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

[IkarusJohn]

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On 10/20/2022 at 6:15 PM, georgechan said:

I am going to get myself a second hand voigtlander for now, and probably sell it when I receive the new FLE II.

I bought the FLE 11663 in May and sold the lens immediately after placing my order on the new FLE II. Now I got no 35mm to use. Jokes on me.

I got another email from Leica saying:

1. This is abnormal (exact wording from Sydney leica store)

2. The lens is not discontinued (😅)

3. No more stock until further notice, and this is global (exact wording)

Take these into account if you consider ordering one

Give the Distagon a try - it’s a good stop-gap, and easy to sell when your Summilux finally turns up …

[chriscove]

On 10/20/2022 at 8:57 AM, dsetiono01 said:

A few lucky (or unlucky i should say) people in Asia were treated to a rude shock when we got our first batch of shipment of this lens.

Yes, this was brand new out of the box, the aperture blades fell out of place and literally death on arrival.

From what I heard, almost 3 out of 4 people whom I know who got the lens early also got this same issue. Needless to say, they all returned the lens to Wetzlar. I wouldn't be surprised if they're now halting shipments of all units to do a proper QC and come up with a fix, because really, this is SUPER ridiculous .

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Mine was the same, shipped from Samy’s Camera. 

 

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[evikne]

10 minutes ago, chriscove said:

Mine was the same, shipped from Samy’s Camera. 

 

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Incredible! How many of these could have been shipped around the world?

[Jeff S]

All the more reason to be happy with my v.1 35 FLE and v.1 Summicron ASPH, both of which operate without issue.  

One trait I’ve noticed in playing with some recent Leica lens releases is a tendency for loose aperture rings on various samples.  The ‘Mathphotographer’, however, noted that the aperture clicks on his v.2 35 FLE were more solid and apparently better  designed than any of his other lenses.  Makes me wonder if he got lucky, or if in fact Leica actually improved this aspect or QC.

Jeff
 

[elmars]

Mathphotographer is right. The aperture ring feels different. If it is more solid or better designed I cannot say; I never had problems with the old design. I would say it is different.

[gotium]

2 hours ago, chriscove said:

Mine was the same, shipped from Samy’s Camera. 

 

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On 10/20/2022 at 5:57 AM, dsetiono01 said:

A few lucky (or unlucky i should say) people in Asia were treated to a rude shock when we got our first batch of shipment of this lens.

Yes, this was brand new out of the box, the aperture blades fell out of place and literally death on arrival.

From what I heard, almost 3 out of 4 people whom I know who got the lens early also got this same issue. Needless to say, they all returned the lens to Wetzlar. I wouldn't be surprised if they're now halting shipments of all units to do a proper QC and come up with a fix, because really, this is SUPER ridiculous .

Same here. Unfortunately I bought mine from overseas (not for cost but for availability) and it's quite the hassle dealing with it. 

[pedaes]

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12 minutes ago, gotium said:

quite the hassle dealing with it. 

You can send it direct to Leica Customer Care in Wetzlar. Go to website, complete form and they will send you a shipping label.

[georgechan]

It has been about 2 weeks after my last post regarding Leica halting the new FLE lens.

Just wondering if anyone on this forum received any updates from Leica regarding the lens?

[chriscove]

54 minutes ago, georgechan said:

It has been about 2 weeks after my last post regarding Leica halting the new FLE lens.

Just wondering if anyone on this forum received any updates from Leica regarding the lens?

I returned mine to Samy’s Camera. They give a full refund and said that the lens was “no longer available” per Leica. Their website also has been changed. Speaking to a sales rep they have no idea when the lens will be available.

I am really surprised by this. It seems all the lenses had obvious defects that should have never passed inspection.

This is a clear major screwup by Leica.

Chris

[FrozenInTime]

4 minutes ago, chriscove said:

It seems all the lenses had obvious defects that should have never passed inspection.

 

My suspicions these are vibration induced failures, so poor design qualification, rather than poor manufacturing QA.

[georgechan]

10 hours ago, chriscove said:

I returned mine to Samy’s Camera. They give a full refund and said that the lens was “no longer available” per Leica. Their website also has been changed. Speaking to a sales rep they have no idea when the lens will be available.

I am really surprised by this. It seems all the lenses had obvious defects that should have never passed inspection.

This is a clear major screwup by Leica.

Chris

Sorry to hear that.

Are still you planning to get one from somewhere else? I placed my order I believe two or three weeks before they decide to halt everything so I am still on backorder with no ETA. I sold my other M lenses to fund this new FLE II and now I have no M lenses to use. Although the Leica camera is not my only camera, it's my favourite one and usually my to-go one. I am hoping to get it by the end of the year...

10 hours ago, FrozenInTime said:

My suspicions these are vibration induced failures, so poor design qualification, rather than poor manufacturing QA.

This is not the first time I encounter a quality problem from Leica in these two years, never before but these two years, and this is not a special case, it happens to me & my friends & ppl on the internet. 

I actually bought the, I believe is, first batch of the new FLE II in early September from a local dealer, and there's a not huge but definitely visible mark on the glass, so I refunded it. I remember it's produced during sometime around 15-20/6 this year. Then I place a new order directly from Leica, but now I am not so sure if I should keep waiting. I don't want to wait for months and eventually getting a defective lens again and I hope the lens I am getting is from a new batch instead of the "mid June problematic batch". 

Edited November 6, 2022 by georgechan

[chriscove]

1 hour ago, georgechan said:

Sorry to hear that.

Are still you planning to get one from somewhere else? I placed my order I believe two or three weeks before they decide to halt everything so I am still on backorder with no ETA. I sold my other M lenses to fund this new FLE II and now I have no M lenses to use. Although the Leica camera is not my only camera, it's my favourite one and usually my to-go one. I am hoping to get it by the end of the year...

This is not the first time I encounter a quality problem from Leica in these two years, never before but these two years, and this is not a special case, it happens to me & my friends & ppl on the internet. 

I actually bought the, I believe is, first batch of the new FLE II in early September from a local dealer, and there's a not huge but definitely visible mark on the glass, so I refunded it. I remember it's produced during sometime around 15-20/6 this year. Then I place a new order directly from Leica, but now I am not so sure if I should keep waiting. I don't want to wait for months and eventually getting a defective lens again and I hope the lens I am getting is from a new batch instead of the "mid June problematic batch". 

Samy’s left me on their back order list and put me at the top but they have idea when they will see another one

[Bear]

On 9/19/2022 at 6:31 AM, junix said:

The new FLE is splendid.. but I’ll probably keep my “old” FLE for the time being.

Here below on my M-A..

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What lightmeter is this? Looks great! 

[junix]

9 hours ago, Bear said:

What lightmeter is this? Looks great! 

Hedeco Lime One (Light Meter One), a kickstarter project that developed in to a small batch business.

Made in Germany, very compact (especially height), works reasonably well for me and looks great on a silver M .. https://hedeco.de/#lime

[Bear]

On 11/8/2022 at 8:33 PM, junix said:

Hedeco Lime One (Light Meter One), a kickstarter project that developed in to a small batch business.

Made in Germany, very compact (especially height), works reasonably well for me and looks great on a silver M .. https://hedeco.de/#lime

Yes, I do like how short the height is - thanks! 

[georgechan]

1 hour ago, Artin said:

Wow I have not kept up here about the new FLE.  No wonder I have not got mine here in Toronto 

I guess I just use my Nokton till they sort this thing 

Hi Artin. Did you order yours from Leica Canada? Did they get in touch with you regarding of the delays? 

[georgechan]

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.

[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.     

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[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.