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Summilux 28 now out!


matlep

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I would point out that you live in Sydney's inner east, where pompous prats speaking cultivated Australian English are not that uncommon.  :p

Isn't this guy your local member? 

Ha! Pretty good, but I prefer that UKIP mouthpiece; I find his posturing not so obvious. Our Congress has its share of knuckleheads but I don't watch CPAN although I'm sure they're nowhere near as stylin' as your guys. Props. (Our VP crashed today and is very likely out of the Tour. Does that count?)

 

s-a

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"It completes the high speed prime lens family." From the Leica web page.

 

I guess that means no new 75 Summilux in the foreseeable future....

 

 

Well spotted.  Less concern about future Summilux GAS.

 

I'm very happy with my old 75 Summilux and 75 APO-Summicron.

 

I think they would struggle to get a new 75 Summilux to outperform the current 75 APO-Summicron and make it worth buying for one extra stop.

 

Don't worry guys ;-)

 

This is simply a "lost in translation" in the transfer from original German text to the English language site.

 

In German it is written:

 

"Es ergänzt damit die Familie der lichtstarken Hochleistungsobjektive."

 

Which literally means:

 

"It therefore supplements the family of the large aperture high performance lenses."

 

In the original German text this wording does not at all point at a closure of f1.4 lens introductions.

 

Regarding the lens itself - it looks quite uncomfortably humongous.

One thing I absolutely love about the 28 Summicron is that with lens hood removed, it is not that much larger than a 35 Summicron on a Leica M and shares the standard E46 filters. The 28 Summilux looks like a substantial lens.

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Ha! Pretty good, but I prefer that UKIP mouthpiece; I find his posturing not so obvious. Our Congress has its share of knuckleheads but I don't watch CPAN although I'm sure they're nowhere near as stylin' as your guys. Props. (Our VP crashed today and is very likely out of the Tour. Does that count?)

 

s-a

 

 

So yes I live in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal party) is my federal parliamentary representative.  

 

Much of this is for our non-Antipodean colleagues.

 

I should say from the outset that I like Labour party values but the party is incompetent.

I hate the Liberals but they generally get things (that I don't like) done.

Hence my dilemma  :wacko: except Malcolm is the best Labour member of the Liberal Party   ;) .

 

He is actually a great intellect and asset to the parliament (wouldn't think so from the performance here), a small 'L' liberal on environmental and social issues.  Many of the Liberals don't like his politics because he's socially and enviromnentally to the left of them.

 

You should see what we otherwise have to put up with down here!

 

 

I don't know whether he has a Leica   :D.

Edited by MarkP
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I just received my 1:1.4/28mm ASPH. Production date 3/27, so these have been in the pipeline for a while.

 

The lens is hefty, but much better balanced and smaller than the 21 or even 24 SX (weight is at the rear mount, not top-heavy at all like its wider brothers). Stiff focus  :) and no feel of FLE engagement at all. The rear element is quite large, so the lens must throw  a big image circle...  hence good corners on FF.

 

My bodies are at home, so it will be a while before I can find out about the real value...  images at 1.4.

 

But the feel of the lens is excellent. If the size of the 50 SX in acceptable to you, then I think the 28 SX will seem very manageable. I think it will take about as much space in my b-Laika as the 24/ 2.8 does.

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Totally agree with gpwhite about the size and feel of the lens, it is very well balanced.  The measurements provided by Leica refer to the full length to the rear element, rather than to the lens mount - the length to the mount is approx 55 and 69 mm without/with hood.

 

Just one question for gpwhite, does your copy have a filter thread - mine doesn't, but was made even earlier than yours in November last year and I wondered whether the design had evolved or the instruction manual was incorrect...

 

 

 

Andrew

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Andrew,  now that you ask, no, there is no way to attach a glass filter to the lens as it is supplied with the Leica hood. You could cut and bend in a gelatin filter, very carefully, but that could be a recipe for image problems too.

 

You raise an interesting point here because a 1.4 lens opening on an MM is a real issue without a ND filter. I assumed that Leica's listing of an E49 filter size was meaningful  :o . Looks like Leica was trying to say that if the 28 SX could accept filters, which it cannot because there is no internal threading at all, they would be something like E49 filters.

 

Could this be a way to help Q sales? I mean, the f/1.7 Q will have filter threads, right?

 

BTW... November production. You must be one of the special few,  :ph34r:  Cheers!

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Thank you, jrp. It's strange that they decide to include a dummy filter. I'm looking forward to some comparisons against the Cron 28. My Cron 28 is excellent stopping down for landscape, and nice enough at WO. It just has a bit of focus shift and poor close focus performance, a result of lacking floating element no doubt.

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If folks cast their minds back, John Milich made a very neat filter holder for the WATE. Leica also made one but depending on which country you were in, it was either Rube Goldberg or Heath Robinson device. I see no reason there could not be something like John Milich's device for the 28 Summilux, which then has an external thread for the original hood. The only issue might be vignetting, which might have been the thinking behind the external hood thread. 

 

Wilson

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It does have a filter thread, if you remove the "dummy" filter that is screwed on the front.

 

jrp,  thank you so much. How did you figure that out?

 

Reading your comment, I grabbed the front of my lens and just twisted hard. Indeed, a fully finished ring began to nudge. The internal threading was then revealed, and it goes very deep into the front of the barrel. This must be to reduce possible vignetting, and then the finished ring serves as a dirt stop over this very deep grove at the front of the lens. Nice.

 

I do not see mention of this nice feature in the instruction book....  but then the book also eliminated the rear element in its diagram. Fortunately, my lens does have the rear element.

 

Andrew, does your November model 28 SX have this (until jrp's help) hidden feature?

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Thanks jrp and gpwhite for your thoughts.

 

jrp, out of interest when was your lens manufactured?

 

I tried with the guys at the Leica store to remove what looked like a "dummy filter" but it wasn't moving, so thought I'd ask the question before forcing things.  The lens hood looks as though it might have space to trap a filter in between the hood and the lens - I'll try both over the weekend when I have a 49mm filter handy.

 

Really appreciate all your input and advice.

 

Best regards,

 

 

Andrew

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