Dear Leica a new lens request

[mirekti]

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I use more often my CV 21/4 than my Leica 21/3.4 asph or 21/2.8 asph for instance 

 

Is there any reason you prefer CV 21 over Super Elmar? Many if not everyone on the forum claims 21SEM is the best 21mm ever. I had it shortly I it was fabulous, but settled with 24mm Elmar (better suited my needs).

Do you use it on digital M? Which profile?

[lct]

The 21/3.4 asph is a great lens indeed but i prefer the smaller size and weight of the CV 21/4 and the latter seems to prefer my A7s mod or vice versa . On both the latter and M240 the SE is sharper at f/4 though.

[mirekti]

If your looking for cheaper lenses than Voigtlander, don't look at Leica, competing with Voigtlander at the same quality and price point will not be part of their strategy and nor should it.

 

Well, you might be right with the latter part, but I wouldn't discourage him from looking into Leica especially as there are many lenses available in the used market.

For example, I  bought 135mm APO for $3800 before tax and one can find in on Ebay for around $2000 if one has patience. Or look at this yesterday's WATE sale. The "As NEW" lens with a viewfinder for $3265 while the new one is $5900. These are almost 50% cheaper than the new items, and there are many more. The only lenses that keep the price at the moment are those which are not produced anymore, and not all of them. ...plus one or two current exceptions. I guess the factory in Portugal made changes to the market.

My point, if Leica came up with some 15mm f/4.5 at the price range of $2-3k, quite soon he would be able to get it for $1-1.5k, used, which isn't too much given the CV price $700.

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[mirekti]

If your looking for cheaper lenses than Voigtlander...

It seems I missread your post. Sorry, my bad.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

I'd buy and upgraded MATE. 28-90 f4. Click stops and frankenfinder for the film boys. Zoom for the EVF crowd. Make it great to the corners wide open and small as possible. The ultimate three lens kit with the WATE and a fast lens of your choice. Great for travelling, hiking, landscapes etc. An M with a set of primes isn't any smaller or lighter than the SL with the zoom so I'd like to see something compact/versatile for the M. Probably sell a few to SL owners as well.

 

Gordon

[steppenw0lf]

The coupling problem is already solved, as the Extender-M, Komura Telemore, and Benetti teleconverters for the M series demonstrated.

 

A 90mm lens with an x1.4 extender becomes a 135mm - that's what Leitz planned when they designed the Extender-M.

 

Where the fun begins is when you couple the extender with a 135mm lens to get the equivalent of a 190m or 275mm lens. The combo needs to be stopped down to the point where the depth of focus is similar to that of a 135mm lens, so gets within the focussing capability of the M rangefinder. Stopping down also reduces the optical limitations of what is essentially a non-optimised telephoto lens.

 

The problems for those of us who enjoy living in an optical danger zone is that the optical quality of the Komura device is not very good. The Benatti is much better, but is not mechanically compatible with some lenses - only a small number were made, and it is hard to find on the second-hand market

 

That sounds all very clear. But I wondered if this is the full truth and with a little searching I found it to be mainly imagination.

A Extender-M 11238 was never sold (they were destroyed, and only 10 pieces found somehow the way into "the wild"). So nobody really knows how their quality is.

Similar result for Komura - does not exist anymore since many decades, was regarded producing poor quality lenses - no quality test of the extender available.

So I prefer to use R lenses (and extenders). You can even use an R extender for visoflex lenses, if you like.

(Use adapter for visoflex lens to R adaptation, then R extender 2x, and add this again to the M via a R to M adapter; this works for 135mm visoflex lens.)