FrankS
Registered User
Just wondering if these contemporary lenses are the same optically. From the Leicaflex SL era.
Summicron 50: RF vs SLR
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FrankS
Registered User
Bump .
sparrow6224
Well-known
According to Irwin Puts they are the same design but the Summicron-R at any given design level tends to be the better performer than the Summicron-M because it is easier to avoid certain aberrations when working with a larger back end. The size constrictions on the M lenses, he says, are a significant problem. Once Leica got into the SLR game much lens development went on concomitantly, for both mounts. During Leica's difficult years, post 1972 or so, until the 80s (anyone with the facts near to hand should correct me, dates etc) there was hardly any development of M lenses at all and if it hadn't been for the Canadian folks pushing the M4-2 in 80 or so the M line was going to be abandoned. So after that date I'm not sure how close the two lines -- M and R -- remained.
FrankS
Registered User
Many thanks for that!
