New edition of the Leica Summilux-M 1.4/35mm ASPH.

[georgechan]

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3 hours ago, Artin said:

There is no Leica Canada here , in Toronto there are 3 Leica dealers non of them are boutiques, and I think in Montreal there is a Leica boutique 

but no Leica stores .. so I ordered mine from Downtown Camera ,, and they just told me they are waiting for shipment.   It is actually very sad that the Largest city in a G7 country like mine has no Significant Leica presence.
 

Is "waiting for shipment" a good sign?

Here in Australia they refuse to say, or they have no idea, the status of lens, and they are not taking any back order. They even took it down from some of the online shop websites, you can't even find it.

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[FrozenInTime]

1 hour ago, Artin said:

That was about 2 weeks ago I have not checked recently, by the looks of it I doubt it is a QC issue most likely a design flaw we would just wait and see 

It seems Leica, literally did not do rigorous shake-down testing of the lens aperture mechanism.

[Ouroboros]

I was on the Leica UK notification list but my interest in the lens instantly evaporated when I saw complaints about the diaphragm falling apart.

Disappointing, I was prepared to buy one but I'll now put it on a back burner and not bother unless my confidence is restored at some point.     

[chriscove]

Samy just sent me an email and canceled the order I placed after returning my defective new FLE. I am guessing it’s going to be a LONG time before we see any more. 

[MattiasAndersson]

10 minutes ago, Artin said:

Looks like the FLE prices will stay up 

I was lucky, one dealer here wanted to clear stock for the new one, and gave me a good offer end of october on a new in box FLE, I paid one 1991 Summicron-M 50 + one 2010 Elmar-M 24 + 2000 Euro… 

So now my M-D has the lens that I did not think I could afford. 🙂

 

 

[georgechan]

16 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

I was on the Leica UK notification list but my interest in the lens instantly evaporated when I saw complaints about the diaphragm falling apart.

Disappointing, I was prepared to buy one but I'll now put it on a back burner and not bother unless my confidence is restored at some point.     

I feel you mate. I am now hesitating whether or not to cancel my order and get it refunded as it seems like the waiting time is so indefinite and even I receive mine eventually I am gonna be suspicious about the quality of the lens.

13 hours ago, chriscove said:

Samy just sent me an email and canceled the order I placed after returning my defective new FLE. I am guessing it’s going to be a LONG time before we see any more. 

That's so sad. But at least you can make up your mind and give it up now.

[Jeff S]

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I’m just surprised that Leica NJ repaired everything well. On the rare occasions I’ve needed a lens adjustment/repair, DAG (Don Goldberg) did a better job.

Jeff

[Ktsa5239]

I have received mine two weeks ago and so far it seems ok (touch wood). But this is making me nervous that it wouldn’t hold up down the road. Should I give it some shaking just in case… so at least if anything happens it’s within warranty? 

[jakontil]

Probably leica would stop shipping the lens till they sorted out the issue

[georgechan]

On 11/12/2022 at 5:53 PM, Ktsa5239 said:

I have received mine two weeks ago and so far it seems ok (touch wood). But this is making me nervous that it wouldn’t hold up down the road. Should I give it some shaking just in case… so at least if anything happens it’s within warranty? 

I would suggest you not 😔

Obviously they halted everything and we still don't know when will the lenses be shipped, you should probably wait until they resume the shipping as it seems ok to you for now.

If you have no other 35mm M lenses (this is my case) you would have no lens to use.

I try to write them an email every two weeks to ask for updates. I sent my last email around 36 hours ago and at the moment no reply. Will update everyone once I hear something.

[Bear]

13 hours ago, georgechan said:

I would suggest you not 😔

Obviously they halted everything and we still don't know when will the lenses be shipped, you should probably wait until they resume the shipping as it seems ok to you for now.

If you have no other 35mm M lenses (this is my case) you would have no lens to use.

I try to write them an email every two weeks to ask for updates. I sent my last email around 36 hours ago and at the moment no reply. Will update everyone once I hear something.

Really appreciate you following up with them - thanks! 

[georgechan]

Update - 

Got reply this morning. So basically you can either refund it or keep waiting. No ETA. 

For those who are still waiting, I heard from a friend that they won't be shipping the lens until next year so, yea... 

I guess I write them emails too often (one email every one or two weeks) and they are getting annoyed so I won't be updating the status of this lens anymore. 

I personally have decided to get a refund, given the poor production/QC issue of the lens, the attitude of the staff and the long waiting time, I have lost my faith in this lens. But good luck everyone! 

Edited November 16, 2022 by georgechan

[normie610]

Cross post from Jono’s review thread:

I got mine yesterday and I was assured that this copy won’t have the aperture blade issue. Managed to do a couple of shots, and the close focus is really wonderful. I do notice one thing though. Somehow the in camera JPEGs of the new FLE don’t correctly show the distortion correction when compared to my Zeiss Distagon. I always use the Lux 35mm profile for my Distagon and the in camera JPEGs show barely any distortion. And with the new FLE, the distortion is noticeable in the JPEGs.

However, when I open the new FLE’s RAW files in Lightroom and lens correction is applied, the distortion is properly corrected. So I don’t know what’s going on with the in camera JPEGs, perhaps they need to update the firmware to rectify this as it also affects the image preview on the LCD. And I don’t have the previous FLE version so I don’t know whether it’s the same case or not. I’m shooting with the M11 body.

[hmzimelka]

9 hours ago, normie610 said:

 

Cross post from Jono’s review thread:

I got mine yesterday and I was assured that this copy won’t have the aperture blade issue. Managed to do a couple of shots, and the close focus is really wonderful. I do notice one thing though. Somehow the in camera JPEGs of the new FLE don’t correctly show the distortion correction when compared to my Zeiss Distagon. I always use the Lux 35mm profile for my Distagon and the in camera JPEGs show barely any distortion. And with the new FLE, the distortion is noticeable in the JPEGs.

However, when I open the new FLE’s RAW files in Lightroom and lens correction is applied, the distortion is properly corrected. So I don’t know what’s going on with the in camera JPEGs, perhaps they need to update the firmware to rectify this as it also affects the image preview on the LCD. And I don’t have the previous FLE version so I don’t know whether it’s the same case or not. I’m shooting with the M11 body.

As far as I know M cameras don't apply distortion correction because I've not ever seen it with any of my lenses or M lenses I've used so far. Only vignetting and colour shading is baked in or applied. However, the DNG file carries the lens identification tag and Lightroom defaults are set to apply lens corrections, which is why you see it applied in Lightroom but not with JPG files.

My defaults in LR have these automatic lens corrections deselected.

Edited November 28, 2022 by hmzimelka

[eyeheartny]

Anyone heard any info on when Leica may be ready to ship these again? Debating between waiting and getting a prior version FLE. 

[archive_all]

59 minutes ago, eyeheartny said:

Anyone heard any info on when Leica may be ready to ship these again? Debating between waiting and getting a prior version FLE. 

Someone mentioned that they are shipping again. I'll see if I can find that post here.

[budjames]

On 10/21/2022 at 6:29 AM, georgechan said:

I agree with you. This is probably the reason. 

Leica's QC is a joke now. I bought a 50mm summilux earlier this year in Hong Kong, and the first one I got couldn't focus to infinity, returned it, replaced with another one, the hood was not retractable. Luckily I opened the box and tested the lens right in front of the staff and the issue is quite obvious so they offered me a refund. 

Since buying into the Leica M system in November 2019, 2 lenses failed to focus out of the box. It took 6 weeks to get them back. My M10R had hot pixels in underexposed areas with ISOs greater tha. 2,500. The repair took 3 weeks and the sensor and shutter mechanism was replaced. A lens barrel came loose on my previously repaired Summilux 50mm. It took 3 weeks to get it back. The same thing happened to my APO-Summicron 50mm. It took only 2 weeks to get it back. All repairs were done under warranty well within the first year of light usage, however, I spent about $500 on shipping and insurance sending my gear to the Leica repair center in New Jersey, USA.
 

The “Legendary” Leica quality is marketing hype. That said, I still love the M shooting experience nd resulting image quality.

 

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography.

[dickgillberg]

19 hours ago, archive_all said:

Someone mentioned that they are shipping again. I'll see if I can find that post here.

I mentioned that I got one about three weeks ago. Works fine as it should. For my sake the hood and the close focus is great. I’ve had the FLE version before and it was also a great lens as this one.

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[pwr1978]

I picked one up from the Leica Store in Melbourne the week before Christmas. It's a gorgeous lens and to my eye much sharper than my 35m 'cron.

[jaapv]

17 hours ago, budjames said:

Since buying into the Leica M system in November 2019, 2 lenses failed to focus out of the box. It took 6 weeks to get them back. My M10R had hot pixels in underexposed areas with ISOs greater tha. 2,500. The repair took 3 weeks and the sensor and shutter mechanism was replaced. A lens barrel came loose on my previously repaired Summilux 50mm. It took 3 weeks to get it back. The same thing happened to my APO-Summicron 50mm. It took only 2 weeks to get it back. All repairs were done under warranty well within the first year of light usage, however, I spent about $500 on shipping and insurance sending my gear to the Leica repair center in New Jersey, USA.
 

The “Legendary” Leica quality is marketing hype. That said, I still love the M shooting experience nd resulting image quality.

 

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography.

In Europe there are no shipping costs as Leica will send a shipping label on request. Did you ask them to collect?