In my mind, the Zeiss ZM lenses give up very little compared to the Leica lenses. The biggest thing they give up is maximum aperture and in some cases, some size. For example, if you want a 28mm lens, the Leica and Zeiss both offer wonderful 28/2.8's, but only Leica offers a 28/2 (at 4 times the retail cost of the ZM 28/2.8 and more than twice the cost of the Leica 28/2.8). Something to keep in mind.
The ZM 35/2 and 50/2 are smashing lenses. While the 35 is a bit larger than a 35 Summicron, once you add a hood to the cron you are about the same size. The ZM lenses in general don't need hoods as often as the Leica lenses.
That being said, the Leica 50/1.4 ASPH and the 75/2 ASPH are untouchable (and expensive).
I also don't want to slight the CV lenses. They make some wonderful lenses and some of them are real bargains. The 15mm is not to be missed and the 28/3.5 seems to be universally loved. The 50/1.5 gets great reviews, as does 35/1.2. My advice would be to select one or two 'bread and butter' focal lengths and buy Leica or Zeiss (depending on your tastes) and fill out other focal lengths with CV.
All this is nice, but my question would be, do you really want a rangefinder system if you primarily shoot telephoto? It's not really the system's strength. I like RF's but then again, the longest lens I've ever owned was 100mm lens, I only used it for macro, and I sold it about 2 years ago. I do plan on getting a 135/2 for my Canon SLR at some point, but it's lower on the priority list than some other things. I like wide to normal a lot more than telephoto...
The ZM 35/2 and 50/2 are smashing lenses. While the 35 is a bit larger than a 35 Summicron, once you add a hood to the cron you are about the same size. The ZM lenses in general don't need hoods as often as the Leica lenses.
That being said, the Leica 50/1.4 ASPH and the 75/2 ASPH are untouchable (and expensive).
I also don't want to slight the CV lenses. They make some wonderful lenses and some of them are real bargains. The 15mm is not to be missed and the 28/3.5 seems to be universally loved. The 50/1.5 gets great reviews, as does 35/1.2. My advice would be to select one or two 'bread and butter' focal lengths and buy Leica or Zeiss (depending on your tastes) and fill out other focal lengths with CV.
All this is nice, but my question would be, do you really want a rangefinder system if you primarily shoot telephoto? It's not really the system's strength. I like RF's but then again, the longest lens I've ever owned was 100mm lens, I only used it for macro, and I sold it about 2 years ago. I do plan on getting a 135/2 for my Canon SLR at some point, but it's lower on the priority list than some other things. I like wide to normal a lot more than telephoto...