braver
Well-known
Speed is hardly the only factor that decides the cost of production. However, it is the one that mostly levers desirability, so in that sense it doesn't make sense to build a 50/2 that's more complex than a 50/1.4.
Read into what APO means and you'll understand.
I Love Film
Well-known
I'm going to buy one, or maybe two. I may never open the box of the second one.
I'm going to stick the lens on the front of my M9 Titanium, and I'm not even going to take any photos with it.
I'm just going to use it to upset all the poor people, and laugh at them. "Ha ha ha! I have an $8000 lens (with sales tax), and you don't. I don't even know how to use my camera, but I can afford to pay someone to take the photos for me. HA HA HA!"
Too bad for all of you who can't have one. Who is to say who is capable of using the lens better, me or you?
I'm going to stick the lens on the front of my M9 Titanium, and I'm not even going to take any photos with it.
I'm just going to use it to upset all the poor people, and laugh at them. "Ha ha ha! I have an $8000 lens (with sales tax), and you don't. I don't even know how to use my camera, but I can afford to pay someone to take the photos for me. HA HA HA!"
Too bad for all of you who can't have one. Who is to say who is capable of using the lens better, me or you?
N
Nikon Bob
Guest
I can't understand the emotion this thread is generating. Leica is making a high end lens they think will sell at the price they want to charge. If you have the money or not you don't have to buy it. Car companies sell many models of cars and just because their top of the line models are super expensive not many people get this emotional about it. You drive what you can afford. Not a thing wrong with Leica or what they are doing.
Bob
Bob
jonoslack
Member
Hmm - that sounds like you're saying that there's no point in any further development - because everything is fine already.
But new working photographers won't already have everything. Still, providing a 'perfect' 50 could be an end in itself, and hardly a despicable one.
My problem with it is that I want one . . and I can't qualifying buying it!
Rayt
Nonplayer Character
The price took me by surprise but why does it matter? There are plenty of other stuff I can't afford.
MikeL
Go Fish
Have folks here been to dpreview? Good, thoughtful discussions can be found there too. Please check it out. Now.
mynikonf2
OEM
This does not represent the normal everyday discretionary spending of the American people but borders on the obscene and arrogant flaunting of wealth that is taking place throughout the world. If we were willing to be honest with ourselves & others we could admit that there is something fundamentally wrong with this, other wise we would not be having this conversation.
Anyway, it is really pointless trying to express this in an environment like we have here in the RRF Forum. I have been wrong in trying to do so. This is or should be a place where we can refrain from dragging in our own personal political and/or moral/spiritual points of view and talk about our common love of all things photographic. I apologize to the membership for doing so.
maddoc
... likes film again.
I stopped after the third of 408 replies to the "hands on preview with image samples" after reading
"look at the rest of the world to see what your foreign policy is doing......."
caasols
Member
David, you're right in some aspects about Portugal, but this is just wrong. Struggle with TB? Dilapidated slums? Come on...
You're right about the labor costs and the skilled workers. Leica decided to build the factory in Famalicão, because this zone had a industry for precision watches, to they had skilled workers for precision jobs.
MCTuomey
Veteran
C'mon -- slums, homelessness, and drug-dealing characterize most, if not all, major cities everywhere. Come to some of the places I shoot in the U.S., David. Detroit. New Orleans. Plenty of all three to be witnessed there. And a bit of resurgent TB too.
Steve Bellayr
Veteran
When I read Mr. Puts' review (there are other reviews equally as positive) of the new 50mm Summilux (which has risen to the price of 4k and is still unavailable) I thought that would be the ultimate lens. I would like to see how the Summicron will be better. 7k+ is truly unbelievable for a 35mm lens. I think I will forgo that lens in the hope of some day obtaining a Summilux and save 3k.
braver
Well-known
I stopped after the third of 408 replies to the "hands on preview with image samples" after reading
"look at the rest of the world to see what your foreign policy is doing......."
I saw that... Wow, they even manage to drag US foreign policy into a discussion about lenses. Gotta love the internet, everything is possible here!
It's a lovely place. Everyone should visit.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Well, I am disappointed because a new normal 50mm f/2 lens from Leica is out of reach of the most of us. It is not a special edition item, but just a new version of a standard lens.
Erik.
Considering a new 50/1.8 AF Nikkor (for example) is $120, isn't a 50/2 pre-asph out of the reach of most of us too, at $2200 retail?
I mean, this is nearly what an X-Pro1 body and 35/1.4 costs and the lens has been tested to be in the same league as a 50 lux asph.
I mean, this is nearly what an X-Pro1 body and 35/1.4 costs and the lens has been tested to be in the same league as a 50 lux asph.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
All that testing doesn't improve lenses. The recent 50mm f/2 lenses are also tested I presume.
Erik.
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
I don't think it's meant to be within the reach of "the most of us". It's a "standard" lens solely by focal length. "The most of us" wouldn't have a use for the marginal optical benefits that come at a colossal price. For all practical purposes this is a special edition item, like other high-end lenses priced in the same ballpark (21/f1.4, wideangle Tri-Elmar...).
Not sure what this means, but clearly the 50/2 pre-asph at $2200 is not meant to be for 'the rest of us' either.