90 APO discontinued?

[tobey bilek]

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There were a few newish used ones recently in $5000 range and they are gone.  There was a older one for 3300 that was at Leica Miami and now their web page said it could be found at Leica Boston.  I bought it and it is in Like new condition, clean glass, no marks on outside and even came with a case.  Pics are outstanding.  It looks virtually unused, but uncoded.  Do I need to code a 90?  NO.  

It appears the  replacement the big and heavy and expensive 90 1.5.  Why is leica discontinuing small and carryable  M lenses?   24mm  seems to be gone. Glad I have my 3.4 version. 

Should we protest?

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[Herr Barnack]

Leica Store Miami has them - https://leicastoremiami.com/collections/leica-m-system-m-system-lenses/products/leica-apo-summicron-m-90mm-f-2-0-asph?variant=342827645

The B&H  website says "Temporarily Out of Stock, Expected availability: 3-7 business days."

Leica Store San Fran has them - https://www.leicastoresf.com/new/leica-m-90mm-f2-0-apo-summicron-asph

The 90mm Summicron APO is priced at $5495 USD while the 90 Summilux ASPH is priced at $13,795 USD.  Only the deranged would consider the latter a replacement for the former and I don't think the Pooh-bahs at Leica are deranged.  We who are M camera adherents are another matter entirely. 😊

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Herr Barnack

[frame-it]

was there an announcement or did someone inform you that its discontinued?

[Jeff S]

28 minutes ago, tobey bilek said:

It appears the  replacement the big and heavy and expensive 90 1.5.  Why is leica discontinuing small and carryable  M lenses?   

The small and portable 90 Macro-Elmar M is not discontinued.

Jeff

[rtai]

Leica made so many 90mm versions you would think it was the most popular focal length.

[UliWer]

56 minutes ago, tobey bilek said:

24mm  seems to be gone. Glad I have my 3.4 version. 

Should we protest?

If you really had a 1:3.4/24mm I should protest, since mine is only 1:3.8…

If the 90mm Apo-Aummicron really was discontinued (it does not look so at the moment) there would be a replacement for sure. The lens would be a good candidate for the new short-focus design - if the optical design was modernised as well. The present design does not show its best on close distances. 

[tobey bilek]

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15 hours ago, frame-it said:

was there an announcement or did someone inform you that its discontinued?

I was watching what was available at Leica Miami only.  Were two and both disappeared and were no longer shown on the new lenses pages where they normally show , but out of stock where the price goes..  Perhaps a bad assumption there would be no more.

The new lens list showed out of stock on everything for at least a week and I figured Germany was late because of covid.  I did read they were sending material/machines to employees so they could work from home.  Quite a commitment on Leica`s part.

This is a primo lens in case anyone is interested.  You just will not find a perfect one with case for $3300.

[wizard]

vor 16 Minuten schrieb tobey bilek:

You just will not find a perfect one with case for $3300.

Geez, prices have gone crazy. I paid €1400 for my as new 90 APO about 10 years ago, and that price included an UV-filter and an original Leica 1.25 magnifier for Leica M cameras including cases for both the lens and the magnifier.

[Michael Geschlecht]

On 9/26/2022 at 6:40 PM, rtai said:

Leica made so many 90mm versions you would think it was the most popular focal length.

Hello rtai,

In the early 1960's you could order a 90mm f2 Summicron with a Pre-set diaphram or with a Regular aperture control. You could order these Summicrons in either a Bayonet Mount or a Screw Thread. You also could order a 90mm f 2.8 Elmarit long focus lens with a Bayonet Mount or with a Screw Thread. A 90mm f 2.8 Tele-Elmarit  lens with a Bayonet Mount only. Or a 90mm f4 Elmar lens with a Bayonet Mount or with a Screw Thread. There was also a collapsible version of the 90mm f4 Elmar which only came in a Bayonet Mount & had a different optical formula than the other 90mm f4 Elmars.

The then current 90mm Summicrons have built in lens hoods. Altho, not all earlier 1's did. Some of the earlier 1's require an HMOOD.

All of the other 90mm lenses take a 12575 lens hood. Sometimes alternatively referred to as an IUFOO.

12575/IUFOO also fits a number of other lenses.

You could order 1 or all of these all on the same day.

Best Regards,

Michael

Edited September 28, 2022 by Michael Geschlecht

[adan]

A few points:

- Leica makes lenses in batches, not continuous production. It is a whole lot simpler to set up their production machines for one lens type's glass and metal parts, and produce and assemble 1000-2000, say, 90mm APO-Summicrons over a month, and then reset the machines to make other lens parts, and so cycle through the whole lens catalog over a couple of years.

Ideally producing batches large enough to last that couple of years, until the next batch of 90mm APO-Summicrons, based on previous sales experience.

Sometimes there is a sales run on a specific model, and it sells out before Leica is ready to schedule the new batch. But since other lens types are already booked to use the machines, Leica can't just start making more 90 APO-Summicrons "out of step" - or Leica would run out of 21s or 50s or whatever is currently being made.

- During the intro of the M9 in 2009-10, there was a similar 90 APO-Summicron "drought" for about 9 months, partly because of the batch calendar, and partly because the M9 was such a hit that Leica assemblers were moved over to assemble M9s, instead of lenses, for a few months. And of course, possibly because all the new M9 buyers were also buying 90s, and had left the cupboard bare (unplanned-for demand).  

- Oddly, on the flip side, I notice that there has been something of an overload of used 90mm APO-Summicrons on a couple of USA websites recently - 4-7 copies per site, sometimes.

[darylgo]

90 APO-Summicron-M f2 ASPH Black Anodised, Nr. 39184xx, complete in box with e55 UVA, near Mint $3,350
90 APO-Summicron-M f2 ASPH Black Anodised, Nr. 3893xxx, 6-bit coded with caps, Ex++ $3,150
90 APO-Summicron-M f2 ASPH Black Anodised, Nr. 391xxxx, with caps, Ex++ $2,950
90 APO-Summicron-M f2 ASPH Black Anodised, Nr. 3891xxx, Ex $2,750
 

Current Tamarkin, none appear to be 6 bit coded, my copy isn’t and it’s fine. 

[lct]

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Edited September 28, 2022 by lct
Out of topic sorry

[sarav]

I don't think there is an immediate changeover, I bought a new one last week in Italy and they have a couple of them still available.
...The next new one will be stellar, no doubt! It'll have a wonderful floating element, no doubt! It'll be larger and weight a ton, no doubt!