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Will you buy a 28mm Summicron?


bpalme

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Rumor is it's coming. I bet it will be up there with the 24 Summilux in price.

I love my Summicron but prefer the colors of the 35 FLE. If I can get 35 FLE color a little wider it would really be sweet. But.. I don't think I would shell out that kind of money for it since I'm mainly a 50mm person.

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Rumor is it's coming. I bet it will be up there with the 24 Summilux in price.

I love my Summicron but prefer the colors of the 35 FLE. If I can get 35 FLE color a little wider it would really be sweet. But.. I don't think I would shell out that kind of money for it since I'm mainly a 50mm person.

 

Unless I have to feed my starving children nothing will separate me from my 2.0/28 Summicron ASPH and 1.4/50 Summilux ASPH. I love my other lenses but these two are not negotiable.

 

Not interested......I think:rolleyes:

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Rumor is it's coming. I bet it will be up there with the 24 Summilux in price.

I love my Summicron but prefer the colors of the 35 FLE. If I can get 35 FLE color a little wider it would really be sweet. But.. I don't think I would shell out that kind of money for it since I'm mainly a 50mm person.

 

I won't buy it, as I already own one. Unless you mean a Summilux, of course, which I won't buy either. I'm done with buying M-glass, I have all the ones I want, except maybe one day I'll add a f1.0 Noctilux.

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I have 3 24s, 4 28s (if you include the two MATEs) and 5 35s (again if you include the two MATEs) so I think a 28mm Summilux might be one too many. If such a lens is coming, I think it will steal sales from other lenses rather than create a whole lot of additional sales.

 

What I would really like Leica to do is revist the Tri-Elmar and do a Bi-Summicron.

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I think Leica have made a 28mm Summilux because they can, it is a technical exercise in what is possible. But for the practical applications of it I can't see the point at all. The 28mm Summicron is already one of Leica's finest lenses, so apart from one f/stop and a bigger size (I assume) the Summilux is not going in my camera bag.

 

Steve

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Let us suppose that bpalme literally means a 28mm Summicron. That lens exists, of course, so the question would mean "will you buy a NEW 28mm Summicron?"

 

There is no call to revise the optics of this excellent lens. There is a call to revise the mount, which does need better mechanical integrity (the front has a tendency to become unstuck) and a more reasonable hood than the present monstrosity. I think there's a good chance that the Photokina will se such a revised lens.

 

Would I buy it? I have owned the current lens, but sold it when I changed from a M8 to a M9. On a M8, this was a near approximation to my favourite 35mm angle-of-view, and as such, it was and is a lovely lens. But on a M9 it was (of course) a 28mm lens which I find little use for. If I need a wider angle-of-view than that of a 35mm, I need something appreciably wider, meaning at least 24mm. Today, it is a 21mm Super-Elmar.

 

The other possible meaning is "will you buy a 28mm Summilux?" First, such a lens would have such a wide front diameter – it would probably need a 55mm filter size – that it would intrude into the 28mm frame in the finder in a completely unacceptable manner. You would have to use that lens with an accessory finder. So I do not think that such a lens would materialise.

 

And even if it did materialise, and I wanted a 28mm lens, I would not buy it because there is no real need for Summilux-speed lenses. We do not use Kodachrome 64 anymore. And if you want separation of subject and background, then you willl have enough of it at f:2. Placement of the sharp parts is indeed an important part of composition, but you can be subtle about it. A slight unsharpness is enough to direct the viewer's attention to the sharp part. You don't have to hit him (I won't apologise for using the masculine form only in this context) across the head with a baseball bat. Must the viewer really cry "wow, that part is really unsharp! The photographer must mean it to be unsharp, I suppose. So he means that the sharp part is the important one!"?

 

The unconscious is more powerful than the obvious.

 

Yes, I own a 35mm Summilux and a 50mm Summilux. But both are relics of the Kodachrome Age, when we sometimes needed the speed. And I owned a 50mm Summilux even before the ASPH, because of the unreliability of the current Summicron in the matter of internal reflections and funny stray light phenomena.

 

The old man from the Kodachrome Age

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I am extremely happy with my 28 Summicron, I would neither buy an updated version nor a 28 Summilux. ( I do use it with the hood 12589, smaller than the original one and works perfectly).

 

And I am very happy indeed with my 28mm Elmarit ASPH. Small, light, with a compact but effective lens hood and the lens does everything I want from that focal length brilliantly. Saw no justification for spending twice as much on a Summicron so that applies in spades for a Summilux, should one be introduced.

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the elmarit has slightly less distortion, it also does not intrude into the range finder window

it also has slightly more contrast (a disadvantage or advantage, depending on your point of view)

 

its the old adage, do you need f2 at this FL or not ?

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I am extremely happy with my 28 Summicron, I would neither buy an updated version nor a 28 Summilux. ( I do use it with the hood 12589, smaller than the original one and works perfectly).

 

I did the same thing buying the smaller hood. I believe it was mentioned on this forum a few years ago. Works great and makes a smaller footprint in my bag.

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Though I am a film photographer, the 28 Elmarit-M Asph is a lens I could consider, predominantly for daytime usage. It's so small and the price/performance ratio is really quite excellent.

 

If Brian did mean a Summilux then my answer would be "no, I won't buy it" due the likely size of the lens. I'm not often in need of 28 and when I need something wider than my 50 I go for 35.

 

Leica is currently maintaining two lens lines in the 21, 24 and 28 focal length segments, three in the 35 and a pretty incredible 5 lines in the 50. There's been doubt whether they will keep the older "plain" sister of the 50 APO but perhaps they

 

In a predominantly digital era where the extremely wide apertures are not really necessary for either ISO or bokeh reasons, one may wonder if it is a wise business decision to keep several lines alive at any given focal length. Where the lenses are updated according to modern optical specs and gain similar characteristics, the wisdom of the decision can be further discussed. Of course, there are photographers who do see the differences in rendering between, say, the 28 Summicron and 28 Elmarit-M and have a need for them both or prefer one over the other. I have no problem with that. But one wonders if Leica ought to further spread itself by introducing yet another line in the 28 segment.

 

Personally, given my preferences in terms of focal lengths and the fact that 28 is quite close to 28, I would prefer that they introduce a 24 Summicron.

 

Philip

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Sure, I'd love to have a 28 Summilux. But since I don't happen to have a spare $8000USD lounging in my bank account, I'll make do with my 28 summicron.

 

Maybe Seal or Brad Pitt will let me borrow theirs from time to time.:rolleyes:

 

 

May be you could get a loan from bocaburger, once he inherits the billion dollars.....

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I tend to agree with Philip: Adding new lenses to an already staggering array for a niche camera will do little to increase general lens sales for Leica. Instead, new lenses with different specifications – especially extreme specifications – will generate more talk than sales, as the new lenses cannibalize the existing ones.

 

I must say that many of the new introductions – the superwide Summiluxes, the Noctilux 0.95, the 50mm Apo-Summicron – look like stunt lenses, created to impress the impressable. At the same time, there have been new lenses, like the 21mm Super-Elmar, that have been very sensible indeed. Do the Gnomes of Solms have split personalities?

 

There are lenses that well could be revised. As I have stated before, the 28mm Summicron does need a new mount. A less flare-prone 50mm Smmicron – at a price less than €6000 – would also have been a boon. Even 24 and 21mm Summicron lenses would have been defensible from a general user's point of view.

 

Leica Camera has a need to return to Max Berek's philosophy: To supply ordinary working photographers and enthusiasts with tools to make good pictures. This must be part of Leica's breaking out from the bling niche, where it will otherwise slowly wither and die.

 

The old man from the Age of Photography

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I must say that many of the new introductions – the superwide Summiluxes, the Noctilux 0.95, the 50mm Apo-Summicron – look like stunt lenses, created to impress the impressable. At the same time, there have been new lenses, like the 21mm Super-Elmar, that have been very sensible indeed. Do the Gnomes of Solms have split personalities?

 

Its fairly obvious to me that they are building (i) an array of lower cost (Leica style) lenses which are outstanding (28mm elmarit, 35mm summarit) and (ii) mid range and (iii) a high range.

 

This seems entirely sensible (particularly with the bifurcation into the ME and Mx)

 

The Nocilux may have been first, but they obviously can expand this range due to the success of the noctilux. And why not ? I presume they love lens stuff, so they let themselves go and design the best they possibly can just for fun, because loads of people will buy it and because they can.

 

I am glad there are companies out there who still do crazy things like that.

And I say that as someone who will never be able to afford their high range

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