Will you pay $7,195 for the new 50 'cron Asph?

[sanmich]

I think part of the anger felt against Leica (by me at least) for the cron price tag is that they are touching a sensitive nerve.
most of us don't care how they price an ostrich/platinum covered camera, because we don't need it.
making a move that will probably boost the price of all 50mm f/2 in M mount over the planet on the other hand...
That, justified by an increase of sharpness that will most probably be pointless in 99,9% of real life situations.

 

[Clovis]

True. In fairness, look at the prices of prime lenses for cinematography if you want a reality check.

Why? Cinema seems like a totally different market with different requirements (consistent and accurate T-stops for one)...

 

[Keith]

I guess this lens is squarely aimed at M9 (M9-M) owners and any film shooter who buys it would be struggling to justify the extra resolution because 135 film won't show it!

This is for the pixel peepers IMO ... and that's pixel peepers who have already paid over seven grand for a digital body. It's just another Leica product that I (and a lot of people) will never buy so I can't generate any angst! 😛

 

[semilog]

The point is that making optics to the very highest standard is not cheap. You can easily drop $8000 on a microscope objective from Nikon, Olympus, Zeiss, or Leica (no longer the same company as the camera company). Overkill for a handheld camera, though.

 

[filmfan]

I won't be purchasing it, that's for sure. In fact, I think it's kind of silly. However I am in favor of anything that makes Leica $ so they can get back to work investing it in R+D for the next products that they really want to make-- the things we want them to make.

 

[baisao]

As proven by IG Farben in WWII.

Right? Or perhaps that word -- "only" -- does not mean what you think it means.

Brilliant! Add IBM, Bayer, and so many others to that infamous 'only'

 

[tokyoshooter]

This thread is now 10 pages long and not a single serious buyer has emerged yet...

 

[Moriturii]

On a different note. I'd like to see some pictures with this lens with whatever the "sharpest" film is.

 

[konicaman]

Is there a way to fit it on my FED 2.....?

 

[Araakii]

...could never bring myself to pay that amount for a 50mm/2 lens, just would not feel comfortable knowing that I could be that selfish. There is a serious sense of greed running through-out the pricing of Leica products which spilled into the used Leica market place, with a vengeance, over these last couple of years. The greed becomes painfully apparent in the disconnect between the pricing of their equipment and the actual value of these products. This lens is a prime example of that disconnect along with the B&W M9 and let's not forget the illegitimate (NOTE: the blog censored me & would not allow me to use that other word for illegitimate which starts with a bas and ends with a tard, just how funny is that?) S2 camera format, a format not needed by anyone, a format not requested by anyone (that I know of [the qualifier]) nor better than what already exists...but a format created nonetheless to generate enormous price tags. Oh, did I say that I would not be purchasing the new Leica 50? 😎

I see a lot of words like greed, profit, extremely wealthy company etc, but Leica almost went out of business not too long ago and do you actually know how much it costs to make the new 50? I have no idea but I can't imagine that it's cheap.

If a company charges say $7000 for a product that costs $4500 to make, compared with a company like Apple that charges $400 for something that costs $90 to make. Who is the greedy party here? And extremely wealthy? At least Leica doesn't have $100 billion in cash and still dodges paying their fair share of income taxes.

Guess what. If Leica was a US company that generates tons of good jobs for Americans, people would treat it like a national hero.

 

[Lss]

This thread is now 10 pages long and not a single serious buyer has emerged yet...

Seeing that some people think only buying this lens would qualify as a bigger crime than making and selling this lens, I don't think any serious buyer would even like to make their intentions known. 😀

 

[Araakii]

Seeing that some people think only buying this lens would qualify as a bigger crime than making and selling this lens, I don't think any serious buyer would even like to make their intentions known. 😀

I think the real buyers are too busy making money.

 

[Araakii]

Just read this

Eduardo Saverin, the co- founder of Facebook, renounced his U.S. citizenship before an IPO that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill.

And guess what, a lot of people in this country strive to become someone like him. Greed has always been rewarded handsomely in this country.

 

[LChanyungco]

i wonder if the Summicron asph 50mm will have the explosive flare-arrhea of the previous ones.

 

[sanmich]

i wonder if the Summicron asph 50mm will have the explosive flare-arrhea of the previous ones.

Agreed. the only drawback I know of, of the current version.
BTW, in my case, the problem was due to the use of reflective paint in the inner rear barrel. It was solved by a 50$ repaint job at DAG.
(How silly a design flaw can be on such an expensive lens??:bang🙂

 

[LChanyungco]

Thanks for that valuable information Michael. I would have kept and had mine fixed if I knew 🙂

BTW, in my case, the problem was due to the use of reflective paint in the inner rear barrel. It was solved by a 50$ repaint job at DAG.
(How silly a design flaw can be on such an expensive lens??:bang🙂

 

[BobYIL]

Time to bring some technical explanation to this subject.

First off this lens is an f2 lens, no matter if it would be offered for $7,195 or $1,195 or $77,195 it will remain as an f2 lens and will never be an f1.4 lens and will never replace the f1.4 Summilux asph. no matter if it can resolve 100 lines/mm at f2. (Another practical question is where one would need 20% more resolution at f2.)

The MTF curves of the Summicron asph. is fascinating.. fine, but so are the MTF curves of the Summilux asph.

First the Summicron asph. at it's optimum aperture:

Now the Summilux asph.

and the current lowly Summicron 50/2.

For the sharpness freaks, here's another Leica lens costing less than $1.000 mint: Macro-Elmarit-R 60/2.8. (Compare them to the aspherical Summicron.)

I do not believe that it would be possible to detect the differences amongst these lenses at these apertures unless the final prints are enlarged to A2 size (16x24") and inspected from close distance. Also the differences, if any to detect, would make us only smile about.

Do not mind much about the wavy run of the transfer curves of the current Summicron: The sharpest Summicron I have is the V4 (tabbed, same formula as the curent one) and it has been tested down to the smallest detail against the Macro-Elmarit 60/2.8 at optimum apertures; I could not see any differences to admit one is being clearly sharper than the other one as the curves imply us to think about.

Regarding CA: As for the regular Summicron 50/2 whether they have any complaints about, the M9 owners should comment. (I did not detect any. Also CA is easy to eliminate in PP.)

My personal belief: If this aspherical Summicron has been introduced before and the current aspherical Summilux was announced these days, I believe that the price tag of the latter would be higher than the former one. Today, if I would be offered these two lenses with the same price I would choose the Summilux.

The S2 Leica, as we all know, is the incomparable summit of the "Leica sharpness". Some weeks ago there were at least two separate photography sites that ran tests to post results of the D800E against the S2. The outcome was amazing and surprising for us all (see with your own eyes to believe.)

Long story short: If you are after higher sharpness than what you achieve with the current Summicron or Summilux, then more MP is the REAL, secure, simple and less costly way (probably the only way). No need to listen to the "commercials".

 

[cameosis]

i just bought two copies as backup lenses for my jupiter-8.

 

[steveyork]

Its not small beans to professional artists. Why should we support a company that won't serve us? I'd rather support those who do. No different than refusing to eat at a restaurant with expensive food and poor service. Our money is our power in a free market economy. Intelligent people realize that and make use of that power.

You do realize that by purchasing and using USED Leica products you do support the company, albeit indirectly. If you're really that pissed off, get rid of all your Leica stuff.

 

[rxmd]

Its not small beans to professional artists. Why should we support a company that won't serve us? I'd rather support those who do.

In other news, I hear that some farmers where angry when Lamborghini sold their tractor division and concentrated on making silly sports cars instead.

Leica just isn't that company anymore and hasn't been in a while. The fact that their luxury goods will also produce decent pictures in the hands of a skilled photographer doesn't make them any less so. No matter what their marketing says, Leica does not cater to professional artists, no more than Rolex ownership is about knowing the time of the day.

You sound pretty angry and bitter about it, but you're probably just venting. Anyway, if this does bother you so much that it becomes a moral issue for you, I suggest you stop using Leica rather sooner than later, because the Leica of the 1950s that was about photojournalists and artists is gone and is not coming back.