johnbuckley Posted November 13, 2012 Share #1 Â Posted November 13, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) The 50mm APO-Summincron-ASPH was announced on May 10th, with an expected delivery, I believe, in late July. In late July, we were led to believe it would be delivered "in November." Or at least that's what I recall. Does anyone know if any have actually been delivered? (I remember in late September, they seemed to have been in stock via Amazon, but I don't know if that was something like Big Foot* or the Loch Ness Monster** -- people swearing to have seen it, but still no proof.) Does anyone know if any have been delivered? Any news on it at all? Â * No offense to Big Foot fans. Â ** No offense to Lochie fans. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 13, 2012 Posted November 13, 2012 Hi johnbuckley, Take a look here Any 50mm APO-Summicron-ASPH Deliveries Yet?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Jay B Posted November 13, 2012 Share #2 Â Posted November 13, 2012 Last Friday I chatted with Justin Stailey, the Leica USA M-system guru. His sources in Solms are currently suggesting a late 1st quarter '13 delivery. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted November 13, 2012 Share #3 Â Posted November 13, 2012 Look on the bright side - more time to save up for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MarcRF Posted November 13, 2012 Share #4 Â Posted November 13, 2012 better receiving a finished product that satisfies late than something that doesnt work up to the expectations Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuckley Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share #5 Â Posted November 13, 2012 Last Friday I chatted with Justin Stailey, the Leica USA M-system guru.His sources in Solms are currently suggesting a late 1st quarter '13 delivery. Â Wow. Three quarters post announcement, and then the queue begins. Not to mention that we still will be saving all of our change, searching behind the cushions on the sofa, and returning bottles for the deposit in order to buy the M. I thought 2012 was going to be the year Leica bankrupted me. No wonder 13 is an unlucky number... Â But thanks :-( Â And if anyone has any happier news, please let us know! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MarcRF Posted November 13, 2012 Share #6 Â Posted November 13, 2012 I've held it for a few seconds when I was in Solms last week, feels great Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillavoider Posted November 13, 2012 Share #7  Posted November 13, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) better receiving a finished product that satisfies late than something that doesnt work up to the expectations  couldn't be more true for this lens. for so much money it will have to be better then perfect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
enboe Posted November 14, 2012 Share #8 Â Posted November 14, 2012 The latest rumors from a local stockist is sometime in the November/December timeframe. Oh, and the in-stock on Amazon a couple of months ago was an honest-to-goodness, human-generated clerical error. No harm came of it. In the mean time, there's a great range of world-class Leica lenses, many in our own possession. Â Yes, 2013 will be an expensive year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivar B Posted November 14, 2012 Share #9 Â Posted November 14, 2012 I saw a large Leica dealer in Germany last week, and reportedly the lens is very very difficult to produce and up to 95/100 lenses do not pass the final quality control. Apparently the problem is also that the lens cannot be fully appraised until production is complete, so quality control cannot be done fully in the various production steps. Â One possibly reaches the overall conclution that the price of 6000 Euros or so is justifiable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
01af Posted November 14, 2012 Share #10  Posted November 14, 2012 For so much money it will have to be better than perfect. Unfortunately, it will never be perfect  The hood ist way too short. So is the focusing throw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted November 14, 2012 Share #11 Â Posted November 14, 2012 I saw a large Leica dealer in Germany last week, and reportedly the lens is very very difficult to produce and up to 95/100 lenses do not pass the final quality control Back in 1968-69 the Leica dealer I worked for had toured the Leitz Midland plant, and reported seeing the final QC inspectors marking across the front element of a tray of lenses with a yellow wax "X" for those that didn't pass final image quality tests. I believe then they took a series of test photos with each lens. Leitz quality control has always been a final hurdle in production. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
palec Posted November 14, 2012 Share #12  Posted November 14, 2012 better receiving a finished product that satisfies late than something that doesnt work up to the expectations  why not? if a problem will be discovered in early samples and lens production stopped just to come up with new adjusted type months later, the value of original one will be doubled Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bybrett Posted November 14, 2012 Share #13  Posted November 14, 2012 I saw a large Leica dealer in Germany last week, and reportedly the lens is very very difficult to produce and up to 95/100 lenses do not pass the final quality control. Apparently the problem is also that the lens cannot be fully appraised until production is complete, so quality control cannot be done fully in the various production steps. One possibly reaches the overall conclution that the price of 6000 Euros or so is justifiable.  True, and remember that originally this was to be a limited edition lens. Now delayed until March btw... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
enboe Posted November 14, 2012 Share #14 Â Posted November 14, 2012 I call dibs on one of the five that passed inspection! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted November 14, 2012 Share #15  Posted November 14, 2012 I saw a large Leica dealer in Germany last week, and reportedly the lens is very very difficult to produce and up to 95/100 lenses do not pass the final quality control. Apparently the problem is also that the lens cannot be fully appraised until production is complete, so quality control cannot be done fully in the various production steps. One possibly reaches the overall conclution that the price of 6000 Euros or so is justifiable.  VERY Interesting. I wonder how that ratio is with other lenses. I wonder if thats how they keep the summarit price down but slackening the quality control tolerances. I wonder what it is for the Noctilux and Summilux's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-hawinkler Posted November 15, 2012 Share #16 Â Posted November 15, 2012 I wonder how these lenses, that didn't pass the final quality control, compare optically to the regular Summicrons? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted November 15, 2012 Share #17 Â Posted November 15, 2012 I wonder how these lenses, that didn't pass the final quality control, compare optically to the regular Summicrons? Â And I wonder where the rubbish bin is Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-hawinkler Posted November 15, 2012 Share #18  Posted November 15, 2012 And I wonder where the rubbish bin is   :D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted November 15, 2012 Share #19 Â Posted November 15, 2012 Hello Everybody, Â 50% or sometimes more time & efffort spent on quality control, often w/ the best & most experienced personnel, is not unusual in some types of work. If these lenses are being built individually, essentially as someone would build a prototype, then spending more time w/ more experienced personnel doing quality control than was done with the basic manufacturing is not @ all unrealistric. Â Best Regards, Â Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MarcRF Posted November 15, 2012 Share #20  Posted November 15, 2012 VERY Interesting. I wonder how that ratio is with other lenses. I wonder if thats how they keep the summarit price down but slackening the quality control tolerances. I wonder what it is for the Noctilux and Summilux's.  I've seen the production in Solms last week. they dont cheap out at quality control at the summarits. it's just non-aspherical surfaces and smaller aperture. positive side is great quality in a small package  I've been told it takes 21 days to build a summilux for example... but thats nothing compared to the noctilux. quality control is huge there. you'd expect that given the price tag and the sensitivity of the glass which has to cool down slowly for 3 months...  when we see the result of cold glass and brass/aluminium we're quite likely to forget what effort is behind that little jewel  I don't think the quality control of the noctilux is any stricter than that of the apo asph 50 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.