Guest Olof Posted July 22, 2007 Share #1 Posted July 22, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) my dealer told me ysterday, that Leica has recruit a new constructing engineer, so they are still working on new lenses Hmm if it will be possible to get a 75mm or 90mm Lux ASPH ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 22, 2007 Posted July 22, 2007 Hi Guest Olof, Take a look here New lens constructing engineer at Leica.... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
carstenw Posted July 22, 2007 Share #2 Posted July 22, 2007 Considering the size of the Apo-90 Cron Asph, I doubt that a 90 Lux will be made. However, I do hope that Leica plans to replace the 75 Lux with time. It is a bit surprising that it was removed from the lineup before a replacement was made available, but I suppose that its price and the cost of glass kept the profit small and the sales low. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosuna Posted July 22, 2007 Share #3 Posted July 22, 2007 The price of the APO-Summicron is very high. The price of a Summilux 75 ASPH would be even higher. The sales would be low in any case. Moreover, it would be difficult to make an APO lens with a moving group for close focusing and a speed of f1.4. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted July 22, 2007 Share #4 Posted July 22, 2007 Leica tends to make difficult lens designs better than anyone else Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted July 22, 2007 Share #5 Posted July 22, 2007 Hmm if it will be possible to get a 75mm or 90mm Lux ASPH ? I'd be infinitely more interested in a 75 Elmarit or Elmar. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 22, 2007 Share #6 Posted July 22, 2007 The new engineer may not be working on M lenses. The R-series has been frozen in time for a while and Leica are still backing the 4/3 horse. Then there's this month's Pana-Leica P&S model to do. By my reckoning, there's 15 lenses in the M-range with the MATE and 75/1.4 recently dropped. It will be interesting to see where Leica's new lenses fit in. Leica has to meet the challenge of Zeiss and CV lenses head-on by offering lower cost lenses and the 28/2.8 shows the way. I'd be surprised if we saw any new lenses which are faster than what we have in the range now. TBH, the next £3k/$5k I spend on photographic equipment is more likely to be on a Nikon D3, whenever that comes out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Olof Posted July 22, 2007 Share #7 Posted July 22, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) ... Leica has to meet the challenge of Zeiss and CV lenses head-on by offering lower cost lenses and the 28/2.8 shows the way... I dont think that Leica can exist with low cost lenses. The 28/2.8 was a appetizer for the M8 System. Leica lenses always had a outstanding quality and price. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted July 22, 2007 Share #8 Posted July 22, 2007 Most likely new M lenses, in my modest opinion, and in decreasing order of likelihood: • 135mm Apo-Telyt with goggles (a purely mechanical project) • 75mm Apo-Elmarit • 16mm SW-Elmar The old man from the Age of 126 Film (if there was one) Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGeoJO Posted July 22, 2007 Share #9 Posted July 22, 2007 "Constructing engineer" as in optical engineer or mechanical engineer? Granted, Leica is a fairly small company compared to Canon/Nikon, however, I believe that something complex as a lens design will have to be tackled by a team of engineers. It is somehow hard to believe that the addition of a single engineer would carry that much weight. Again, this is my take.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted July 22, 2007 Share #10 Posted July 22, 2007 I believe the 28/2.0 ASPH was almost entirely designed by a young new hire. In fact LFI had a full article on the lens and it's engineer. Bob. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 22, 2007 Share #11 Posted July 22, 2007 That's my impression too. A lens is the work of a single designer, though I expect that there's an on-going dialog with the production engineers. No point designing a lens if it can't then be made. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 22, 2007 Share #12 Posted July 22, 2007 I believe the 28/2.0 ASPH was almost entirely designed by a young new hire. In fact LFI had a full article on the lens and it's engineer. Bob. I must have missed that, which issue was it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 22, 2007 Share #13 Posted July 22, 2007 Most likely new M lenses, in my modest opinion, and in decreasing order of likelihood: • 135mm Apo-Telyt with goggles (a purely mechanical project) • 75mm Apo-Elmarit • 16mm SW-Elmar The old man from the Age of 126 Film (if there was one) Modest, Lars? I don't think so! I'm surprised you think a revised 135 is top of the pile... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted July 22, 2007 Share #14 Posted July 22, 2007 I must have missed that, which issue was it? Unfortunately I haven't kept all the back issues. I think it was before they changed the book to the larger format. I've looked through the remaining few old ones I have and can't find it. Maybe someone else knows? Bob. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosuna Posted July 22, 2007 Share #15 Posted July 22, 2007 The Summicron 28mm ASPH was presented in 2000, isn't? It must to be a 2000 or 2001 issue. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted July 23, 2007 Share #16 Posted July 23, 2007 ... I do hope that Leica plans to replace the 75 Lux with time. It is a bit surprising that it was removed from the lineup before a replacement was made available, but I suppose that its price and the cost of glass kept the profit small and the sales low. The LFI comments on the lens in their M lens comparisons were interesting. After pointing out that it was big and heavy, the magazine remarked that one reason there are so few available used is that the person who bought it wanted specifically what it could do and isn't likely to part with it. I dont think that Leica can exist with low cost lenses. The 28/2.8 was a appetizer for the M8 System. Leica lenses always had a outstanding quality and price. Leica tends to make difficult lens designs better than anyone else Well said. Let's hope they continue to do so. I'm a bit concerned about what Puts was referring to when he said the new 28/2.8 had several features designed to make it less expensive to produce.A lens is the work of a single designer, though I expect that there's an on-going dialog with the production engineers. No point designing a lens if it can't then be made. At the time of my Midland tour, the head lens designer said they always built two prototypes of any new design, to ensure that the lens could be put into series production. --HC Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted July 23, 2007 Share #17 Posted July 23, 2007 Modest, Lars? I don't think so! I'm surprised you think a revised 135 is top of the pile... Mark – first, I think I'm modest in the sense that I am not dreaming up something preposterous. There's lots of interest in the 135mm length on the M8; some experiment with conventional Tele-Elmarit or Apo-Telyt lenses, even to the extent of changing the bayonet to 90mm, others (me included) have put their money on the goggled Elmarit. This is not a bad lens, but it's not an Apo-Telyt, and it's a bit unwieldy. Also, the two other proposals, for a 75mm Apo-Elmarit and a prime 16mm lens of moderate aperture, fill obvious gaps in the line-up. I might have added a 90mm Apo-Elmarit. —Then, like it or not, there is also an obvious death list. I presume that it is headed by the Noctilux. Four different 50mm lenses when this is no longer the standard lens for the M8 is really too much from a business point of view. The old man from the Age of the Box Camera Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted July 23, 2007 Share #18 Posted July 23, 2007 Most likely new M lenses, in my modest opinion, and in decreasing order of likelihood: • 135mm Apo-Telyt with goggles (a purely mechanical project) • 75mm Apo-Elmarit • 16mm SW-Elmar The old man from the Age of 126 Film (if there was one) Very well focused prediction, Lars - They cannot keep in production the ApoTelyt 135, declaring it's officially a "film only" lens : as you say, a rather simple mech/VF project can assure the ApoTelyt a long life: it's excellent, and M8 users feel the need of 135. Ithink it would be silly not to go on with a rather cheap projject. - A fine, COMPACT and NOT TOO COSTLY 75 (2,8, but even 3,5...) could became a must for M8 users: I remember how nice was to have the small TE 90 on film Ms... same for 75 on M8. And not too critical focusing is welcome to calm a little some people... - to complete, given that 135 wouldn't be a new glass, and the above 75 wouldn't be a "sexy" lens, the Super Wide Angle prime would prove that still Leica has the capacity to build something that surely would cost more than 15CV or Zeiss, bat HAS something more: surely the riskiest project of the trio... As you say 4x50mm are too many... I can imagine OUT Noctilux and Elmar... but maybe a supercompact 35 (f 2,5 or so) could sell well with M8... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott kirkpatrick Posted July 23, 2007 Share #19 Posted July 23, 2007 Very well focused prediction, Lars ..... the Super Wide Angle prime would prove that still Leica has the capacity to build something that surely would cost more than 15CV or Zeiss, bat HAS something more: surely the riskiest project of the trio... As you say 4x50mm are too many... I can imagine OUT Noctilux and Elmar... but maybe a supercompact 35 (f 2,5 or so) could sell well with M8... I'd bet that most of the energy is going into getting previously unthinkable volume out of the small form factor and modestly lower price that was achieved with the 28/2.8 asph Elmarit. I find the 35/2.0-asph summicron just as nice to handle as the 28/2.8, so if I were sitting in a nice office in Solms plotting this strategy i would back up the 24/2.8 and 21/2.8 with one or two nice small asph lenses with one or two fewer elements, maybe f/4 and a $1999 price point. I would also be hustling out a viewfinder a la carte version of the M8 body with lower magnification and a 21mm frame set to make the 21 mm size fly off the shelves, rather than count on the Frankenfinder or let people disfigure their lovely M8 bodies with CV viewfinders. Finally, I would send out a Zeiss-killer at about 16mm/2.8 for at least $4000, and let them build it in Canada. This would probably sell in less than Noctilux quantities, but it would show the flag there. The basic idea, fundamental to Leica marketing, is that the loyal Leica core should invest in at least two bodies (now it will be the wide body and the long body), and two layers of lenses (the ultimates and the affordable street-shooters). And the new entrants will come on board with the affordables. (In reality, with some combination of the affordable lenses and CV lenses. Since the CV owners will always feel a bit inferior they can trade up to Leica when they have sold some pictures, but they mustn't start with a Zeiss lens, and feel superier to Leica.) This all sounds cynical, but the elements it calls for would all be worth making, plus I think it fits the Leica psychology. Time to shoot more and talk less. scott Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted July 23, 2007 Share #20 Posted July 23, 2007 The Summicron 28mm ASPH was presented in 2000, isn't? It must to be a 2000 or 2001 issue. 1/2001. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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