vafa Posted February 20, 2011 Share #1 Posted February 20, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi there, not trying to start rumors but been looking to buy a 50 F2. But cant find a new one. Seems like any where I checked has been sold out, including B&H and Adorama! So I was woundering if anyone has any idea why this lens is not available new? Is it that popular? Thanks, Vafa Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 Hi vafa, Take a look here New vers.50/ F2 on the way?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
hunz Posted February 20, 2011 Share #2 Posted February 20, 2011 Hey, for real?!? - my pet donkey whispered the same thing in my ear when I fed him his favourite variety of carrots last night. more whispers, chatter, whispers.. thats how rumors start.. :D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecar Posted February 20, 2011 Share #3 Posted February 20, 2011 I wouldn't hold my breath... Almost ALL Leica M lenses are hard to find these days. The success of the M9 seems to have increased demand for lenses too. Also, Solms appears to manufacture lenses in batches, which explains why a given lens may be out of stock nearly everywhere. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppyman Posted February 20, 2011 Share #4 Posted February 20, 2011 Vafa, my dealer recently told me that their has been heavier demand for the Summicrons too since many people are waitng for the Summilux 50 ASPH. I'm told that the next batch is not due to be produced until March. If that's so of course stock on dealer's shelves will take longer to appear after that. My recommendation is to place an order in advance (for just about all of the lenses) with a reputable dealer now. I'm not aware of any information that there will be a new model. I think that speculation is partly based on it being an older design now and many others have been updates as you would know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted February 20, 2011 Share #5 Posted February 20, 2011 There's not much wrong with the existing Summicron, the classic normal lens which has the simplest mount - none of this close focus correction stuff which makes the mount stiff to use - and producing a new ASPH version is hardly going to set the world on fire. Leica has proved with the Summarits that the market is not overly price sensitive. I keep my chrome Summicron as a reference lens to check rangefinder alignment. It's tough to know where Leica will go with new lens designs. The 35mm Summilux was arguably the lens which most needed fixing and now it has been. Any new design inevitably steals sales from other lenses of the same or adjacent focal lengths and the range is quite crowded. I suppose though that if they are to retain their lens designing talent, there has to be new projects to feed them, in which case my vote would be for a new variable focal length lens and why not divert some of the talent to sorting out the viewfinder/rangefinder. Please. Finally. M9 IQ is limited, IMVHO, by the camera not the lenses. I took some images at ISO 2500 last evening for the first time in ages and was shocked how noisy they were. Dreadful, spoiled for too long by the Nikon D3*. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clandrel Posted February 20, 2011 Share #6 Posted February 20, 2011 I knoe a guy who visited the factory, and asked if they were goinna redesign the 50/ into ASPH. But they said no, because the price of that lens would be close to the 50/1.4, so no point making it. People would rather buy the 50/1.4. /c Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Gunst Lund Posted February 20, 2011 Share #7 Posted February 20, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) There's not much wrong with the existing Summicron, the classic normal lens which has the simplest mount - none of this close focus correction stuff which makes the mount stiff to use - and producing a new ASPH version is hardly going to set the world on fire. Leica has proved with the Summarits that the market is not overly price sensitive. I keep my chrome Summicron as a reference lens to check rangefinder alignment. It's tough to know where Leica will go with new lens designs. The 35mm Summilux was arguably the lens which most needed fixing and now it has been. Any new design inevitably steals sales from other lenses of the same or adjacent focal lengths and the range is quite crowded. I suppose though that if they are to retain their lens designing talent, there has to be new projects to feed them, in which case my vote would be for a new variable focal length lens and why not divert some of the talent to sorting out the viewfinder/rangefinder. Please. Finally. M9 IQ is limited, IMVHO, by the camera not the lenses. I took some images at ISO 2500 last evening for the first time in ages and was shocked how noisy they were. Dreadful, spoiled for too long by the Nikon D3*. I agree, I'm also shooting D3 and I would really like to see a new M with a similar sensor, shooting with confidence at high ISO is just so much easier with the D3 having the possibility to stop down lenses, and shoot higher shutter speeds it all just adds to the artistic room of freedom. Many of the lenses are outstanding, I see no immediate ned for upgrades on lenses,,, It is rater limited what focal lengths you need lenses on a rangefinder, DSLR is another ballgame, although I personally have found a point of; enough is enough,,, Please give us an M with high ISO Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted February 20, 2011 Share #8 Posted February 20, 2011 .... It's tough to know where Leica will go with new lens designs. The 35mm Summilux was arguably the lens which most needed fixing and now it has been. Any new design inevitably steals sales from other lenses of the same or adjacent focal lengths and the range is quite crowded. I suppose though that if they are to retain their lens designing talent, there has to be new projects to feed them,..... A 28mm Summarit might be a welcome addition to that range. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted February 20, 2011 Share #9 Posted February 20, 2011 A 28mm Summarit might be a welcome addition to that range. Not really when there is the 28 Elmarit ASPH. Great lens in all respects. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cwcheung Posted February 20, 2011 Share #10 Posted February 20, 2011 Any chance to have a 21 Elmar (E46 filter)? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vafa Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share #11 Posted February 20, 2011 Thank you all for your helpful replies. This is my first Leica lens purchase, so I'm doing my home work. I got my m8 about a year ago and started with a CV 35/ 1.4. And later got a Zeise 28. I've read many good thing about 50/2 and seems the price is reasonable by Leica standards. Thanks again for all the good info. Vafa Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xmas Posted February 20, 2011 Share #12 Posted February 20, 2011 Thank you all for your helpful replies. This is my first Leica lens purchase, so I'm doing my home work. I got my m8 about a year ago and started with a CV 35/ 1.4. And later got a Zeise 28. I've read many good thing about 50/2 and seems the price is reasonable by Leica standards.Thanks again for all the good info. Vafa Probably not, Leica would probably only redesign if one of the glass types was quarantined. The summarit f/2.5 is a more modern lens and comparable or better in performance, The ZM Planar ditto, the post Elmar f/2.8 2nd hand ditto, the LTM CV f/2.5 (2nd) hand cheap and useful. If they did redesign it would probably not be in the shops as a shelf item for a while. Noel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted February 20, 2011 Share #13 Posted February 20, 2011 It has often been said, that Leica does not hold a new 50mm Summicron for worthwhile. We don't know their strategy for lenses and if they have any it doesn't always seem to be really convincing. Though on the other hand I don't think the Leica optical department will say: "O.k., the present catalogue is all we could do, there is no work left for us. Good bye." So looking at the data, if there will be a new lens for the M in the next years, probabilty is high that it will be a new 50mm Summicron: It's the oldest lens design for the M. It's the only non-aspherical Summicron. It has some weakness for flare. With the Summarit at 1095,- and the Summilux at 2795,- € a Summicron asph. for say 2000,-€ could make more marketing sense than the present one for 1595,- €. At the present situation I should not wait for a new one. They have to get their present catalogue into the shops and have to develop the S-lenses further before thinking of new M-lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted February 20, 2011 Share #14 Posted February 20, 2011 Uli is right, the Summicron is the oldest design. Even if it is a hallmark lens, I would not be surprised if Peter Karbe could improve on it. I feel it is due for a redesign. Whether it is needed to make it into an asph is another matter - that might push the price too high. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted February 21, 2011 Share #15 Posted February 21, 2011 Meanwhile, you might consider the Summarit. It is optically just as good or better than the 'cron, and build quality of the Summarit lenses is very good. It is 2/3 of a stop slower than the 'cron, but that is not the deal breaker it was with film. And you can probably buy it from the shelf, because many fools sell the Summarit lenses short because of the unfamiliar name. The old man who doesn't care about lens names Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppyman Posted February 21, 2011 Share #16 Posted February 21, 2011 Uliwer I would just add that Peter Karbe and his lens design team have more to work on than the M lenses as you say. Herr Karbe has said that he considers some of the new S lenses to be the best optically of any kind that Leica Camera has ever produced. I think though that integrating the shutters is causing a lot of late hours there right now! Entirely personal speculation (no known facts or rumour) personally I would not be surprised if the Summicron 50 is just produced rarely from now on, if at all. When you look at the current M catalogue EVERY new design after the Summarits is an ASPH as is the whole catalogue excepting only also the Macro Elmar 90. design. Could they bring a summicron 50 ASPH. to market much under the Summilux price? The Summarit is close after all and of course the Summilux cannot meet demand. Still the name Summicron is very important. We shall see It has often been said, that Leica does not hold a new 50mm Summicron for worthwhile. We don't know their strategy for lenses and if they have any it doesn't always seem to be really convincing. Though on the other hand I don't think the Leica optical department will say: "O.k., the present catalogue is all we could do, there is no work left for us. Good bye." So looking at the data, if there will be a new lens for the M in the next years, probabilty is high that it will be a new 50mm Summicron: It's the oldest lens design for the M. It's the only non-aspherical Summicron. It has some weakness for flare. With the Summarit at 1095,- and the Summilux at 2795,- € a Summicron asph. for say 2000,-€ could make more marketing sense than the present one for 1595,- €. At the present situation I should not wait for a new one. They have to get their present catalogue into the shops and have to develop the S-lenses further before thinking of new M-lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
01af Posted February 21, 2011 Share #17 Posted February 21, 2011 So looking at the data, if there will be a new lens for the M in the next years, probability is high that it will be a new 50 mm Summicron: While that's not unlikely indeed, I'd rather bet on an Elmar-M 21 mm 1:3.8 Asph for the next new M lens to arrive, and after that maybe a re-designed Apo-Summicron-M 90 mm 1:2 Asph with floating elements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted February 21, 2011 Share #18 Posted February 21, 2011 If you take the view that a new Summicron would need to offer something "different" in order to stand out between the Summarit and Summilux, then a logical (and welcome) re-introduction would be a collapsible Summicron. It was a sad day when the 50mm Elmar-M was discontinued; it turned the M into a (large) pocketable camera and I have had one welded to my M7 since (they were both) new. A bit more speed and the compactness of a collapsible would play well in the "travel market", IMO. Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted February 21, 2011 Share #19 Posted February 21, 2011 A new collapsible lens at f/:2 is an interesting idea. Though Leica seems to be shy to allow the rear parts of lenses collapsing into the camera body. I don't know whether a collapsible lens which does not intrude would be much smaller than a rigid one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplomley Posted February 22, 2011 Share #20 Posted February 22, 2011 A 28-35-50 f/2.8 lens please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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