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Summarit-M Lenses


rpsawin

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8 hours ago, roma said:

I tried the 50mm f2.4 and found it pretty boring. Size was great, but that’s about it. 

Boring ?

How that ?

Please explain more ...

Are you sure that it would be less boring with another lens ?

Interesting though to know if it's the lens.

Which one then  if I can ask ?

Edited by a.noctilux
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8 hours ago, roma said:

I tried the 50mm f2.4 and found it pretty boring. Size was great, but that’s about it. 

I assume that this means that it performed competently with few flaws?

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  • 2 weeks later...

"Boring" ?

I must add something that I always say (or write) :

Perfection IS boring.

In my lifetime, rarely seen/encountered something (or somebody) "perfect", life Is good sometimes 😉.

Summarit-M lenses are not 🤐 perfect happily ...

 

 

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On 6/14/2022 at 9:02 PM, roma said:

I tried the 50mm f2.4 and found it pretty boring. Size was great, but that’s about it. 

I have to agree. I took mine out for coffee, along with my M10M, and it just sat there on the camera. That was it...it just sat there. I was so disappointed that I immediately sold it and bought a Zeiss 50/1.5 C Sonnar. In all fairness the Sonnar has not yet taken a stroll my local Starbuck. Stay tuned...

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I immediately bought a 50 Summarit when I read here that the line was discontinued. I am extremely happy with it. Normally my Summilux stays now at home as for me it is too big and too heavy (silver version). My main lens it the 28 Cron and I would love to get a smaller and lighter version as well. Maybe to Summaron.

But here its about Summarit . . .

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I bought the 50 f 2.5 shortly after they were introduced. I used it extensively, and repeatedly at an outdoor farmers market in Santa Fe, NM. After several visits I sat down and looked at the chromes, compared them to previously shot transparencies using my summicron 35 f2 asph. The little f2.5 did a very nice  job of holding it's own, what I didn't like was the "feel" in the operation of the lens. It simply did not have that "feel" of my summicron.

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low light images from silver mines- M8u/Summarit 35 2.5

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I bought a 50mm Summarit f/2.4 in silver while they were still available, for my old M4.

It seems to be sharper overall than my 50 'Cron.  But the 'Cron has a different character.  

I ended up finding a pristine collapsible 50mm Elmar-M in silver chrome for my M4 right after I got the Summarit, and I like the 'Cron better on my M10P, so the silver Summarit is back in its box waiting for me to figure out what to do with it lol.  Maybe I'll trade it toward an M11P if that ever happens.  The Summarit really is a great lens though and I wonder why the line was discontinued.  

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1 hour ago, Muso said:

I wonder why the line was discontinued.  

Mostly because they cannibalized sales from the more-profitable Summicrons and other main-line lenses.

Bottom line for Leica: if one has to machine x-many bits of metal and grind x-many pieces of glass (and assemble them, and buy boxes for them), a lens is not that much cheaper to make just because it has "Summarit" engraved on it instead of "Summicron." A little cheaper (through some simplification, commonality of parts, molded-rubber focus rings instead of machined-metal rings), but not necessarily €1500 cheaper.

And because of the growing number of (and improving quality of) Voigtlanders, Zeisses, TTs, 7As and such that were yet another €1000+ less-expensive, with which the Summarits could no longer compete. They did OK for a decade or so while the Asian lensmakers got their M act together - but not any more.

Leica was losing profitability at both ends.

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2 minutes ago, adan said:

...Mostly because they cannibalized sales from the more-profitable Summicrons and other main-line lenses.

Bottom line for Leica: if one has to machine x-many bits of metal and grind x-many pieces of glass (and assemble them, and buy boxes for them), a lens is not that much cheaper to make just because it has "Summarit" engraved on it instead of "Summicron." A little cheaper (through some simplification, commonality of parts, molded-rubber focus rings instead of machined-metal rings), but not necessarily €1500 cheaper...

Very likely.  The Summarits are good lenses and punched above their price point, so probably were much less profitable.

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On 7/4/2022 at 7:45 AM, Muso said:

Very likely.  The Summarits are good lenses and punched above their price point, so probably were much less profitable.

I read an interview with a BMW executive who stated that they made less profit on the high end cars and more on the entry level vehicles. Their reasoning was that the high end vehicles created the desire to own a BMW. The high end are loss leaders and the cheap items are highly profitable- they also sell more …

I understand that the Summarit lenses did not sell very well. It appears Leica users prefer to pay more..

I love my 35 & 50 Summarits. They are legendary - nothing quite like them. 

 

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Summarit 35mm 2.4 - The focus is one of the fastest I’ve used on a Leica lens.

 

 

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Today was my lucky day: I got pre-ordered APO 35 Summicron (in 6 weeks!), but my dealer also had 2 Summarit 75/ 2.4, bright new, on reduced price (from 1950€ - to 1590€) ! I couldn't hesitate and I took one... In the afternoon I played with both, and as APO Summicron shine (as expected), Summarit was decent, even excellent performer. Despite small, it's quite heavy, with all the mechanics and feelings real Leica lens. Sharpness is excellent, but It probably lack "bokeh" blurriness of summicron in "out-of focus" area. 

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I started with an M6 and the Summarit-M 2.5/35. Later joined by an used 2.5/75. They were perfect for my rarely photo walks. Nevertheless some years later both were sold to get in touch with the Summicron-M 50mm. And after even more lens shuffles including Macro-Elmar-M 90, Elmarit-M 90, Summilux-M 50 ASPH, 35 ASPH ... I ended up ... yes with Summarit-M 2.4/35 and 2.4/75 again ... ok and the Zeiss C Sonnar 1.5/50 ZM.

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M9 with Summarit-M 2.4/35 ASPH , orig size with 15MB don't fit here. I don't use lens profiles.

I like the Summarit-M lines, the f2.5's as well as the f2.4's. Happy to use both.

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Summarit 75/2.4, M10R-BP. 

 

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