Last night I packed up the trusty M9 and threw on the Canon 50mm f/1.4 LTM. This “Japanese Summilux” is such a bargain. You’re getting a fast 50mm lens for a tiny fraction of the price of Leica’s equivalent. Granted, Leica’s 50mm Summilux is outstanding, but it’s not in everyone’s budget.

Right now, M8 and M9 bodies are relatively inexpensive compared to their current equivalents and some still even prefer the CCD found in these two bodies over the current series of M bodies. In contrast, the 50mm Summilux lenses have remained prohibitively expensive. If you want to try out the rangefinder experience, now is a great time to pick up a used M9 and a $200 Japanese Summilux.

All of the images in this post, with the exception of the black and white image & the painted wall, were converted from DNG files and treated with VSCO’s Kodak Portra film simulation.