For many years I was a consistent 28mm shooter. That focal length meshed well with how I saw the world and I found it easy to compose and shoot. As noted in these pages, most of my travel included that focal length along with a 50mm and a 90mm. However, a lens purchase from last year changed the way I frame scenes.
About a year ago I bought a used Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 C-Biogon from MapCamera in Japan (a wonderful company with whom to do business). The "C" stands for compact and this lens is indeed quite diminutive, even for an M lens. Being a new lens in the lineup I found myself shooting it quite a bit and learned to enjoy the tighter view. Also, as I don't like to mix it up with people on the street when I'm shooting, 35mm lets me stand a few paces further from the action and more squarely within my personal space comfort zone. And, I realized that for my standard use cases 35mm could cover the zone between 28mm and 50mm and thereby replace those two lenses. That got me thinking about changing my travel camera kit.
With only a few exceptions I have been a 28-50-90 shooter. A few trips swapped out my ZM 25mm f/2.8 Biogon for the CV 28mm f/2 Ultron. Different, but very similar. The trip to Scotland dropped the 90mm and added a Tele-Elmar 135mm. In fact I shot a few of my favorite images of that trip with the 135mm but don't plan to bring it along on future travel. The Tele-Elmar is nearly twice the size of the CV 90mm f/2.8 APO-Skopar and that latter lens is far more useful for the types of images I normally shoot. And regarding the CV 50mm f/1.5 Nokton, it has travelled with me on every trip to date.
That all changed with a recent trip to Ireland where I replaced the 28mm and 50mm with 35mm. Like last year's trip to Scotland, Ireland was another DIY adventure with my wife, her older brother and his wife. And it was another 800+ miles of driving a 9-pax van on the left side of quite small roads. Fortunately the Guinness, the Irish stew and the brown bread more than made up for any stress resulting from the driving! For camera kit I brought along the CV 21mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar, the CV 35mm f/1.5 Nokton and the CV 75mm f/2.5 Color-Heliar. As those three lenses are new to readers of this blog I will explain.
21mm - Several years ago I sold a ZM 21mm Biogon to purchase the ZM 25mm Biogon. I felt the 21mm was too wide for street work and at that time I wasn't traveling as much. Fast forward to 2025 I find there is a place for 21mm in travel photography. Interiors in particular. However, I wanted a small lens. The ZM 21mm was too large for travel (as is the ZM 25mm). The CV 21mm is the newer re-designed version for digital sensors. It is a tiny lens that produces big results. However, following Ireland, I still feel 21mm is too wide and that 25mm is better for me. I'll keep the lens as it is small enough to bring along if necessary and at the used price I paid I'm happy for it to live in the back of the dry box.
35mm - A few months following purchase of the ZM 35mm C-Biogon I purchased a used CV 35mm Nokton as I wanted the extra two stops. That lens lived on the M10R during the trip to Ireland. While physically larger and heavier than the ZM C-Biogon, it is still pocketable. It is also very sharp with great renderings. I am happy with the lens. More importantly, I returned home feeling confident that 35mm could replace both 28mm and 50mm for my style of travel photography.
75mm - This focal length seemed a good paring with the 21mm / 35mm. It is an older LTM mount lens to which I installed the LTM-M adapter. Worked a treat. That lens is fairly new to me and it is not a focal length I am used to shooting. To be sure, it is sharp and it renders nicely. However, I found I really don't like the Leica M System's 75mm frame lines. That frame is included with the 50mm frame (which is an awesome frame line!) and its dotted lines appear more like a vague suggestion than actual frame lines. Too many of my 75mm images suffered poor framing due to those lines. Or, to be fair to the frame lines, suffered due to my inexperience using the lens and the associated frame lines. Truth be told I should have put in month of shooting with the lens before the trip. That didn't happen and I don't believe that lens will travel again with me.
So, 21mm and 75mm are out and I will travel next with 25mm / 35mm / 90mm. The 35mm will live on the camera as I have bonded with the focal length. The 25mm will be used for urban landscapes and images of facades / murals at close quarters. It will also be the "cathedral / museum interior" lens. The 90mm will cover those few times when I want a bit of reach. And, 90mm can crop to 135mm or a multi-image pano can replicate a 50mm.
Two trips are planned this year and the 25mm / 35mm / 90mm will be along with me. In expectation of those focal lengths I have begun using the 90mm to improve the muscle memory. I struggle with critical focus on that lens and the only cure is to shoot it more. With regard to the 25mm, my Lightroom catalog shows I have shot 3,000 images with the CV 25mm over the past three years and I feel confident with that focal length. And finally, 35mm will be the daily driver as I'm starting to see frame lines in my head when I view the world!
More to follow as the journey continues. See below a few BW and C41 film images shot with either an M3 or an M7 through a 35mm lens. All film developed and scanned in my kitchen.
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