Bob, Ages and ages ago I had for a brief time the Summilux 75mm f/1.4. It produced some beautiful photographs, but it was way over the top on size and weight. I only rarely took it out as a consequence, and sold it on when I had the opportunity to make most of my money back. About 6 years ago, I bought one of the Summarit-M 75mm f/2.4 lenses. It is a good performer, and FAR lighter than the Summilux 75, but it's still somewhat bulky which means I only carry it occasionally.
Which is why when I saw the APO-Skopar 75mm it immediately drew my attention. An APO quality lens, this small and light, and only $700-800 ... yeah, I have to give it a try. And yes, it is quite a nice performer ... it hits the mark beautifully. Regards the Pentax-L 43 ... I originally bought it when I was still shooting with the Leica CL digital and it brought me right back to shooting with the Pentax DSLRs with APS-C sensor. It's just one of the nicest rendering lenses in the focal length class. Using it on a Leica M immediately brings you back to its use on full frame film, where it shines even more than on APS-C. Just a terrific lens! (I've also fitted it to the Hasselblad 907x/CFVII 50c. It performs well there too, just a smidge of drop off on the 33x44 sensor format. A truly great lens.) A year and some back, I think, I did an extensive amount of modeling with the Leica M10 Monochrom to fully understand its spectral response and the affects of using Green and Orange filters on it. I put together a display of what I discovered for others to take advantage of, it's on Flickr.com <http://flickr.com/> at: https://flic.kr/p/2okXR9E I did another similar bit of modeling with Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue filtering ... There are two similar images to the above with those results. if you poke through my Flickr site, they're in the same album as the two filter version (which I prefer because it's simpler and clearer). You can see the effect of the Green filter is to expand and soften tonal differentiations in the Color to B&W grayscale translation, where the effect of an Orange filter is to push the transitions to a harder, more contrasty edge. I find that for my photography, the Orange is an occasional nicety when I'm looking to punch up a somewhat flat set of circumstances. Both are very useful filters to have for a Monochrom. The M10 Monochrom is, I think, the only M camera I've bought new. And even though it cost a bundle, it's been well worth it in terms of producing satisfying photographs that require only minor rendering work once downloaded from the camera. Just a brilliant camera, for me at least. If I had to sell off all my cameras but one, that's the one that would stay. Fun stuff. I did my first walk since the most recent hospital stay today, I didn't feel strong enough just yet to carry a camera and the walk was short. But it went well, and I felt good afterwards (albeit tired) so I'll be doing some more walking tomorrow and will likely start carrying a camera again. :) onwards, always onwards... G — "No matter where you go, there you are." > On Jul 1, 2026, at 2:56 PM, Bob W PDML <[email protected]> wrote: > > Correction: I’m getting the Pentax 85mm A* and 135mm A* lenses mixed up! I > had one of each, both stolen in the same burglary. > >> On 1 Jul 2026, at 22:50, Bob W PDML <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> That suits the camera very nicely. It would be nice to see it on an L-mount >> Leica too. >> >> That 75mm APO-Skopar looks very nice indeed. >> >> I had a 75mm lens in M mount for a few years and I can’t remember if it was >> Leica or Voigtlander. It seemed too big and heavy, and I rarely used it, but >> it produced nice images. Just checked. It was a Voigtlander 75mm f1.8 Heliar >> which bought out of a sense of nostalgia for the Pentax-A* 75/1.8 that was >> stolen from me in 2000. I traded it in when I bought my M10 monochrom. >> >> I too almost always use a YG / GGr filter when I’m shooting B&W. I keep >> telling myself to go out and experiment with an orange filter in woodland - >> I’ve seen nice stuff online. >> >>> On 1 Jul 2026, at 21:02, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[email protected]> wrote: >>> I thought you might enjoy a couple of photos of one of my favorite >>> shooting rigs ... >>> >>> Leica M10 Monochrom with Pentax-L 43mm f/1.9 Special and 43/50 Viewfinder >>> https://flic.kr/p/2smLxYy >>> https://flic.kr/p/2smEMR8 >>> >>> This is such an excellent lens, its SLR equivalent (Pentax-L 43 Limited) my >>> favorite from the years I used Pentax equipment. I've had the lens for a >>> few years now ... they were made in a small batch of about 2000 and sold >>> mostly in Japan. I found this example without a finder at a good price, >>> which didn't matter when I was using it on EVF cameras, but since I'm using >>> the Leica M (digital and film) most of the time now, I've been hunting for >>> the original finder made for it. I finally located one at a fair price; it >>> arrived yesterday... it's beautifully finished and optically excellent. >>> >>> An M, the Pentax 43, and the new Voigtländer APO-Skopar 75mm f/2.8 are a >>> compelling, 'do most of what I ever want in a very small package' travel >>> kit ... >>> >>> Leica M10 Monochrom Travel Kit w 43 and 75mm lenses >>> https://flic.kr/p/2smLxYJ >>> >>> The 75mm is a stunning performer too, and it's actually a little >>> smaller/lighter than the Pentax 43. Also note that I find the use of a >>> green filter on a monochrome digital sensor does "just the right thing" >>> about 95% of the time, so I include one for each lens as a part of the >>> travel kit. >>> >>> Now to go out and do some shooting again. :D -- %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
