Printmaker Posted April 23, 2012 Share #21 Â Posted April 23, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) I will trade up one day but no rush as the 50 mm focal length is one of my least used lens. In fact, if the new 50 Summicron ASPH is priced close to the 75 Summicron ASPH, I may be tempted to keep the 50 cron I have and just get the 75. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 Hi Printmaker, Take a look here Rumored Summicron 50 ASPH. I dont get it.. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted April 23, 2012 Share #22 Â Posted April 23, 2012 Jaap-I have been trying to find a nice clean Noctilux used to no avail. And yes, it is an easy call that I would love it.The aspherical Noctilux? I wish you luck. Ans wheelbarrows of cash.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
akiralx Posted April 24, 2012 Share #23 Â Posted April 24, 2012 I traded my 50 Summicron for a 50 Summarit which is stupendous. Â I also prefer focus tabs though I know some do not... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted April 24, 2012 Share #24 Â Posted April 24, 2012 I exchanged my 50mm Summicron (and my 50mm Summilux v.2!) for a Summilux ASPH in 2004. The new lens was optically better than the old 'lux, and less prone to giving me nasty surprises with strange flare phenomena than the 'cron is. I understand that the 50mm Summarit-M is also more reliable than the 'cron. Â The Summicron was very good for its time, but its time was in 1979. Â The old man from the Kodachrome Age Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted April 24, 2012 Share #25 Â Posted April 24, 2012 The Summicron was very good for its time, but its time was in 1979. Â I see a lot of very good work done with the 50 Summicron. IMO it is still one of the best 50mm lenses available in 2012. Â The propensity to flare is widely exaggerated and the 50 Summicron is, in my experience, far less prone than say the 75 Summicron and Tri-Elmar (50 setting). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 24, 2012 Share #26 Â Posted April 24, 2012 Why not make one of the best better now that it is possible? It only expands choices. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted April 24, 2012 Share #27 Â Posted April 24, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Why not make one of the best better now that it is possible? It only expands choices. Â Indeed. I don't have a problem at all with Leica updating the lens - I might even be interested in it now that I no longer have a 50 Summilux. However, what I do have a problem with is the ludicrous suggestion that the current Summicron is no longer relevant ("its time was in 1979", etc.). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted April 24, 2012 Share #28 Â Posted April 24, 2012 My 50 Summicron is from 1973 (that's 40 years next year - Dark Side of the Moon is 40 years old next year... weep) and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Â I certainly couldn't justify spending two and a half grand on a new one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted April 24, 2012 Share #29  Posted April 24, 2012 However, what I do have a problem with is the ludicrous suggestion that the current Summicron is no longer relevant ("its time was in 1979", etc.).  I never claimed that. You must have worn some very peculiar specs when you read my post – if you did actually read it. I wrote to point out that the lens was state of the art in 1979. Nobody – certainly not Leica – would design a traditional six-element double-Gauss 50mm f:2 today.  The 50mm Summarit-M is a different matter because of the modest speed. But note that in the case of the 35mm Summarit-M, Leica did not revert to the double-Gauss design of the Summicron v.4!  For f:2 speed lenses, there are better design alternatives today. It would be strange indeed of Leica would shie away from a redesign after one third of a century.  Conclusion: Count ten before going postal.  The old man from the Kodachrome Age Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted April 24, 2012 Share #30 Â Posted April 24, 2012 Oh come off it, you wrote: "The Summicron was very good for its time, but its time was in 1979." Not being a mind reader, I can only respond to what you have written (rather than what you might have been thinking) and it is that statement that I was taking issue with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 24, 2012 Share #31 Â Posted April 24, 2012 Gentlemen,gentlemen, just a different interpretation. Let's leave it at that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted April 24, 2012 Share #32  Posted April 24, 2012 The presumption here is that a new 50mm Summicron ASPH would simply be a "standard" implementation (in terms of lens technology) and would move it closer in price to the Summilux, leaving a yawning gap to the Summarit below.  There's currently a £1000 price difference, give or take, between the Summicron and the Summilux ASPH. If that price difference was halved with a Summicron ASPH, you'd pay £1000 to go half a stop from f2.5 to f2 and only £500 to go a full stop from f2 to f1.4 which is a strange pricing structure.  This mythical lens has been a long time coming, so who knows what's been brewing? What if it turned out be a real game-changer and moved forwards lens performance to a level beyond even the Summilux ASPH and at a higher price than that lens?  All to go with a (presumed) 24 or 36 MP M10 which will be previewed in a black and white version only, say, or should I go and lie down in a darkened room until sanity returns? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted April 24, 2012 Share #33 Â Posted April 24, 2012 The current Summicron is a Mandler lens. A Karbe's with sharper f/2 could interest me but not for $1K more. There are limits to modernity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adli Posted April 24, 2012 Share #34  Posted April 24, 2012 I agree with everything you say, except that I expect the B/W camera on May 10th will be based on an M9, and thus not provide a preview of the M10.  Do you have any idea on how large sensor resolution one can use with the current 50mm cron and lux before the lens becomes the constraint?   The presumption here is that a new 50mm Summicron ASPH would simply be a "standard" implementation (in terms of lens technology) and would move it closer in price to the Summilux, leaving a yawning gap to the Summarit below. There's currently a £1000 price difference, give or take, between the Summicron and the Summilux ASPH. If that price difference was halved with a Summicron ASPH, you'd pay £1000 to go half a stop from f2.5 to f2 and only £500 to go a full stop from f2 to f1.4 which is a strange pricing structure.  This mythical lens has been a long time coming, so who knows what's been brewing? What if it turned out be a real game-changer and moved forwards lens performance to a level beyond even the Summilux ASPH and at a higher price than that lens?  All to go with a (presumed) 24 or 36 MP M10 which will be previewed in a black and white version only, say, or should I go and lie down in a darkened room until sanity returns? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveYork Posted April 24, 2012 Share #35 Â Posted April 24, 2012 From a marketing perspective, it's great. They will sell a lot of them. Â From a practical perspective, it's not going to be a quantum leap like the Summilux. As I recall, the message from Solms, even in relatively recent years (i.e., sometime in last ten years), was that any improvements to the Summicron wouldn't be cost effective (i.e., slight optical improvement with a big jump in cost). Â But people want the latest and best. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Negative Posted April 24, 2012 Share #36 Â Posted April 24, 2012 I think an ASPH version is inevitable. Will it bring major gains? Not really. The current non-ASPH version is already very good. Mostly corners and edges will see improvements. Will it cost $1,000 more? Probably not that much. But it will be more expensive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpalme Posted April 24, 2012 Share #37 Â Posted April 24, 2012 It wouldn't be a sharpness issue for me. In real world use my Summicron appears as sharp as my Summilux. It's the richer rendering I seem to get from the Summilux. But I already have the Summilux so I won't be getting a new cron. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Printmaker Posted April 24, 2012 Share #38 Â Posted April 24, 2012 I see a lot of very good work done with the 50 Summicron. IMO it is still one of the best 50mm lenses available in 2012. Â The propensity to flare is widely exaggerated and the 50 Summicron is, in my experience, far less prone than say the 75 Summicron and Tri-Elmar (50 setting). Â The flare may less in the latest version but my 1969 copy hates looking directly into the sun. But I'm a sailor and you can not sail a boat directly into the wind either, so owning a lens that has a similar restriction is not a deal breaker. It is a lens you learn to work with and under the right conditions, even an ancient 50 Summicron can take some amazing photos. Â On the other hand, imagine if Leica redesigned the 50 Summicron so that it had the same weight and size it now possesses but out resolved the current 50 Summilux ASPH. Now that would be a lens to lust after. And if any company had the ability to create such a lens, its Leica. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted April 25, 2012 Share #39 Â Posted April 25, 2012 The main problem with the current (1979) Summicron is not the sun, but its proneness to show patches of flare in overcast weather, or close to a window. This is why I use the Summilux ASPH. Â The old man from the Kodachrome Age Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted May 2, 2012 Share #40 Â Posted May 2, 2012 Why not make one of the best better now that it is possible? It only expands choices. Â This is pretty much what they did with the 35 Summilux, no? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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