What Do We Want From the R Lens Line

[leicar7]

As John Francis pointed out in another thread, the best selling R lenses are the wide zoom and the 28-90 mid-range zoom, both variable aperture lenses which cover what are still the most used focal lengths for most photographers most of the time. There are also 2 f/4 zooms and one f/2.8 remaining in the lineup.

As for primes, there are two categories: the up-to-date ones and the few older ones. The up-to-dates include the 15, 19, 28, 50/1.4, 90/2, 100, the 180s, 280/4, and the modulars. The older set is the 35s, the 50/2, 60, and the 80.

IMHO, right now is crunch time for the R: the line is experiencing a fundamental transition in its cameras and its lens line. The R camera is on the way to an all digital R10, if the rumors have it right. As for zooms, there is only one f/2.8 constant aperture lens. The others are difficult to focus in dim light. The primes are increasingly spotty in their existence, with several important focal lengths missing, while those remaining no longer compete with their M counterparts in imaging capability. The modulars are a case unto themselves as far as sales go - probably pathetic.

Where do R users want Leica to take the R lens line from here? Still fewer fast primes, rendering the reflex camera line even less versatile in all lighting conditions? (I doubt that the 35s and 80 will be that much longer in the lineup, because I doubt anyone buys new ones now.) More zooms? Do we want a dominantly zoom system with the modulars? That's where we are headed now: a linup that look like this - 15, 19, zooms, modular teles with a few primes, maybe only the macros to survive.

What do we want the R lens line to become?

[andybarton]

Now that the 28 f2.8 has been dropped, there's nothing between 19 and 35. Incredible. (Not everyone wants a zoom.)

Personally, I'd like to see a 21 brought back ASAP. The 19mm is a bit expensive and a bit too big for my liking.

Someone here has posted recently that there are some new R lenses in the pipeline.

[leicar7]

Andy,

The 28/2.8R is still listed on the leica-camera site. If I am correct, the idea that it had been dropped turned out to have been a goof by the site manager and was corrected quicktime.

As for new R lenses, I have heard no specific rumors, although I'd not be surprised that something were underway.

[macos]

I definitely would like to see a new 24 (asph) and 35 (asph). A nice add on could also be a new 60 Macro which performs well at the bellow but is also capable of high performance at infinite range. However, the old 60 is still pretty good in this respect and this might be a niche market. So more priority for the 24 and 35, please

Since the new 19 is there, I see minor importance for a new 21 for me personally. Of course others might have other preferences.

For the longer focal distances, a new 135 could also be interesting for travelling if it has less weight/form factor than the 100 APO.

Just my 2 cents
Marc

[robsteve]

The zooms all seem to perform quite well. My 21-35mm exceeds the quality of my 35mm Summicron by quite a margin and is quite similar in quality to the newer 28mm Elmarit-R. But at the wider end, it is lacking compared to the 19mm. As andy suggested, a cheaper 21mm might have a market if they could design one that could perform as well as the 19mm but be a little more compact and less expensive.

Staying with the 21-35mm zoom, a fast 24mm f1.4 would make for a nice lens when the zoom was not fast enough. I imagine the M will be the first to get new fast wides now that the M8 is out. The R might have to settle for a new 24mm F2.

I don't know if there is a need for any fast lenses in the telephoto department. There could be a market for a new 80mm Summilux, but I would bet it would not be cheap and would have a limited market. A 135mm APO Summicron might be the first new telephoto we see, as there has been talk of one in the past.

I am still seeing the M8 as the target for fast low light lenses, so we may be lucky to see anything fater than f2 in the R line.

[robert_parker]

I think the big thing is whatever they produce, the quality has to be there - when it comes down to it, the reason any photographer buys Leica over Cannon or Nikon is the perceptable difference in quality.

[cpclee]

If I didn't have the 21-35 zoom already I'd want to see a new 35/2 comparable to the 35/2 ASPH for the M.

[brunom]

For me, as the R8/9 are already fairly big any new lenses should be short .[ I'm not too bothered about the width of the lenses, or within reason, the weight]. A new f/2 or f/2.8 Asph 24mm and an f/4 Asph internal focus 180mm, would do nicely as long as it was the same size as the old 180mm f/4. I found this lens very useful because of its very small size, and was always carried, but the position of the focusing ring turned me off of it.
,
Bruno

[gvaliquette]

I have a mix of old and new for my R6.2 and R9/DMR. Here is the list:

21mm/f4 Super-Angulon
35mm/f2 Summicron
35mm/f4 PC-Curtagon
80mm/f1.4 Summilux
135mm/f2.5 Elmarit
350/f4.8 Telyt

28-70mm/f3.5 Vario-Elmar (Sigma) Zoom
35-70mm/f2.5 Angenieux Zoom
45-90mm/f2.8 Angenieux Zoom
80-200mm/f4 Vario-Elmar Zoom

2X APO-Extender

What else would I like?

A short Fisheye lens, 12-14mm. With the Super-Elmarit 15mm/F2.8 in the line-up, a fisheye shorter than the (now discontinued) 16mm/f2.8 Fisheye Elmarit should find a niche.

The 15mm/f2.8 Super-Elmarit. (Have to wait until the mortgage on the house is paid off!)

The 21-35mm Zoom.

The 100mm/f2.8 APO-Macro-Elmarit.

A 135mm/f2 APO-Summicron. It can transmute into a 270mm/f4 APO with the APO-Extender!

Constant aperture zooms at f2.8 with front lens mounts that do NOT rotate (think polarizers)

Oh, and a winning lottery ticket!

[kim]

I would like to see the following R lens in the future:

24-90mm with constant f2.8 aperture and image stabilization (this would be my dream travel lens)
17-35mm with constant f2.8 aperture
24mm f1.4 or f2.0
28mm f1.4 or f2.0
updated 35mm f1.4 or 2.0

Only some dreams:

Summilux lenses from 35 to 100 ...

Summicron lenses from 25 to 200 ...

3 zooms with constant aperture 2,8: 25-70, 35-100 and 70-200 ...

Noctilux 50 and Apo-Macro-Summicron 50 ...

Apo-Macro-Elmarit 200 ...

That's all ...

[zapp]

Not knowing what a digital R wil be like - we are not bound to the 24x36m² format anymore - we cannot seriouly decide what is needed. Sure enough some intermediate wide angle lens as well as several lens overhauls. What is really missing, is a sign of commitment that the R system is going to continue - one lens may be enough for now, Leica will know what focal length.