[Leica] new 50/1.4 M lens

[vick.ko at sympatico.ca (Vick Ko)]

Floating lens technology is old and not complex; it is a matter of
opto-mechanical design.

It would not be any more complex for SLR vs RF - it is a matter of where
the lens needs to physically be for its image-subject distance.  It is a
matter of providing two mechanisms to position the two groups of lenses
(the floating and non-floating set).  It is sort of like having to cram
two focusing mounts into the volume of one.

I wish I could afford this new lens - maybe in a couple years when they
start showing up on ebay.

Vick




-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+vick.ko=sympatico.ca@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+vick.ko=sympatico.ca@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Peter Klein
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 12:25 PM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: Re: [Leica] new 50/1.4 M lens



It *will* be interesting to see the aesthetic differences in the
fingerprints of the old and new lens.

The floating elements design is a significant improvement.  I've seen
the difference it can make in close-ups (on Olympus Zuiko SLR lenses).
It's old technology, but I suspect it was harder to implement on RF
lenses.

I wonder if bokeh considerations played any part in the design.  Since
bokeh was really the only major complaint about the Nokton, it would be
surprising if Leica didn't consider it.

The proof of the pudding will be the pictures. The difference is
academic to me. $2500 is out of my price range, especially with some
digital decisions looming.  But it's interesting nonetheless.

So Feli, how about: "Boy am I glad I bought my slightly used 50/1.5
Nokton two years ago!  It cost me one-tenth of the price of this new
Leica lens, and I'll bet you can barely tell the difference on Tri-X."
:-)

--Peter, going back to munching his sour grapes :-)