28mm APO-Summicron-M -- who wants one?

[Winedemonium]

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I got momentarily excited to see the "new" 28mm Summicron-M announced today with the M11-P. Yes, the close focus capability adds some real extra benefit to this lens. But this is a 2023 tweak of a 2016 tweak of a 2000 lens. It's a good lens, but...

What I would really like to see is a 28mm APO-Summicron-M to go with the 35mm and 50mm "APO" designs.

Who here would like that? 

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[M11 for me]

The resolution of my Apple Studien screen is not high enough to justify an APO 🤩

[Fred Miranda]

30 minutes ago, ValerieD said:

I would rather get a more compact 28 Lux V2

 

Until now, the latest v2 (close-focus) lenses have been increasing in size and weight, not decreasing. Looking at Leica's history, they typically begin with APO telephoto lenses for their M and SL camera lines because these are easier to design. Then, they gradually introduce wider APO lenses. While a 28/2 APO is a possibility, it might take some time because the new 28/2 close-focus lens was just released.

[FrozenInTime]

1 hour ago, Winedemonium said:

What I would really like to see is a 28mm APO-Summicron-M to go with the 35mm and 50mm "APO" designs.

Who here would like that? 

The Voigtlander 28mm Ultron focuses to 0.5m ... this may have forced Leica's hand.

As for APO : https://jacktaka.com/voigtlander-28mm-f2

"Analysis: Center performance at 0.5m is excellent even at f/2. Since this lens performs so remarkably, I decided to put it through a torture test: extreme corner sharpness at minimum distance, wide-open. I’ve only ever done this test with the APO-Lanthar lenses. In contrast to the APO-Lanthar lenses, the 28/2 does show a small amount of softness in this test, but it’s comical how far we had to push it to show even the slightest degradation." ( emphasis added )

[dkmoore]

I’m all in for a 28 APO. My two most used lenses are the 35 and 50 APO lenses. 
 

I was disappointed to see this version. 

[Jeff S]

I still haven’t found a reason to change from my 28 Summicron ASPH v.1.  Nor would I with a future APO.  But then I prefer my 50 Summilux ASPH v.1 to the 50 APO Summicron, both rendering and handling-wise.  And, as an RF user,  I find these close-focus lenses unnecessarily complex.

Fun (and cheaper) living in a GAS-free zone. 

Jeff

[dkmoore]

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Just now, Jeff S said:

I still haven’t found a reason to change from my 28 Summicron ASPH v.1.  Nor would I with a future APO.  But then I prefer my 50 Summilux ASPH v.1 to the 50 APO Summicron, both rendering and handling-wise.  And, as an RF user,  I find these close-focus lenses unnecessarily complex.

Fun (and cheaper) living in a GAS-free zone. 

Jeff

I don’t blame you, at all. I still absolutely love the 50 Lux asph. (I know you are referencing an older version). 
But, I do legitimately love the rendering of the 50 APO and 35. 

[Jeff S]

I haven’t tried the 35 APO, but I extensively compared the 50 APO to my v1 Summilux ASPH… making lots of pics and prints.

But these are of course personal matters. Choices are good to have.

Jeff

[Winedemonium]

15 hours ago, FrozenInTime said:

As for APO : https://jacktaka.com/voigtlander-28mm-f2

I enjoy Jack Takahashi's thoughtful reviews. There's no doubting Voigtlander's Ultron Vintage offers a great deal - and at an amazing price. Indeed, there are sound arguments for quite a few Voigtlander lenses, and I'm pleased to see the success of this.

 

[Winedemonium]

My current lens direction, for better or worse, has fallen into two directions - I love the 35APO and the 50APO for a range of reasons, but I actually think the main one is their character. They have a particular way of drawing, and I like it. The other direction, is a certain classic look - not too much, not too little. I have an original 28 Summaron LTM, a 35 Summicron v1 8-element, and a 50 Summicron Rigid v2. The latter set I use on film, and sometimes on the M10M. Between these two directions I have other lenses, which I like for their own qualities, and use from time to time, but I find more and more that what I want is APO or classic.

The 35APO and the 50APO may be an attempt at 'perfection', and some criticise them for being 'clinical', but that's not what I see in the rendering style. I see a combination of incredible detail, and a sort of natural richness of colour, what I've read some Japanese enthusiasts call a 'wet' look to the images, and also a quick, but gentle roll off from that vivid plane of focus, to fairly smooth out of focus areas that retain their outline shapes well. Others have described all this better than me, but I see it. 

I would love a 28APO, and to some extent, a really new 90APO, and then between these and my 'classic set', I would let go of the others.

[jakontil]

I fell in love deeply with the 35 apo summicron as well as the 50 apo, even though depending on the situation i might prefer my 50mm noctilux, but im unsure of having  28 in apo since it aint my range though when going street i love my summaron 28

[rustyrus]

I own the 35 and 50- I would love a newly designed 24 APO- 

I would plunk 10K for that bad boy!

I probably would do the same for the 28 but would love to see it in a 24-

 

 

[sdk]

I can't say I would want one from Leica, because I think an Apo-Summicron-M 28mm would be ~$10,000. If Voigtländer made one it would probably be less than $2,000, though it would probably be longer than a Leica one. I have the Voigtländer 35mm/2 and it's a wonderful lens. It is bigger than the Leica Apo 35mm, and doesn't focus quite as close. I have ordered the new Summicron 28mm, and assuming it is fine when it arrives, I will sell my 2016 model one, and my Summilux 28mm, which I really don't like much (terrible background secondary color and poor corner sharpness, even stopped down - the Nikon 28mm/1.4E is so much better, even if it is giant by comparison).

[Al Brown]

I want one in silver.