M8.2 Summarit 35mm vs. M9 Summicron 50mm

<p>I'm ok with the smaller sensor and lesser light (for the price tradeoff), but if you took the same picture with a M9 Summicron 50mm combo, would there be lesser distortion, especially on a closer subject? It'd be great if I could see a comparison.<br>

thanks!</p>

<p>You are saying, implicitly, that there is distortion in photos taken with an M8.2 and a 35mm Summarit lens. Please provide evidence of this. You might also say what is this "distortion" of which you speak.</p>

<p>Are you talking about distortion due to a different perspective, e.g. the general notion that with WA lenses, closer object appear larger, vs a "compressed" perspective with tele lenses ? If you make the object the "same relative size", say a face filling the whole frame, you'd be at the about same distance with M8/35 vs M9/50 combo, i.e. your perspective would be the same. I think the biggest difference would be depth of field<br>

OR<br>

Are you talking generally the distortion due to the quality of the lenses? Then I have no idea, as I never owned a Summarit, but with digital, much can be corrected with ease.</p>

<p>I want to know if the photo would look different due to the lens design (with the smaller sensor, is lesser area of the lens used?) I guess if I found the same photo taken with these combos, it would be reassuring. I rented a M8.2 35mm Summilux for a weekend and here are links to a couple of shots with the subject close and away. I'm not sure if they show any 35mm lens characteristics (curving?) and/or if they would look identical with a M9/50mm.<br /> <a href="http://flickr.com/gp/vineet/4q21b9" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://flickr.com/gp/vineet/4q21b9</a><br /><a href="http://flickr.com/gp/vineet/L1080Z" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://flickr.com/gp/vineet/L1080Z</a><br /><br /></p>

<p>You would need to know the distortion figures of each of these lenses and also look at the distortion for the part of the image of the 35mm lens that covers the M8 sensor. But in general terms, I don't think you will see any difference in distortion between these two setups. Both Leica lenses will have minimal distortion anyway (I can assume this for Leica as it is pretty well true for most good camera lenses in the 35-50mm group). If you are worrying about wide angle distortion, well you won't see it because the focal length equivalent angle of view is essentially the same (45.5 vs 50mm). So it is a non-issue.</p>

For the M8 combination the angle of view is slightly wider so you will have a slight difference

<p>I shoot with an M8.2 and 35mm Summarit. While I don't own either an M9 or a 50mm, I shot with the 50mm on an M6 for quite a while. I would say the experience and results are very, very similar in terms of framing, angle of view, subject magnification/relative size for a given perspective, bokeh etc.<br>

<br />Any mathematical differences are not significant in practice. In other words, if you examine the numbers on paper, then there is a slight difference, but if you just want to make some photos, there's no tangible difference.</p>