What's with Summarit build Quality?

So sorry to hear of your plight...to anticipate a wonderful experience & have it backfire.

If you need a very light, very compact lens that's great for portraits, you might consider a used 90mm Tele-Elmarit-M. It's performance is glorious and it's so much fun to use, so incredibly small and light you'd think it was a normal lens. And for 1/5 the price of the mass-produced Summarit. If your lens is under warranty you could trade & use the $ difference to buy filters, film, cases etc. by the bushel (well, not Luigi cases by the bushel...)
 
I am actually very tempted to get a refund and just pull the plug on the summarit since being told the lens will need to go to Germany with an estimated 6-10 week turnaround which is a fat lot of use with a project that will be done in August. Way to go Leica!

When I bought my 24 lux the dealer had tested his stock and sent half back before lumbering clients with them. Thankfully he did this and I got one that performed well.

How come Zeiss ZMs made by CV seem to have so few focus flaws? Sure, there are construction issues with the wobbles, but the point being they come out of the factory focusing right on cameras not even made by the same people! You really do not hear of focus problems with Zeiss... its something Reid commented on too. All mine have been spot on, so clearly they are managing to get something right in their Japanese lenses that Leica cannot manage in their German lenses costing 2-3x as much.
 
Sorry to read of your continuing problems. I second the recommendation for the 90 TE above, great lens but not a 75. Have you considered the CV 75/2.5? Well thought of and if you're in the UK Robert White in Poole sells them. I use a 75/2, fantastic lens but I had to get mine replaced too and I wouldn't wish that on you!
 
Sorry to hear about your test results Turtle, as you mentioned something obviously wrong that should have been caught in the factory testing.

I have and use the 75 summarit and find it much easier to focus than the 90 cron and 90 elmarit. There latter two lenses are great, but I prefer the 75 for its superior handling characteristics. I got one of the very first models and it has been tack sharp since day 1 on both the M8 and M9. I have heard of problems with some of the more recent production units, sorry you got one. Keep the group in the loop on how the repair works.
 
I dismiss comments about bad quality for manufacturing regarding summarits because stock new leica lens can be as wobbly and can fail as much as the summarits do.

Also I always loved the rendering of the summarit 40mm 2.4 (minilux). Such signature made brillant slides and films everytime, under all circumstances. Very sharp yet smooth with incredible corner sharpness!
 
While the Summarit was the problem in this case it is abundantly clear that leica is goofing up with their much more expensive lenses... perhaps even more so - who knows the real figures. Still, its a sad day when Leica cannot do a basic focus test to confirm proper focus on a $1500 symmetrical averagely slow lens before it leaves the factory. Right now its another paperweight to be moved across the globe so I can get it back to the factory. I am now having to lug my Eos 1n and 85 1.2L everywhere now as it is the only long lens with me that works. At 1.8+kgs thats no fun when the 340g Summarit would have allowed me to leave nearly 1.5Kgs at home!

Hopefully Leica can fix it more quickly than they say but I wont be holding my breath. The problem of which country I will be in then raises its ugly head. My Afghan project will likely be done so the Summarit as a solution to my current needs is over. Even if it is done quickly I will have to keep the 85L and Eos 1n here in case it is not!
 
Prices of 35mm summicrons keep going up almost weekly. its very hard to find recent one for less than $1500. I tried 🙂
Then I was able to pick up 6 months old 35mm Summarit-M for a lot cheaper. I have no issues with the lens, it performs great and its my first leica lens. If i ever find an affordable cron I'll go for it and I'm sure i won't have a problem selling summarit for same amount i paid for it if not more.

I never had another leica lens so I can't compare it, but I had few CV lenses before and my summarit feels better than CV lenses that I had.
 
ferider said:
...

I am objecting to calling a lens that goes for US 1695 at B+H, and for which there are plenty of very competitive offerings at half or quarter price "Low Cost".
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scottwallick said:
For some, the best lenses are the most expensive lenses. Otherwise, how do we know they're the best?
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Well, my grandmother used to say: "we are too poor to buy cheap."

Cheers,
Uwe
 
The main problem with this new series of lenses, is they are too slow for indoor or low-light use.

If I want a slow lens for bright outdoor use, I can get a CV lens that will perform the same (and have).

Oh, and the CV costs less.
 
I'm disappointed when ever I hear of a defective new Leica product. At the Louisville Annual meeting, I borrowed a 75mm Summicron, and loved it. I have not bought one yet--I'd have to sell either my 75 Summilux, or else my 90 A-A, and haven't really worked up to either idea. I thought maybe a 75 Summarit might not be a bad idea instead of the Cron; but not if they are all as bad as the one Turtle got!

I wonder how different pictures with the Summarit would look, compared to shots with 75/2.5 CV? I loved the crisp, biting sharp and saturated images I got withe 75 Summicron that day!
 
it's actually 2/3 +

it's actually 2/3 +

2.5 is 2/3rd stop slower than f2.0.

But in practice, the t-stops could have larger (or smaller) variances.

I have an f1.5 J-3 that is very clean, and whose aperture can be opened up more than the standard opening, yet it measures 1/3 stop slower than all 3 of my summiluxes. It is probably does not have the same coatings as a Leica lens.

kalex said:
its only 1/2 stop slower than cron 🙂
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I haven't posted here in a long time, and I'm sorry it's in a thread like this.

Six months ago I was heartbroken when I was forced to sell my Leica kit, made up of all new series lenses and cameras, and buy a Nikon rig for business reasons. I absolutely love / loved using M camera's and lenses. I really like the Nikon camera's but don't like lugging them around or shooting candidly with them for personal, street type work. There is no issue with quality of end photos with the Nikon, I'd just rather shoot with a Leica. Having said that, the problems I had with Leica service were many. Simple repairs took nine months to be completed and the price of each job was phenomenal! I had to wait a year for a new lens, had repairs returned worse than when sent away, and the list goes on. In the end it got too much. It was a bummer, especially since every piece of vintage Leica gear I've ever owned always worked flawlessly and never missing a beat.

In the last few weeks I have been going over old work I made with my M cameras in preparation for a new exhibition and was really driven to thinking about buying back a simple M6 and 35mm Summarit kit and I thought I'd check in here to see what other people thought of these "cheaper" Leica lenses. It's sad to read others are experiencing the same things that I did.

I hope you have a good resolve on your 75mm issues. I'm sure you'll love the lens when it's in spec.

Regards,

TJV
 
I have a couple of Summarits - 35 & 50 - to go on my s/h TTL. I love them - very small and handy - but I don't really have any experience of other 35s with which to compare them. But I'm happy. I specifically wanted to buy new Leica lenses, and the Summarits were what I could afford. It seems to me that in the long run, someone occasionally has to buy new Leica gear, otherwise there won't be any s/h stuff. I was happy to buy these lenses because I'd read Roger & Frances' review beforehand, also Erwin Putts'. I haven't had any problems with them.

I'm only an occasional user of the Leica. For example, we were recently on a cruise in the Med. Mainly I used a small Canon DSLR but I took the Leica plus lenses (including a s/h 90 Elmarit) on a day trip to Florence. Others on the trip were carting around humungous DSLRs & lenses - several people had 5DIIs hanging from rigs around their chests and necks. One of them paired it with a 24-105L lens which was a pretty big combo, but another chap routinely had a 70-200L IS lens on his. He looked pretty hot, and tired, by the end of the day. Using the Leica enabled me to enjoy being in Florence - my first visit - without being constantly aware of my camera.
 
My math was a bit off

ampguy said:
2.5 is 2/3rd stop slower than f2.0.

But in practice, the t-stops could have larger (or smaller) variances.

I have an f1.5 J-3 that is very clean, and whose aperture can be opened up more than the standard opening, yet it measures 1/3 stop slower than all 3 of my summiluxes. It is probably does not have the same coatings as a Leica lens.
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