New Summarit-M Lenses

[GeneW]

I don't know if these have been discussed yet. A new series of lenses from Leica that will be, supposedly, less expensive than their current top-of-the-line offerings:

http://www.leica-camera.us/photography/m_system/summarit/

Hopes? Wishes? Opinions?

Gene

 

[foto_fool]

ugh. 137 or so pithy, prescient, poignant posts lost forever.

 

[GeneW]

Was this one of the lost threads? Then my apologies for restarting it. I didn't see any others.

Gene

 

[Ken Ford]

Gene, someone had to do it!

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

It's deja-vu all over again. Again!

 

[jbf]

I posted this right before the death of the thread:

So, I've noticed that these new lenses are spherical lenses... while the other leica lenses are aspherical lenses... In that case, wouldnt you say that these lenses are going ot be more prone to chromatic aberation thus being of lesser standards?

I mean I know aspherical lenses can also be very bad quality but obviously i'm speaking as far as leica quality goes... i would imagine leica aspherical glass would be of much higher quality than the spherical glass they have just released.

Also, what are the other differences between spherical and aspherical lenses?

 

[FrankS]

There's nothing wrong with a little spherical aberration. In fact, over-correction produces some ugly OOFA. (out of focus areas)

 

[richard_l]

I mean I know aspherical lenses can also be very bad quality but obviously i'm speaking as far as leica quality goes... i would imagine leica aspherical glass would be of much higher quality than the spherical glass they have just released...

Apparently Leica is satisfied with the performance of the 50mm Summicron (and so am I and thousands of others).

Richard

 

[mfogiel]

If you read recent articles by Puts, comparing the Zeiss ZM line to top Leica lenses, his conclusions are that often Zeiss managed to get equal or better results without the aspherics. BTW lots of cheap SLR zooms are stuffed with aspheric glass, and so what ?

 

[Joop van Heijgen]

Was this one of the lost threads? Then my apologies for restarting it. I didn't see any others.

Gene

I was the one who placed the original thread about the new Summarit- M lenses!

The administration has deleted a few of my postings (and this thread?) as well as of the forum of Tom Abrahamsson!

A mistake....?

 

[peter_n]

I think there is a hope that these new lenses, because they are spherical, will produce images that are "old fashioned" in look.

 

[Doug]

I think a post of mine that was lost drew attention to the similarity of nominal specs for the 35/2.5, 50/2.5, and 75/2.5 Summarits to the Voigtlander offerings. It'll be interesting to see how the pictorial results differ. Will I "need" to trade up? 🙂

The 50mm Color-Skopar: Smallest aperture f/22, 7 elements in 6 groups, 10-blade diaphragm, 46 deg view, focus to .75m, 39mm filter. Length 33.6mm, dia 49.6mm. 208g.

The 50/2.5 Summarit by comparison has 6 elements in 4 groups, 9-blade diaphragm, focus to .8m, 39mm filter. Length 33mm, dia 51.5mm. 230g.

The 75mm Color-Heliar: Smallest aperture f/16, 6 elements in 5 groups, 10-blade diaphragm, 32 deg view, focus to 1m, 43mm filter, 64.5mm long with hood; 51.5mm without hood or adapter, 55.5mm dia. 227g.

The 75/2.5 Summarit by comparison has 6 elements in 4 groups, 11-blade diaphragm, focus to .9m, 46mm filter. Length 60.5mm, dia 55mm. 345g.

From http://www.leica-camera.us/photography/m_system/summarit/ one can download a Summarit specification page in .pdf format.

 

[Doug]

The administration has deleted a few of my postings (and this thread?) as well as of the forum of Tom Abrahamsson!

A mistake....?

Joop, as mentioned elsewhere, apparently some server data was corrupted, so they had to restore the forum from backup 2 days old. So 2 days worth of forum threads and posts were lost.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I think there is a hope that these new lenses, because they are spherical, will produce images that are "old fashioned" in look.

There are plenty of Ultrons and 50mm Summicrons for less than that. I'm baffled why they chose these odd-ball max. apertures; the 50mm Elmar is cherished as it is, and you can get it new for less than $1500, new. A used, absolutely wonderful 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit for less, in excellent condition, used.

I don't understand their strategy. But then I realize I'm not the first one, and I'm now part of a long line of confused people that lined up since the late 1960s.

 

[varjag]

BTW lots of cheap SLR zooms are stuffed with aspheric glass, and so what ?

Not exactly "glass" though.. cheaper ones are molded from "optical resin" (i.e. plastic).

 

[back alley]

I was the one who placed the original thread about the new Summarit- M lenses!

The administration has deleted a few of my postings (and this thread?) as well as of the forum of Tom Abrahamsson!

A mistake....?

read the front page joop.
there was a system restore and 2 days have been lost.
it was announced before it happened and we were told when it was completed.
you can lose the persecution complex.
joe

 

[anselwannab]

Is this in response to people buying cheaper Zeiss and Cosina lenses. Maybe not as fast as the others, but you get the Leica name.

I first read it at DPreview and from that I got that they were cheaper and smaller. When I think smaller, I think Leica CL. Could there be a digital 'CL' on the way?

Mark

 

[Ken Ford]

you can lose the persecution complex.

... or not!

 

[ZeissFan]

Competition is good for the marketplace and the rangefinder segment.

The sale of used Leica lenses, new and used Cosina Voigtlander lenses and new and used Carl Zeiss lenses generates $0 for Leica.

Even among this forum, it seems that the majority of Leica bodies and lenses are bought used -- with the exception of the M8, of course, generating very little money for Leica to remain in business.

I think it's a good move. Although the pricing is high compared with the competition, it's not outrageously high, depending on your disposable income.

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request