and M3 to play with sometimes.

  2. Oh.. My…the reviewers can’t say enough in words how nice the M10 camera is. Just traded in several recent models and received the M10P. Wow… Shades of my original M2 in the 60’s… nice… crispest pictures yet… perfect exposure and the focus is super easy for a rangefinder fan like myself…
    Thanks for the review

  3. Thanks for the review. I have this camera / lens combo too. Interested you found the lens very sharp wide open and like the Summicron. In my experience it’s a little soft wide open (what you’d expect for such a fast lens at this price point and no bad thing for portraiture) and with a less clinical character). I love both lenses but notice the differences. The softness goes away once you close the lens down a little and I’m not one for shooting everything wide open.

  4. I like your work. You did a terrific job with available light. The M10 is the best. My favorite lens on my M10 is the Zeiss 35 f1.4. I also like using the 50 APO Summicron.

  5. Thanks for sharing.lovely photos.glad to see a Leica article again on this site
    The Leica M is the only camera that makes one feel he is still using a film camera with all the digital benifits.

  6. Personally, waiting for an F-M adapter to see how my NOCT Nikkor interacts with the M10 sensory.

  7. Welcome home again 😉
    The lens seems to be great on the M. Colors are slightly different to the Lux and overall rendering but pleasant either way. Wonderul images.

  8. VM 50mm f/1.2 seems like a fun lens to use. I have been curious about this lens as I am using the VM 40mm f/1.2 on my m9, which is a great one lens one camera set up. Thanks for sharing.

    • How do you find the frame lines on this setup? I have scaled my M down to an M9 and in theory one lens. 40mm f/1.2 seem like the perfect option, but obviously no frame lines.

      • I have to just use my imagination using the 50mm frame line. It takes practice, but it is not too big of a bother once you get hang of it. Other than some color fringing, I love the lens and its versatility.

  9. Beautiful images as always Isi, thanks putting this together! Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the Fuji system.

    I bought my first Leica back in November – the digital CL. Thanks BTW for your convincing review of the CLSteve! Ideal little camera for me, but now I’d really love to get my hands on a few Leica M-mount lenses – primarily the speedy Summilux models which are incredibly expensive. Very hard for a serious amateur like me to justify dropping all that cash. Thanks Isi for showing me that the Voigtlander truly can produce viable alternatives to their more expensive Leica counterparts.

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